amazon’s new “adult” filter
it seems that amazon has begun to strip the sales ratings of any book THEY deem to have “adult content.”
or at least that is what they say.
hundreds of books labeled as “gay an lesbian” have had their ratings stripped, and no longer can be found through the amazon searches – unless you are very specific about finding it. i want to note that these books are stripped simply for their label of “gay and lesbian,” not necessarily for their actual content. an example of this is the filly by mark r probst. there is no sex in this book – it is a young adult book. and yet he had his rating stripped. you can read his blog about this, including the response amazon gave him about the ratings being stripped, here.
also check out <A HREF=”http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/593110.html”>this blog</A> by an avid reader who has done research into how simple it is to find said books on amazon.
this new practice by amazon is completely unfair, and bigoted. they need to know that it will not be tolerated. i ask you to consider signed the petition, and even sending a message to amazon telling them why you are so disappointed in this new move. you can sign the petition <A HREF=”http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/in-protest-at-amazons-new-adult-policy”>here</A>.
this is what the petition states – please sign!!!! =
We the undersigned, state our strong objection to Amazon’s “Adult” policy as outlined in their letter in italics below
“In consideration of our entire customer base, we exclude “adult” material from appearing in some searches and best seller lists. Since these lists are generated using sales ranks, adult materials must also be excluded from that feature.
Hence, if you have further questions, kindly write back to us.
Best regards,
Ashlyn D
Member Services
Amazon.com Advantage
We find it hypocritical that Amazon continues to sell adult books but thinks that removing the sales rating to (keep them out of the public eye) will achieve this.
We would like to hear the rationalisation for allowing sales ratings for explicit books with a heterosexual focus such as:
–Playboy: The Complete Centerfolds by Chronicle Books (pictures of over 600 naked women)
–Rosemary Rogers’ Sweet Savage Love” (explicit heterosexual romance);
–Kathleen Woodiwiss’ The Wolf and the Dove (explicit heterosexual romance);
–Bertrice Smal’s Skye o’Malley which are all explicit heterosexual romances
–and Alan Moore’s Lost Girls (which is a very explicit sexual graphic novel)
Yet the following books, which have a gay or lesbian focus, have been classed as “adult books” and stripped of their sales ratings:
–Radclyffe Hill’s classic novel about lesbians in Victorian times, The Well of Loneliness, and which contains not one sentence of sexual description;
–Mark R Probst’s YA novel The Filly about a young man in the wild West discovering that he’s gay (gay romance, no sex);
–Charlie Cochrane’s Lessons in Love (gay romance with no sex);
–The Dictionary of Homophobia: A Global History of Gay & Lesbian Experience, edited by Louis-George Tin (non-fiction, history and social issues);
–and Homophobia: A History by Bryan Fone (non-fiction, focus on history and the forms prejudice against homosexuality has taken over the years).
Please tell us, Amazon, why the explicit books with a heterosexual focus are allowed to keep their sales ratings while the non-explicit romances, the histories and the biographies that deal with LGBTQ issues are not.
We would love to hear your reasoning.
Leave a Reply