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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

"Blocklist of transphobic people in publishing"

97 replies

valleyofadventure · 01/06/2022 16:07

This is horrendous. I think it's come off the back of some discussions about Rachel Rooney earlier this week.

twitter.com/LoobyLouDino/status/1531965355224182785?s=20&t=mWXIoRqRaymm1OBcDAG7lg

twitter.com/YoungRefuseniks/status/1531656005007859714?s=20&t=ou8VZpRH7l_OyzbSrauY4Q

Young Refuseniks
Hello everyone - we have now created a blocklist of transphobic people in the publishing industry. It will probably need to be regularly updated, but we hope that it can provide more safety to the people who need it. DM us if you'd like a copy.
5:17 PM · May 31, 2022·Twitter Web App

Young Refuseniks
The accounts on the list are people who have liked, retweeted or followed transphobic posts/accounts aimed at people in the publishing industry in the past week. If you believe that we've made a mistake somewhere, feel free to tell us.

Young Refuseniks
The people on the list range from small, unpublished authors to popular writers and people who work for publishing houses with large followings. The list is currently 7 pages long.

OP posts:
Boiledbeetle · 01/06/2022 21:16

Everyone should self publish every day under different names e books of whatever the done way these days (god I'm old, books only exist in paper form to me) with titles to pull in your target market.

Just stick a few pages of nonsense in as they aren't going to be reading it any way. I'm sure the authors amongst us will know the right word combinations.

It would keep them busy compiling lists of imaginary authors

Mollyollydolly · 01/06/2022 21:25

The Society of Authors and Joanne Harris have a lot to answer for, they've encouraged this. Any decent organisation would have nipped it in the buds years ago. I really dislike Joanne Harris now, if she comes on the radio I switch off straight away. Vile, intolerant bullies, all of them.

IstayedForTheFeminism · 01/06/2022 21:25

Imagine being so insecure in your beliefs that you need to block everyone who disagrees. Rather than debate/discuss the issue
Surely if you're so confident in your beliefs then they will stand up to criticism and questioning.

Other than that, who actually has time to look at who has liked tweets disagreeing with you and block them all.

tabbycatstripy · 01/06/2022 22:34

It’s obvious who looks after that Twitter account. They took the names off but they’re still available if you Google it. One is a UK literary agent, one is a student. They look young but they’re obviously causing a lot of damage in that industry and I think they should stop before people report them to their employers/universities for harassment.

Wor · 01/06/2022 22:48

MrsTerryPratchett · 01/06/2022 16:36

Someone needs to read up on the Cultural Revolution and the McCarthy trials. And Salem for that matter. Shit even the Nazis if I want to invoke Godwins Law.

This.

It’s disturbing seeing people so ignorant of why witch hunts, cult behaviour and thought police aren’t a good thing.

I don’t know what the point of all our years of compulsory education is if people leave school so ignorant.

NoSquirrels · 01/06/2022 22:52

Yeesh.

TheMarzipanDildo · 01/06/2022 23:03

Sounds like it could be a good reading list, has anyone seen it?

HollowTalk · 01/06/2022 23:08

I'm wondering whether I'm on it. Does anyone have a list? Just say if I'm not on it I'll be really pissed off.

Boiledbeetle · 01/06/2022 23:58

From their tweet: The list is currently 7 pages long

I can't help but think that when someone gets hold of the list they'll discover its double line spaced and written in Comic Sans font size 14 .

WhyPaulMemory · 02/06/2022 00:03

Fecking hell. I expect I’m on on this list, not because of what I tweet, but because of who I follow. Publishing is getting very scary. I make sure I keep my views to myself at work, it getting very McCarthyite.

Boiledbeetle · 02/06/2022 00:06

MrsTerryPratchett · 01/06/2022 17:29

They don't need to be burning books so much as reading books. Preferably history books. Then philosophy, logic, politics and any fiction like Orwell or any SciFi which addresses dictatorship. Clockwork Orange?

A How Not To Be A Little Arsehole reading list.

I'm happy to read anything of theirs!

Can I add this to the list of books they should read:

www.amazon.co.uk/How-Not-Be-Dick-Etiquette/dp/1936976021I

And on that note good night.

SoManyQuestionsHere · 02/06/2022 01:13

Someone with reasonable grounds to suspect they may be on this (i.e. "vaguely related to the publishing industry, currently or formally) PLEASE go ahead and make this all about data protection. If there is a list of people, there is also a lot of "personally identifiable information". And if you're organised enough to run a support group and call yourself such (and run a Twitter account in that name), it's also at least plausible that you're some sort of an "organisation".

Data subject access requests, followed by requests to rectify, followed by insisting on your "right to be forgotten" and for all records pertaining to you to be permanently deleted. Demands that the mere list entry doesn't include the source data, and unless they've made it up (in which case it's defamatory!), they must be in possession of that, too! You name it! Extra bonus points for "also, I'm an EU national, and as such am demanding this as per EU GDPR; no, that law doesn't care about Brexit, it doesn't even care if you're in the Maldives and were never in the EU to begin with!" And, in case of failure to react, reports to Twitter, ... andsoonandsoforth.

And, no, the idea is not even to take this to court (if you manage: good on you, but: chances are they're not even, technically, an actual organisation capable of responding. Also, I'm not a lawyer!). The idea is rather ... data protection compliance stuff is some of the most outrageously annoying stuff you'll ever have to deal with in your life. Even if you're completely right, it's still ridiculously cumbersome to gather the evidence of this, document, and demonstrate that you are. So, the idea is, basically: administrative overload! DDoS, except: not on machines but on organisational capacity.

