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JBeauvoirMarch 11, 2023
I quit ordering from bookshop.org after I noticed they were censoring Shrier's Irreversible Damage (no cover photo displayed and only available as a CD??) When I inquired about it they assured me they weren't censoring books, and then after some back and forth they admitted that's exactly what they were doing. Search for almost any GC book and you'll find the same thing: no photo displayed, only available on CD. When I'm on my PC I can share the non-answer they gave when I asked for justification.
I had high hopes for my local indie bookstore, but I realized they are not interested in showing a balance of opinions. They carry most of the trans-themed children's books and every book on anti-racism; but for a shop owned and run by women, you would think they'd have a feminism section, not just a ton of Blue Q merch screaming, SmAsH tHe PaTrIaRcHy! pUsSy PoWeR!
Don't bother looking for any Marx or Chomsky either. And to top it off they've slowly let all their JKR stock be depleted. I think trying to please their Q and NB identified kids and staff is going to be their downfall.
voltairineMarch 12, 2023
i've seen a wave of these "why white women have ruined feminism" books recently at almost every bookshop i've visited or looked up online.
my mother and i also loved this bookshop near-ish to us where we'd actually drive a substantial drive to go there, my mum would order in books there quite often and we enjoyed our visits there -- my mum even used their shop for her work, roughly a $100 profit yearly for them just from her workplace. we stopped buying from them full stop because i visited their website and they had featured that awful "manhunt" book about killing and sexually assaulting TERFs and we refuse to support misogyny.
AgrimoniumMarch 16, 2023
Not quite censoring but everytime I've used Blackwell's to order books on trans issues like Helen Joyce's or Kathleen Stock's, the "we recommend" section is ALWAYS Shon Faye's 'The Trans Issue' (the most prominent TRA book in the UK). Literally the grid is just the paperback followed by the hardback. Bad algorithm at best, deliberate moralizing at worst. It makes me feel like they're saying "tut tut tut! Why don't you come and buy the right book on this subject..."
OneryBoxMarch 12, 2023
I've been wanting to start something like: Fahrenheit 451 Books, where I'd have literally any book for sale, no censorship (unless it's illegal). I wouldn't know where to host it though where it couldn't be taken down. I'm sure something like it already exists, right?
LilithMarch 11, 2023
I don't know about bookshops but my local library refuses to place ANY pagan books on their shelves. If its not a mainstream religion, they don't have it.
VestalVirginMarch 11, 2023
Small local libraries seem to often be quite strange.
I heard of one that refuses to have fantasy books.
kassandraMarch 11, 2023
my utter confusion for libraries and bookstores banning ideas is boundless.
VestalVirginMarch 11, 2023
I felt similarly when I heard of it.
People who have such a strong dislike for certain kinds of books should not become librarians.
voltairineMarch 11, 2023
bookshop near to me refuses to stock jk rowling. it has TRA books galore though.
A lot of great books as well are out of print, as well, alongside being straight up censored. I'd love to see us reprint books that are hard to find like The Transsexual Empire.