GC Agent Fired

[MondayYogurt]

The absolute thrill and power surge this TRA, Bethany Baptiste, must have felt in doing this.

twitter.com/storysorcery/status/1297708094122790918?s=21

Sorry if this is a dupe - I did search.

The usual violent threats.

[quote MondayYogurt]Her 'transgressions'

twitter.com/merynlobb/status/1297736461765292036?s=21

I believe the cowards who fired her have locked their account, but their contact form is here:

www.thetobiasagency.com/rights-permissions[/quote]
I gave them my twopence worth on the contact form. Spineless creeps

Why does Twitter allow such an obvious threat to remain? I'll go report it but is there any point?

I think it isn't just YA and fantasy (both massive genres) that are infested with wokery. Look at some of the big mainstream names of late - Atwood, Bernadine Evaristo, Helen Oyeyemi and others are all jumping on the trans/nb bandwagon. I listened to an interview with Olivia Laing recently where she talked about not feeling comfortable with her 'female gender'. Even Marian Keyes has a trans character in her latest novel (not sure what she does with her, haven't read it yet.) It isn't confined to a particular niche and I don't think it's going away. You might not buy books that have a specific trans 'agenda' but if writers are expected to prove their allegiance by putting trans/nb characters in books, it's not going to just peter out by itself. You will find yourself reading books that have trans issues shoehorned in there.

The 'own voices' campaign is also pretty brutal in deciding what writers are allowed to write about, with traditional authors like Lionel Shriver being completely cancelled and virtually unspeakable now.

To the person who suggested a female only publishing house - I was recently involved with one such, who said that she includes trans/nb in her definition of 'female'. I imagine she has to.

@MondayYogurt that account has now been suspended! I reported it and got a response very quickly. I trust I wasn't the only one reporting it.

You will find yourself reading books that have trans issues shoehorned in there.

In Robert Galbraith's Lethal White, which is televised from this Sunday, there is a character who describes herself as pansexual "but is only ever seen with men." I think that's JKR having a bit of a dig...

I think that's JKR having a bit of a dig...

Do you think anyone other than JKR would get away with it?! Well, any other woman, I mean. Honestly I've come up with several whole plots for books about transgender serial killers and psychopaths, doctors involved in massive medical scandals, paedophile rings etc - but can't imagine them ever getting published.

[quote MissLawls]@MondayYogurt that account has now been suspended! I reported it and got a response very quickly. I trust I wasn't the only one reporting it.[/quote]
Well they're a very popular non-binary who seems to like violence and threats very much.

And I expect at some stage they will want to fight in the women's catagory.

Sasha White is in the Daily M. now.

"You might not buy books that have a specific trans 'agenda' but if writers are expected to prove their allegiance by putting trans/nb characters in books, it's not going to just peter out by itself. You will find yourself reading books that have trans issues shoehorned in there.”

Won’t those authors then get criticized for writing trans characters when they aren’t trans themselves? Don’t think there’s a win here.

Yeah you either don't include trans characters and you're a bigot, or you do and you're an appropriator. Unless you declare yourself trans or NB and guess what? Yep, that's what writers are doing. That's partly why they're so viciously on all this stuff.

I've never had a trans character in a book of mine and none of the books I've read to date have trans characters. It's just not a thing yet and I hope it never will be. I don't really believe that books will be targeted for not having trans characters. It's just not the same as, for instance, books not having black or brown characters. Trans are such a minority, it would really stand out to have them showhorned in as minor characters -- a bit like the black sidekick in so much of crime movies.

I hope you're right. I have had my writing criticised for not having trans characters so I guess that's where I've got the idea. But I hope you're right it will never become a thing. Although I do think it's already a thing to some extent - maybe not mainstream yet, but in some circles.

@queenofknives

Wow I too wish to know who the out GC agent is! I'm guessing it's a man...