I'd quite enjoy it - sadly, I haven't published anything at all ever since I got my letter to the editor printed in the local paper at around age 12.

SoManyQuestionsHere · 02/06/2022 01:17

For the record: not suggesting anything illegal - don't do that!

I just ... can't stand book burners (literally or metaphorically). And I like the irony of throwing the book at them.

MrsTerryPratchett · 02/06/2022 02:40

You're evil @SoManyQuestionsHere

My eye twitches when someone mentions compliance and I don't even do anything wrong!

PlantSpider · 02/06/2022 03:35

I’ve seen all the stuff this week with ‘best connected person in publishing’ Sam Missingham and Rachel Rooney and Clara Vulliamy. Wow. The virtue signalling can probably be seen in space. I’m blocked by Clara despite never once interacting.

It seems as though Joanne Harris now uses a she / they pronoun and so I guess I would be extremely careful as an author what I’d say.

MagnoliaTaint · 02/06/2022 10:52

SoManyQuestionsHere · 02/06/2022 01:13

Someone with reasonable grounds to suspect they may be on this (i.e. "vaguely related to the publishing industry, currently or formally) PLEASE go ahead and make this all about data protection. If there is a list of people, there is also a lot of "personally identifiable information". And if you're organised enough to run a support group and call yourself such (and run a Twitter account in that name), it's also at least plausible that you're some sort of an "organisation".

Data subject access requests, followed by requests to rectify, followed by insisting on your "right to be forgotten" and for all records pertaining to you to be permanently deleted. Demands that the mere list entry doesn't include the source data, and unless they've made it up (in which case it's defamatory!), they must be in possession of that, too! You name it! Extra bonus points for "also, I'm an EU national, and as such am demanding this as per EU GDPR; no, that law doesn't care about Brexit, it doesn't even care if you're in the Maldives and were never in the EU to begin with!" And, in case of failure to react, reports to Twitter, ... andsoonandsoforth.

And, no, the idea is not even to take this to court (if you manage: good on you, but: chances are they're not even, technically, an actual organisation capable of responding. Also, I'm not a lawyer!). The idea is rather ... data protection compliance stuff is some of the most outrageously annoying stuff you'll ever have to deal with in your life. Even if you're completely right, it's still ridiculously cumbersome to gather the evidence of this, document, and demonstrate that you are. So, the idea is, basically: administrative overload! DDoS, except: not on machines but on organisational capacity.

I'd quite enjoy it - sadly, I haven't published anything at all ever since I got my letter to the editor printed in the local paper at around age 12.

Would one need to be on Twitter to do that?

MagnoliaTaint · 02/06/2022 10:53

Boiledbeetle · 01/06/2022 23:58

From their tweet: The list is currently 7 pages long

I can't help but think that when someone gets hold of the list they'll discover its double line spaced and written in Comic Sans font size 14 .

7 pages?! Is that all? Tell them to save time they can just put all authors and publishers on it and then remove the few that have pronouns in their bios on Twitter. Sorted.

TastefulRainbowUnicorn · 02/06/2022 11:07

Couldn't this backfire massively?

I'm only guessing as an outsider, but from the consumer point of view, I don't think TRAs read much other than perhaps YA. And from the industry point of view, lists cut both ways. A nice helpful list of who's not in the gender mafia, and in fact is royally pissed off with the gender mafia, that people in the industry can use to network. I suspect that there's likely to be more talent and more seniority among the "transphobes", who may decide that fighting back is the best defence.

Maybe they'll end up giving publishing exactly the shakeup it needs and it will all end with the vile Cultural Revolution contingent out on their ears.

TastefulRainbowUnicorn · 02/06/2022 11:12

Not to mention that there is probably a large silent minority in the publishing industry like anywhere else, who may have no strong feelings on the trans issue but won't take kindly to the making of industry blacklists.

dangerrabbit · 02/06/2022 11:15

Do even the most rabid amongst them not realise the optics do not look good on this one?

MagnoliaTaint · 02/06/2022 11:24

TastefulRainbowUnicorn · 02/06/2022 11:12

Not to mention that there is probably a large silent minority in the publishing industry like anywhere else, who may have no strong feelings on the trans issue but won't take kindly to the making of industry blacklists.

Indeed.

MagnoliaTaint · 02/06/2022 11:25

But as they say, Tasteful - never interrupt your enemy when they is making a mistake ...

PurgatoryOfPotholes · 02/06/2022 14:44

Boiledbeetle · 01/06/2022 23:58

From their tweet: The list is currently 7 pages long

I can't help but think that when someone gets hold of the list they'll discover its double line spaced and written in Comic Sans font size 14 .

Blimey. I have been keeping a little longlist of authors who deserve my money for their bravery, instead of blacklisting authors who don't agree with me. My list could barely fill a page, even with including authors whose works are out of print and people who write cookery books!

As soon as I've finished my to read pile, I'd love a look at their list. Sounds like I could be missing out on some authors! <looks excited>

MagnoliaTaint · 02/06/2022 14:57

Ah, they've given up!

tabbycatstripy · 02/06/2022 15:03

That is a damn shame. Have they recanted, or just deleted?