Two Amazon workers quit over harmful book on transgender people

[PoetPhilosopher]

Amazon workers quit over sale of book framing transgender identity as mental illness

Long article but apparently Amazon has a policy against publishing misinformation on LGBT+ people, but allowed one book to slide. As a result, some Amazon workers have decided to petition, and two have decided to quit.

I support these Amazon workers. They should be able to work in a safe, comfortable environment, and if they aren't getting that at their jobs due to their employer selling these books and them working for an employer that does, I'm prone to think they can find a better job elsewhere.

 

[Nakosis]

Amazon workers quit over sale of book framing transgender identity as mental illness

Long article but apparently Amazon has a policy against publishing misinformation on LGBT+ people, but allowed one book to slide. As a result, some Amazon workers have decided to petition, and two have decided to quit.

I support these Amazon workers. They should be able to work in a safe, comfortable environment, and if they aren't getting that at their jobs due to their employer selling these books and them working for an employer that does, I'm prone to think they can find a better job elsewhere.

IMO, folks shouldn't allow themselves to be triggered so easily.
Of course I went through Scientology, were they have "courses" and the idea is to find everything that triggers you and push that button over and over.
I didn't like it either. They have auditors who's sole purpose is to make you feel as uncomfortable as possible.

Eventually however, you learn not to let other people control your feelings like that.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Amazon workers quit over sale of book framing transgender identity as mental illness

Long article but apparently Amazon has a policy against publishing misinformation on LGBT+ people, but allowed one book to slide. As a result, some Amazon workers have decided to petition, and two have decided to quit.

I support these Amazon workers. They should be able to work in a safe, comfortable environment, and if they aren't getting that at their jobs due to their employer selling these books and them working for an employer that does, I'm prone to think they can find a better job elsewhere.

Silly. It's like a Jewish person quitting Barnes and Noble because they sell Mein Kampf.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

IMO, folks shouldn't allow themselves to be triggered so easily.
Of course I went through Scientology, were they have "courses" and the idea is to find everything that triggers you and push that button over and over.
I didn't like it either. They have auditors who's sole purpose is to make you feel as uncomfortable as possible.

Eventually however, you learn not to let other people control your feelings like that.

Exactly. All that does is run from the problem. Their quitting advances no struggle, it causes no change, it's less than a drop of water in a bathtub full of water.
And gender dysphoria is in the DSM, so it's not like saying it's a mental illness is entirely inaccurate. And people misusing and abusing that is a massive issue that plagues society with all these pop-armchair shrinks who make unethical and inaccurate diagnoses is its own problem, and a severe one at that (such as scores of people have autism or bipolar disorder per some "couch university" graduate who can't even describe those disorders beyond a few bullet points).

 

[JustGeorge]

I did not know that Amazon didn't sell any particular kind of book, but I kind of find that troublesome.

Whether or not I like, agree with, or approve of a book, it doesn't mean it shouldn't be sold. Amazon is a major marketer. When we start banning books(or topics that books can be written on), we are getting too close to censorship, in my mind. The only exceptions I can think of would be cases in which the author would be arrested for sharing/possessing the information they have...

I personally would never buy a book disparaging LGBT people, but people have the right to read what they want.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I did not know that Amazon didn't sell any particular kind of book, but I kind of find that troublesome.

Whether or not I like, agree with, or approve of a book, it doesn't mean it shouldn't be sold. Amazon is a major marketer. When we start banning books(or topics that books can be written on), we are getting too close to censorship, in my mind. The only exceptions I can think of would be cases in which the author would be arrested for sharing/possessing the information they have...

I personally would never buy a book disparaging LGBT people, but people have the right to read what they want.

It's all politics and trying to censor opposing views. That book doesn't even look like it is bashing trans people as a whole, but is another book criticizing the current trans movement (there are multiple that have come out recently), criticisms I've likely made myself.

The book sounds like a worthy read, actually: Irreversible Damage - Wikipedia

The author is discussing things that definitely need to be discussed. The wave of vitriol being directed towards this book, from the usual suspects, is very telling.

 

[JustGeorge]

It's all politics and trying to censor opposing views. That book doesn't even look like it is bashing trans people as a whole, but is another book criticizing the current trans movement (there are multiple that have come out recently), criticisms I've likely made myself.

Honestly, I can't say I would believe Amazon is all that concerned about any group of people. They're just boycotting certain things to appease a customer base, I suspect.

I feel its best to let the criticisms be published/purchased. How can one dispute something if that 'something' isn't even allowed to be said?

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Exactly. All that does is run from the problem. Their quitting advances no struggle, it causes no change, it's less than a drop of water in a bathtub full of water.
And gender dysphoria is in the DSM, so it's not like saying it's a mental illness is entirely inaccurate. And people misusing and abusing that is a massive issue that plagues society with all these pop-armchair shrinks who make unethical and inaccurate diagnoses is its own problem, and a severe one at that (such as scores of people have autism or bipolar disorder per some "couch university" graduate who can't even describe those disorders beyond a few bullet points).

