Revolt at publisher Hachette re Rowling "transphobia"

[Lamahaha]

Young staff members threatened a strike apparently:

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8424029/JK-Rowling-publishers-revolt-Workers-publishing-house-Hachette-threaten-tools.html

My heart sank when I read that headline and the opening paragraphs, since I have professional "connections" to Hachette:

Publishing staff working on JK Rowling’s latest book threatened to down tools yesterday in protest at her views on gender.
...
Yesterday morning at publishing house Hachette, several of those involved in Miss Rowling’s new children’s book, The Ickabog, are said to have staged their own rebellion during a heated meeting. One source said: ‘Staff in the children’s department at Hachette announced they were no longer prepared to work on the book.

‘They said they were opposed to her comments and wanted to show support for the trans lobby. These staff are all very “woke”, mainly in their twenties and early thirties, and apparently it is an issue they feel very strongly about.’

But fortunately the grown-ups held up to the toys-out-of-the-pram tantrum:

Last night Hachette issued a statement backing Miss Rowling’s right to express herself. It said: ‘We are proud to publish JK Rowling’s children’s fairy tale The Ickabog. Freedom of speech is the cornerstone of publishing. We fundamentally believe that everyone has the right to express their own thoughts and beliefs. That’s why we never comment on our authors’ personal views and we respect our employees’ right to hold a different view.

‘We will never make our employees work on a book whose content they find upsetting for personal reasons, but we draw a distinction between that and refusing to work on a book because they disagree with an author’s views outside their writing, which runs contrary to our belief in free speech.’

I can't say how pleased and proud I am. Well done Hachette.

Couple of things to add…

The Ickabog is being released to make money for NHS charities, isn't it? Did the Interns consider that?

Also, a poster upthread. You mentioned that your DS was sensitive and didn't carry on reading the books… Did you consider that he was presenting in the wrong body and needed hormones and surgery or did you stand back like a normal parent and let him grow and develop in the body he was assigned at birth?

Lang you could self-id as someone wiv good spellingz no?

It's actually a good reminder of how much JK has put herself on the line.

I missed that - Hachette are Titania McGrath's publisher!

They may have followed Titania's comments too literally - :

twitter.com/TitaniaMcGrath/status/1256931521782571010

According to the DM article:

"Another insider said: "It was a handful of staff and they are entitled to their views. If they were being asked to edit a book on domestic abuse, and they were a survivor of domestic abuse, of course they would never be forced to work on it. But this is a children's fairy tale. It is not 'the end of the world'. They will all be having chats with their managers".

What I am taking from that is their managers will be having 'chats' with them. Without coffee. And pointing out not only the bottom line but the relevant clause in their employment contracts.

It will be a sharp welcome to the real world.

The comments on the DM article show that no one in the real world thinks she's transphobic. And even the people who hate her are talking about her right to free speech.

I wonder if there were more than 4-5, but others chickened out of actually living their principles at the last minute, like how Boris did in 2016, when he was widely expected (and leaked) to be running to replace Cameron.

Then those 4-5 were left with their trousers round their ankles

(I bet Hachette know who full well who the other rabble rousers are too!)

There are many issues I feel strongly about but I keep them out of my work environment because if I didn't then I wouldn't have a working environment anymore.

Oh how brilliant. I would love to be a fly on the wall for those managerial "chats".

This is such great publicity.

The woke don't seem to have a clue about how this sort of shit backfires.

We are mid pandemic, people are losing their jobs and in the midst of this the snowflakes are complaining about working on a book (the author of which is a major part of their business success) released for free to support parents and the resulting books royalties will be donated to those whose suffered during the pandemic.

This and the other thread about TRA's writing to Boris about the genital police at toilets has made my bloody day!

Unofficial strike, or strike outwith procedure, is a sackable offence in the UK.

However, the sacked person has protections if it can be shown they were sacked for expressing their sincere beliefs ... remember that vegan case ? Non religious philosophical views ...

It's definitely something to smile about after the shit show that was the last fortnight

That's bloody brilliant. If I ever decide to get another mainstream publisher after the misogynistic mindfuck of the last one I let into my life, I'll definitely send to them.