This whole thing is such a fucking grift. I saw the agency are now saying they'll read any trans person's manuscript and donated money to pay for rent and surgery for black TW. It's a grift. It's so obvious. Before long, publishing will be full of trans writers who are there because they threatened to throw a fit if they weren't published. It's already getting a bit like that.

I can't imagine that being very good for book sales.

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8661809/Woman-sacked-literary-agency-anti-trans-comments-Twitter.html

Mail link.

I can't imagine that being very good for book sales.

Well it's not, is it? Hasn't The Second Shelf gone out of business now? I mean all these companies think that twitter is real life and go for what they think is going to make them popular - but in reality, people don't go into your bookshop if you call them names. And people don't buy books on the basis of identity politics... although the wider book discussions kind of are all about this. There's a huge pressure to conform and I think booksellers and librarians are also part of this big push towards wokeness in all its forms. It would be nice to think that genuinely good writing would come through no matter what, but that's not what I see happening at the moment. A bit like TV - so many new shows are painfully woke now. New shows are not getting made unless they nod towards trans stuff. There's always something.

I'm taking comfort from the pile of shit the agency will have to wade through after inviting manuscripts.

Couldn’t see their statement on here.
Here it is, in all its grovelling glory....

I've never had a trans character in a book of mine and none of the books I've read to date have trans characters. It's just not a thing yet and I hope it never will be.

I've only ever come across one book with a trans character, one of Val McDermid's Tony Hill books - the transwoman was the serial killer. Guess that wouldn't be allowed today.
Interestingly enough the killer wanted to be a girl because his mother wouldn't let him do "girly" things like baking.

You’re not actually a martial artist just cos you play Mortal Kombat.

There’s a trans character in World According to Garp but I’ve only seen the film not read the book.

There’s no issue having trans characters in your books if you want but tokenism (which all this sounds like to me, an outsider) isn’t going to lead to great novels.

I heard John Irving talking about why he always includes trans characters in his books. He said it started from a deep empathy for women who were treated as a weird non-default minority despite being most of the world. And he grew his empathy to include other groups including gay and trans people. I would have done the same until I got to learn about some of the motivations for a trans identity. Gender Dysphoria is one thing (although it cannot make you a woman) but there is often more to it than that cases as well all know on here but are not allowed to spell out.

I think the pressure to include trans characters will only ever touch a small sector of the book market, in a few genres - show-off literary fiction, YA, sci-fi - and in reality those are fairly small sectors. The saga market is HUGE in the uk, as is the cosy cupcakes/seaside cafe market, and I can't see the readers of either of those genres (typically women, who pick the books up in the supermarket after only a cursory glance at the cover) getting up in arms about the lack of trans representation in the mills of Victorian Lancashire or at the beachside cafe in Made-Up-On-Sea.

It's a tiny, vocal minority doing the shouting and huge numbers of sensible, good-story-seeking, biology-believing women who don't even have twitter accounts keeping the market going by buying books. Publishers need to keep that firmly in mind.

queenofknives:

Wow I too wish to know who the out GC agent is! I'm guessing it's a man...

She's a woman!!! And her tweets are a joy to behold.

What about Marian Keyes? She writes contemporary fiction that's massively popular. (But I haven't read her book with the trans character so I've no idea how she treats them... she's not been cancelled so I assume she is uncritical. Or maybe just not been caught out.)

Also, literary fiction (which is generally not about showing off) may be a small market but it's hugely influential in terms of where the conversation goes, so I wouldn't underestimate it. Also I disagree that SF/F or YA are small sectors - they are huge, and growing. Most people have heard of JKR, George RR Martin etc. There's surely a lot more money in that than cosy cupcake/seaside tales (I have to admit complete ignorance of those genres so maybe I'm underestimating the market share - just going by the bestseller lists, I would expect to see a lot more YA and fantasy).

I don't know. I'd like to think you're all right and I'm seeing stuff that isn't really there. But I still see it. Trans has captured publishing and bookselling almost completely - I can't see how books themselves will be unaffected.