Amazon is "Back to Normal"?

Well, as of this morning, my book is back in the general searches and it has a sales ranking. I received two Amazon customer service replies, one to my censorship complaint on Sunday, which was the same as the "ham-fisted" official statement (and seems to be the one everyone is getting). The other is more personal, a reply to my complaint last Thursday. They said they checked my book page and reinstated in in general searches. So, everything's back to normal, right?

Not quite. As the "Humans at Work" blogger argued, feelings are a fact. Whatever the reason for my sudden de-ranking, it feels like some right-wing, anti-sex, anti-LGBT intelligence--well maybe "intelligence" isn't the right word, "human will" perhaps?--was at work. Authors who are challenging conservative sexual hang-ups in any way still are vulnerable to censorship and judgment and the Amazon mess has shown how vulnerable we still are--again whether it was intentional or not. My feelings are telling me Amazon should post a statement reassuring authors and readers that they support a non-judgmental open marketplace for books. Maybe then I'll start feeling a tad bit more trust. But for now, I'm afraid I can't do that....

Will Twilight Make You Gay?

Here's a hilarious Youtube video that Jackson Pearce made of her call to Amazon Customer Service suggesting that Twilight be put on the banned list because it gave her gay thoughts.

It's always good to laugh!

And thanks to the Internet for giving us all access to people who are speaking out!

Still No Real Answers from Amazon

Amazon has issued a cryptic statement about making a terrible cataloging error and apologizing to the gay and lesbian community. But many questions remain. Were they intending to de-rank erotica and just so happened to make a mistake to include Heather Has Two Mommies?

They need to come out with a full statement of their intentions and their philosophy. If there has been a sudden, secret plan to hide all erotica and keep it from being easily accessed, I'm going to continue to boycott them. Even if the inclusion of "gay and lesbian" in their banned books criteria was a mistake, the act of a secret mass round-up of books itself is objectionable. Amazon could, for example, provide a special filter for customers who can't bear to see such traumatizing titles and book covers and let the rest of us endure the horrors at our own discretion. Or they could put a banner at the top of the book's page: contains adult content. But the consumer should be allowed to make the judgment.

Apologizing to the gay and lesbian community is necessary, but not enough, and I hope the outcry does not die down into complacency. It's like saying prejudice against African Americans is bad, but it's okay to discriminate against Mexicans. I think this debacle demonstrates that any censorship is dangerous.

In an article linked to the one above, the reporter was commenting that Amazon does not release sales figures for Five Minute Erotica, snigger, snigger. Grow up, people and stop being such hypocrites. The majority of us have sex, all of us have erotic desires, and Amazon has certainly made plenty of money off of it. Oh, well, enough for now. I'm still really upset by this!

Lessons from Amazon

This #amazonfail censorship fiasco has had some interesting side-effects. First of all, it's been a great illustration for a discussion the dangers of censorship with my children. My tech-savvy older son immediately signed on to twitter to help the cause and had lots of ideas on how consumers can protest. We're all looking forward to seeing how this plays out. The right-wing is known for being noisy, but maybe progressives are just a little tired of taking it all "maturely." And that includes Amazon's decision to take in loco parentis powers to protect their readership from sex and homosexuality. Except Hugh Hefner's brand....

Another interesting side-story has been to watch how people react (including myself) on the comments boards. Some find it hard to believe Amazon would do such a thing--it must be Christian trollers. (If so, Amazon still owes us an apology and a public statement of their intention to support free speech). Some accuse gays of being too sensitive. Some authors just sighed and said, "well, I guess there's nothing we can do." My immediate reaction is to fight, write letters, boycott. Now I know well, very well, that a little guy can't do all that much. But a lot of little guys can. And sometimes a little guy can at least make some difference. A small difference is a big difference. I have to say my heart is gladdened by the outcry to this Amazon policy. Last Thursday, I thought I might struggle alone to get my girl reinstated, but it turns out tens of thousands of authors suffered the same fate. Together I think we can do something.