Failing that she could self-publish and it would barely dent her financially.

In an idle moment I worked out that JKR could buy a top of the line Porsche every day for the next 25 years before she needed to hide from the rent man

Actually that’s wrong

Even if she never wrote another word, her books were moved to the restricted section and the banks paid the most pitiful interest rate since Ebenezer Scrooge, she could probably still buy Porsche’s until the sun was a cold dead cinder

Or she could run her own airline giving the seats away for free (motto, Fly The Feminist Sky’s)

Or in real terms, she’s worth two Brad Pitt’s and a Weasley (or should that be a weasel )

And I just wish I had the interest on the interest of her interest

I’m amazed they weren’t all furloughed. Anyone I know in publishing has been.

@SerenityNowwwww

I’m amazed they weren’t all furloughed. Anyone I know in publishing has been.

That’s probably because they are working on the new JKRowling book. Oh the irony.

But no one seems to be publishing at the moment - it doesn't take a whole department to work on a book.

Here's a list of female writers and other creators who have been silenced by transactivists. This is the reason I keep my Twitter and Facebook accounts pure.

wildwomanwritingclub.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/what-it-costs-women_speak-out/?fbclid=IwAR0sxn-PiBbnH_NsqmaJpx0poUVxXloGUM1IQJSligp7z5HtGMVHIZxsJlQ

Activists accuse Rowling of being privileged because she is rich, but it's only because she's rich that she can actually afford to speak out.
Most of us have to watch out steps in this perilous world.

Well I’ve just added to her fortune, I’ve never had any interest in her books before but I’ve just bought the first two Strike novels as a result of her essay.

@TheSingingKettle49 I've started a thread to record JKR support buying. Lots of us are doing similarly.

"Canada's state broadcaster, CBC, is telling children
@jk_rowling
was "transphobic" to say only women menstruate. The CBC Kids hosts then praise Daniel Radcliffe as "inspiring" for "advocat(ing) for what he believes in" after Radcliffe said trans women are women."

mobile.twitter.com/AndrewLawton/status/1272492279647940608

Sorry this might not be the right thread to share this in, but there are a lot of JKR threads atm and this seems the most active. And also sorry if it's already been shared, plus another sorry for saying sorry so many times that it's lost its meaning.

I ma still in shock to read that young persons working in book publishing really believe that they have to approve all the books published.
That is so far removed form the real world that I am, gobsmacked!

You have to live in a way that accepts not everyone will agree with what you think. It is part of being tolerant and civilised.
What has happened to these young people......can they really believe they are soooo entitled.?
Fearing for the future and so glad JFK has been resolute.

why don't these woke young people focus on something truly shocking like the rise of numbers of women being forced into undergoing FGM ? see todays Guardian www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/jun/16/coronavirus-millions-more-girls-risk-fgm

Yes, @Lamahaha. I wonder what Virginia Woolf would make of all this. In reality, all JKR's fortune amounts to is A Room of One's Own in this enslaved-to-the-patriarchy-dystopia we've all woken up in.

I feel that nobody ought to point out to individuals burning an author's book or books that what they are doing is probably increasing her revenue: that book will not be available second-hand, so someone will have to buy a new copy instead. Rowling gets nothing for Potter books sold in Oxfam shops, but she does get her author's share of the sale of a new copy.

@PamDenick

Couple of things to add…

The Ickabog is being released to make money for NHS charities, isn't it? Did the Interns consider that?

Also, a poster upthread. You mentioned that your DS was sensitive and didn't carry on reading the books… Did you consider that he was presenting in the wrong body and needed hormones and surgery or did you stand back like a normal parent and let him grow and develop in the body he was assigned at birth?

Did the interns consider that? No, the woke only consider themselves.

Well done Hachette and Warners.

Oh sorry pam completely missed your question

I stood back 😀

He is a wonderful young man who (a year or so ago now) told me that he was pleased he wasn’t a young teenager now as he would probably be easily convinced that he was really a girl

I found that sad