Now Etsy has turned on JK Rowling

[Needmoresleep]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8819877/Etsy-bans-sellers-heart-JK-Rowling-items-promoting-products-F-JK-Rowling-slogan.html

Why arn't us women allowed a voice?

So glad I read this thread. I had no idea about Etsy’s stance/previous actions around women and no idea they sold items like the ones discussed above.

It is so depressing that companies like this jump on a bandwagon that is so damaging to free thought, speech and the right of women To defend themselves.

Absolutely no more business from me.

Etsy hosts many very small businesses run by women ,one of the reasons I buy from there, so I didn’t boycott it -after also getting no response to my report of the terfstomper badges, mentioned above- as I like supporting these businesses and I like buying home made things. Difficult though. As pps mention, etsy is full of Harry Potter stuff. They make quite a chunk on every item, and like ebay also make money out of the postage of the item I think, which is a total con.

@Swallowzandamazons

This is OT, but there a couple of UK based alternatives to etsy that seem to have quite a firm grip on sexually explicit stuff, and those nasty pants would not be allowed to stay. Etsys mostly factories now, the days of handmade are pretty much over. I used to be a seller, couldn't compete with the factories so moved. Try folksy or not on the high street for your stuff instead.

Sorry for derail!

I don't think it is a derail - it seems entirely pertinent to suggest better alternatives.

I do also buy from Folksy, but have some people on Etsy I have bought from for many years. I don’t want them to lose out because the platform is bad.

Anyone know if it's worth complaining to Etsy about violent messages/images? There are lots of mature and intelligent 'Fuck terfs' merch items, but these two are particularly violent??

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/867055833/burning-witch-smoking-terf-radical?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=terf&ref=sr_gallery-1-7&frs=1&cns=1
www.etsy.com/uk/listing/742506939/terf-puncher-patch?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=terf&ref=sr_gallery-1-34

Not Etsy-related, but thought some may find this interesting as it relates to JK.
The website Refinery 29 publishes a ‘money-diaries’ series and in one of the recent ones the 23 year old author says she can’t support JK Rowling as she “cannot tolerate her transphobia”. My heart sunk when I read this as I suspect this person had not actually read around the issue and just jumped on the ‘woke’ bandwagon. I find it scary how quickly the message has spread and expected the comments on the article to be similar as I imagine most readers are of the same demographic.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that a number of commenters challenged the view and explained that JK is not transphobic, but is pro-womens’ rights and explained the difference and why it’s important.
I hope this means that the critical thinking on the issue is spreading, particularly amongst the younger generation, and we are moving towards a point where supporting womens’ rights and trans rights are not automatically seen as mutually exclusive.

I wonder if the school that removed JK Rowling as a house name is teaching that cancel culture is a bad thing?

@AbsintheFriends

I wonder if the school that removed JK Rowling as a house name is teaching that cancel culture is a bad thing?

I do hope someone challenges them on this.

@AbsintheFriends

I wonder if the school that removed JK Rowling as a house name is teaching that cancel culture is a bad thing?

Interesting

brendansbuddy it's worth reporting those items and any similar, Etsy is awash with items violating it's rules and relies on customers reporting such items. It is pretty slow to respond to reports but should take the offending items down eventually.

I like to support women's small businesses so buy a lot on Etsy. No more, I'll take my money elsewhere. I wrote a complaint email to them about the systematic silencing of women's voices. It just feels endless.

I feel like I'm screaming into the void... and I'm tired.

Type 'TERF' into the search function on Etsy and you'll see there's a whole nasty, misogynistic industry out there making "Fuck TERFs" and all sorts of hateful slogan clothing and nick nacks. It's vile. Such a shame because Etsy seems like it should be a good place for women to make and sell stuff. I've bought some nice feminist stuff on there.

So it’s ok to threaten women then? I wonder how it would go down it it was any other group in society (except pedophiles)?

I'm sitting here laughing because it's crazy just how your accurate intuition can be sometimes!

Their main office is local to me and I almost got a job with them for this exact thing (replying to customer reports and reviewing/removing "inappropriate" listings), but wound up turning it down after re-reading their policy and description and realized just how pseudo-"progressive" it sounded. I even said they sounded like the type of company to remove the JKR listings, and I wouldn't be able to be a part of that, well- lo and behold!

On second thought, maybe I should've taken it and approved them instead

@Swallowzandamazons

This is OT, but there a couple of UK based alternatives to etsy that seem to have quite a firm grip on sexually explicit stuff, and those nasty pants would not be allowed to stay. Etsys mostly factories now, the days of handmade are pretty much over. I used to be a seller, couldn't compete with the factories so moved. Try folksy or not on the high street for your stuff instead.

Sorry for derail!

Can you share what they are?

She did, but didn’t link.
Folksy , or not on the high street.
Folksy is quite similar to etsy for hand made things, but UK based .

Hah it’s in the daily mail now...

I just checked out your links with a view to reporting brendansbuddy and the first one is by a GC artist?

@SirVixofVixHall thank you

I keep learning about the importance of complaining. All these organisations seem to react like puppets to some pulling of the strings, and the side protecting women's rights hasn't done enough string pulling (respectful protests and complaints). So I do a lot more now.

That is a good point, maybe we really need to up our voices. I get fe up of complaining and just feel demoralised, but when there are increasing complaints companies do notice.

@SirVixofVixHall

That is a good point, maybe we really need to up our voices. I get fe up of complaining and just feel demoralised, but when there are increasing complaints companies do notice.

They do. I read somewhere that certain activists have a rota of names for quick complaint attacks so that the complaints look organically created and reflective of a larger group of customers.

I try to send out one most days! Never thought I'd become the Crazy Complaints Lady.

Thanks Gherkin think I got that first one wrong, smoking witch burning image... Apologiea