National Library of Scotland censors The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht

[OhBuggerandArse]

Took it out of their centenary exhibition because the staff LGBT+ network kicked up a fuss. Craven. This really needs massive public challenge and push back - if the National Library isn't able to fend off the censors we are utterly lost. https://x.com/EthelWrites/status/1955390550494023958

It is breathtaking.

Gosh. Haven’t been to Edinburgh for ages. Might be worth a pre-Christmas trip. I believe there’s a nice Christmas market as well.

4th of December is a Thursday.

I'd like to go and put my hands over my ears every time Shah speaks.

"We've been proven correct over and over, the law and reality is on our side, and yet they still continue with the fudge and the hypocrisy."

Just thought I’d add those two words @ArabellaScott as the law thank god is increasingly reverting back to the significance of material reality. We just need more institutions to stop with their magical and destructive thinking.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/book_the_women_who_wouldnt_whees

'Dear National Library of Scotland,
Amina Shah gave an interview to BBC Front Row about the outcome of the investigation into the her handling of the book The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht.
The interview with Amina Shah can be found on the recording of the show on October 15, 2025. The interview begins around 12 mins 54 seconds into the episode. The key part of the interview with Amina Shah I am raising a request about begins at around 15 mins 47 seconds into the episode.
During the interview, Amina Shah mentions she was presented with various documents from people internally that did look at risk (begins around 15 mins 47 seconds into the episode).
I haven't seen these documents, nor have I found them when looking online.
Please provide us with a copy of all of those documents.'

I do blame her. Grow a backbone or resign.

Giving in to these demands has material consequences for women. I have already felt these consequences with my family. It has made our life more difficult, and I do not appreciate that.

Don't pretend you are the good guy and you are protecting people from "harm", when you are just trying to save yourself, and are in fact causing harm to highly vulnerable women and girls.

Even now, when it is clear that she failed, she is tries to just move on. I find it shocking. What does she think her role is? To display books in the prettiest way? A report clearly states that she failed and that there was "inappropriate and threatening behaviour" from her staff. What is she doing to do about that? I am clearly not as forgiving as she seems to be.

Having listened to the Front Row interview, I have changed my view on her.

She's a liar, quite simply. She shouldn't be in the job.

I’m going to the event @VoleForceOne kindly posted and to the Article Book Group that Elaine Miller, @gussiegrips is organising on the 5th, 2pm.

Vole, wear a dinosaur lanyard or something do I can say hi.

I think she is just craven and lacking a backbone in this issue. I could almost picture her wringing her hands, wondering what the LGBT network will think.

She said one thing for the report and another for the Beeb.

What I'd have hoped for was an acknowledgement of the importance of protecting freedom of thought, belief and expression.

Her concern seems to be for herself, not the literature and culture she is tasked with defending.

Dammit I really regret that I'll be away both days. Thanks for keeping us all in informed @Seriestwo and @VoleForceOne

Can I ask for anyone going to the event, would you be able/willing to record it? If that's allowed.

In what world do staff threaten their boss (or library users? or other groups? do do know?) and not get sacked?

Audio should be easy, video maybe not. Though they may ask for no recording.

Audio would be fab! 😍

I’ll do my best. Might be good if others do too in case the sound quality is iffy.

My iPhone comes with a handy app called Voice Memos. You just press record and it does what it says on the tin.

To be honest, I think it the event is as billed it will be very unlikely to touch on any subject related to the exhibition - Jenny Colgan is a very successful romance writer and my guess is that the focus is intended to be on the way that romance as a genre has been denigrated as unserious 'women's literature' and they'll be wanting to talk about its potential for subversion and carrying of more serious messages. So if any attendees want to get onto the issue of the Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht, etc, you'll need to get thinking of a question that can link the two!

Yes, that was a disgusting misrepresentation. Deliberate no doubt.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/life_style/arts_ents/23561297.jenny-colgan-men-get-wrong-women/

'Romantic fiction is, she reminds me, the single biggest genre in publishing. That’s why the upcoming First Date, Scotland’s first ever romance festival, under the auspices of Edinburgh’s Lighthouse Book Festival at the Scottish Storytelling Centre later this month, is long overdue, Colgan says.
Crime, horror, sci-fi, fantasy and literary fiction all have their own festivals and get coverage in newspapers. Not so romantic fiction. Until now.

“Romance outsells every single one of those genres put together. It outsells crime by a factor of two. Most people would think crime is the big seller. It isn’t. It’s romance and romantic comedy and it’s almost completely ignored for pure snot box reasons. It’s because women read it and write it; older women and working-class women.
“Publishing is trying to be more inclusive and it is trying to reflect more lives. And certainly in romance we’re trying to reflect more gay romance, or just a broader definition of romance. And yet you’re still facing all the time this barrier of entry to books that older working-class women like and it’s just nonsense.
“If we go and do a community hall in Paisley we’ll get a fantastic crowd and we’ll have a brilliant night. If I do a fancy literary festival we’ll get like six people. They’ll go and see a Guatemalan poet who’s been in prison. It’s just snobbery really.
“So, yes, I think it is needed and I think it’s really nice that we’re partnered with Lighthouse, which is a women’s bookshop and a queer bookshop. It’s great and it’s a nice thing to be a part of.”'

ethelwrites.com/2025/10/19/the-women-who-wouldnt-wheesht-letter-to-the-convener-of-scottish-parliaments-culture-committee-in-response-to-the-national-library-of-scotlands-recent-report-on-its-decision-to-exclude-the-book/