The ironies of this debacle are also interesting. This happened the same week Judith Krug, the woman who started Banned Books Week, died. Lyrical and lovely Anais Nin is relegated to the de-ranked dusty back room. Henry Miller is not. Anti-gay books stay right up front because they lie and don't label themselves "gay/lesbian." The inspiration for my novel, Ihara Saikaku's The Life of an Amorous Woman, gets to stay in the front under the lights, although its heroine is a true nymphomaniac who has thousands of sexual encounters and a hundred abortions. The book was banned by the Japanese government in the 1930s for its sexual content. And frankly, if you're looking for a bad example for kids, Oharu is way worse than Lydia. So, Amazon, take your lessons from Japanese militarist fascism and remove Saikaku as well!

Yesterday I was feeling a bit wounded by all of this. Attacked. I'd thought our society was opening up to intelligent, honest sexual expression. The small bookstores were not friendly to erotica, but at least we had Amazon. But maybe that wasn't quite true. When I thought of writing again this week, I felt a little scared and tired. But you know, this morning I realized that I'm still a fighter and I will fight on.

One dirty story at a time.

Amazon Cures Homosexuality!

It all makes sense now! Amazon has removed all gay and lesbian themed books from their general searches EXCEPT the following. Yes, type in "homosexuality" and you get A Parent's Guide to Preventing Homosexuality among other enlightened tomes. As a parent, I'm so relieved (not). If they're going to be the Amazon Fundamentalist Christian Bookstore, be honest with your name. And where's the big picture of Jesus on the homepage?

If you wanted to come up with a politically embarrassing list of books that Amazon is "recommending," you could do no better than this screen shot. Some commenters are claiming this is a "glitch with the database," but I can assure you there is some policy-making going on at some level. Amazon has a lot of explaining to do if they want their customers back. Either that or get that Jesus picture up on the homepage pronto, Jeff Bezos!

I can only hope that the Internet, which made Amazon what it is, can bring it down for doing this.

Amazon "Protects" America through Censorship?!

I was going to blog about what the Easter Bunny brought me this morning and how it's sort of fun to eat middling quality milk chocolate for breakfast one day a year, but I have a more disturbing visitation to write about today--news that the weird stuff going on with my book on Amazon.com is actually party of a company-wide campaign to "erase" adult-themed books, including anything having to do with gay and lesbian issues. All sales rankings have disappeared from these books and they no longer show up on general searches. I queried Amazon and received messages that seem to suggest their customer service staff is clueless, or at least was as of late last week. But now it's official.

In other words, Amazon is censoring us, without even giving their customers the chance to request this filter. Apparently Lady Chatterley's Lover and a Playboy retrospective of centerfolds are still okay for general viewing. Amorous Woman and books on gay and lesbian parenting are not.

This feels like such a violation, I'm reeling. I know Amazon is a "red" company on the balance in terms of their political contributions. I didn't like that, but it really was THE place to promote your book in terms of reviews, Amazon Connect and other tools, so I overlooked that. But now I absolutely must boycott them--and I will. I ask you all to do the same--check out this information from Erastes, sign the petition and write Jeff Bezos expressing your objections.

People who read and write GLBT themed books and erotica are smart, literate, book-buyers. We write what we do to protest our society's narrowed minded and unhealthy attitudes sexuality. There was a bookstore up in Point Reyes that refused to carry my book, even after I appeared on a local radio show, because they categorically did not carry "erotica." And yet I saw books on their shelves that I knew had plenty of sensational sex scenes that were far less thought-provoking than mine. Amazon is doing exactly this with their new policy--making "value" decisions based on the most ham-handed criteria. Until last week, I truly considered them the friend of the small author. Now I think they are hypocritical and dangerous and clearly tied in with the "moral majority."

I hope, at least, that Amazon's shame is a chance for Barnes and Noble and our local independent bookstores to celebrate.