Informed Consent and family doctors willing to make quick diagnoses, is kind of saving my life. Sometimes you just believe you have gender dysphoria beyond a reasonable doubt, and you want things pushed through as timely as possible. Whether or not people want to care about me as a person...... I'm just not certain I'd be here posting right now if it wasn't for hormones as well as social transitioning. I'd be drowning my sorrows out over 6 hours of Nintendo Switch a day, and looking for excuses not to talk to people and as a result, I wouldn't be on RF. Hard to deny that since we all know I've taken breaks from RF before. But posting regularly is more something I do when I'm in high spirits.

 

[JustGeorge]

But posting regularly is more something I do when I'm in high spirits.

Hope to see you keep posting.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Silly. It's like a Jewish person quitting Barnes and Noble because they sell Mein Kampf.

I take that back, this book is nothing like Mein Kampf.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Honestly, I can't say I would believe Amazon is all that concerned about any group of people. They're just boycotting certain things to appease a customer base, I suspect.

I feel its best to let the criticisms be published/purchased. How can one dispute something if that 'something' isn't even allowed to be said?

Amazon doesn't care about anyone. They treat their warehouse workers as basically livestock.

 

[Twilight Hue]

Amazon workers quit over sale of book framing transgender identity as mental illness

Long article but apparently Amazon has a policy against publishing misinformation on LGBT+ people, but allowed one book to slide. As a result, some Amazon workers have decided to petition, and two have decided to quit.

I support these Amazon workers. They should be able to work in a safe, comfortable environment, and if they aren't getting that at their jobs due to their employer selling these books and them working for an employer that does, I'm prone to think they can find a better job elsewhere.

Well from a historical standpoint, it was regarded as a mental illness.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I'm probably going to buy this book to support freedom of speech.

"Target briefly stopped selling the book following criticism online, but made it available for purchase again a day later.

Amazon suspended a paid advertising campaign for the book just as it was being published. Amazon claimed that this was because the book "infers or claims to diagnose, treat, or question sexual orientation."

A petition to have two copies of the book removed from Halifax Public Library was launched in April 2021. The library refused, citing intellectual freedom and stating that removal would constitute censorship. Following the library's refusal to remove the book, Halifax Pride severed ties with the library.

On July 15, 2021, the American Booksellers Association, a non-profit trade association that promotes independent bookstores, issued an apology for distributing the book, calling the decision to do so a "harmful act"."

Outrageous.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

New I'm probably going to buy this book to support freedom of speech.

And I'm not going to dislike you for it, as this is certainly a multi layered, not black and white, issue. Many ways of looking at the subject.

 

[Twilight Hue]

It's kind of amazing it was removed from DSM only 20 plus years ago. There's still some contention but largely reclassified.


The decision to remove homosexuality from the DSM: twenty years later - PubMed

 

[Shadow Wolf]

A petition to have two copies of the book removed from Halifax Public Library was launched in April 2021. The library refused, citing intellectual freedom and stating that removal would constitute censorship. Following the library's refusal to remove the book, Halifax Pride severed ties with the library.

That is outrageous! Libraries exist to provide information, with the Library Bill of Rights (non-binding) forbidding censorship and withholding information.

And I'm not going to dislike you for it, as this is certainly a multi layered, not black and white, issue. Many ways of looking at the subject.

Censorship is good for no one. A healthy and functioning society won't be hasty to demand it. Demanding we have the ability to censor information for others, it's as bad as fundamentalist religions wanting to control the information others take in. Religious, political, life styles, various circumstances of birth, damn near everyone at various points have been under the gun of censorship laws and forbidden to speak. But yet it's still something that's inexplicably popular.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I take that back, this book is nothing like Mein Kampf.

Reminds me a lot of when we heard being gay was a fad and everyone is going to turn gay because it's a trend and all the doomdays, apocalypses, and Armageddons and Ragnoroks that were supposed to come of that.
The one thing I would do different is change the best seller criteria for "demographics studies" of any groups to mandate the books be evidenced based, as clearly the title in question is not. That is more problematic that this book being sold.

 

[SomeRandom]

Silly. It's like a Jewish person quitting Barnes and Noble because they sell Mein Kampf.

Interestingly my old high school history teacher (who we all suspected had someone she knew die in the Holocaust or was herself Jewish due to her extreme hatred of Hitler) repeatedly recommended we read Mein Kampf.
Said it was the best way to avoid that happening again

 

[Kooky]

I personally would never buy a book disparaging LGBT people, but people have the right to read what they want.

In a capitalist society, people have the right to read what's on offer, and nothing more.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Reminds me of some TERF article I read somewhere some time ago that was a very similar subject matter (I wouldn't be surprised if it's the same author because it was specifically on "our daughters."). But, one thing that struck me was this author clearly had no respect for the autonomy of her adult children. Things like "my baby" and "my girl" where frequently used throughout, with high levels of outrage and rejection towards her son having his breasts removed, as if it's something that shouldn't have even been allowed. And, very much also like the title in question with the hole over the woman's uterus, this article emphasized reproduction, as if it's a daughter's obligation to give her mother grand children. So what? That's not her decision or choice to make for her kids.