So.  RaceFail 09.

I've been reading, reading, and reading some more for nearly the entire duration (rydra_wong's collection of links is an amazing resource for folks wondering what I'm talking about) but I haven't said much of anything online about it because it seemed to me that I needed to listen and educate myself--I also have a pretty strong preference to not engage in internet arguments.  

I am a white woman and I live in a society that privileges whiteness.  I know that I have said and done racist things in my life and that is a shameful thing.  I am trying to do better.  It is a hard thing to admit, but it is the only thing to do.  It should go without saying, but I'm going to say it anyhow: I do not deserve praise for admitting this.  It is my hope that people will call me on any stupid shit that comes out of my mouth in the future and that I am in a place where I can accept the criticism with grace and without becoming defensive (like us white people are so good at doing).

In terms of the current debate, I am in a weird position.  As the senior SF/F reviewer for Romantic Times, I feel as if I am caught in a nebulous area between fan and pro.  Most of the people who write for RT are, like myself, fans who really love the genre(s) we review, but at the same time, we are part of the publicity machine.  I have to make a lot of judgement calls around what to include in the section--I don't have a whole lot of space.  At most, I can pick about 15 books per month to include. 

Generally, my criteria are a combination of, "Does this look interesting?" and "Is this by someone we have covered in the past?".  I think I've been leaning a bit too hard on the "Is this by someone we have covered in the past?" and not enough on "Does this look interesting?".  I am going to try to shft that paradigm and see if I can include more new or lesser-known writers, as well as be more proactive in searching out interesting titles from small presses (which I kinda sorta suck at right now).

As a reviewer, I know that sometimes authors believe I'm interrogating the text from the wrong perspective.  The thing is, I'm not reviewing the book for the benefit of the author--they have betas and critique groups and editors for that; I'm doing it for the readers.  I try to be aware of where I am likely to react badly are and to account for them when reviewing.  I am not always able to set aside a book because I find one or more aspects of it problematic or offensive*, but I do my best to call out those aspects so other readers will be aware and make their reading decisions accordingly.  Generally, those warnings concern sexual violence more often than racism, but that could be my privilege showing.  In fact, it probably is.  So: something else of which to be mindful.

Separately but related:

I categorically reject the idea that people operating under pseudonyms are not real people or should have their online identities linked to their offline identities.  I operate under quasi-pseudonymity on LJ--it is a trivial task to link my legal name to this LJ should anyone desire to do so.  I use a pseudonym not because I am ashamed of my online activities but because I do not want potential employers to find this LJ--unlike most of the people talking about how real names trump pseudonyms (at least in what I've read), I have actually been harassed out of a job because of my online life.  And when I complained about the harassment to the executive director of the agency for which I worked, I was told that it was my fault for having a website and that if I didn't want my co-worker to harass me (and spread rumors around the office and encourage others to harass me as well), I should take the site down.  I bear some culpability for my former co-worker being able to find me online--at that point, I did have my full name on my site--but she was the one who made the decision to search for and then to use that information in the workplace**.

I've been working on this post for several days now.  I don't know what else there is to say that hasn't been said a million times better by other people.  I don't want my public silence to be interpreted as agreement.  Because it isn't. 

---
*I have, however, refused to review one book on the grounds that I found it to be profoundly racist: Peter David's Tigerheart.  He has a Native American character named "Dog Licking Self" and refers to the Native American characters as "redskins" throughout.  Yes, the book is based on a text that itself uses that term (Barrie's Peter Pan), but that's quite honestly no excuse especially since they're not really Native Americans to begin with--I think it was wyvernfree who suggested at the time that "barbarians" would be a better term since that's essentially what they are.  

**The information she found? I'm queer and I'm non-monogamous and I'd made an off-hand comment about how I wasn't sure about something she'd asked me to do (I didn't specify what or who, just that it seemed weird) and that I was going to talk to our mutual supervisor about it when her got back in the office.  Yes, she was mentally unstable.  She was also in a position that was much more difficult to fill than mine so when push came to shove, out I went.

I'm starting to list books on eBay.  Please help pay for my wedding!

Seller ID is eilatan1174.

I haven't really said much publicly about Nipplegate, mainly because I wasn't really sure what to say.

But I would like to say that I find it very sad that a number of my friends felt that it was necessary to delete their accounts in order to make LiveJournal/SixApart listen to their concerns.

I've been using SixApart products for years now, ever since the first version of Movable Type.  I was a beta tester for TypePad a few years ago.  I've never had any problems with them and my interaction with their tech support staff for both those products has been superb.  Which is why their boneheadedness on this issue is so maddening to me. 

Especially considering how quickly they moved on the licensing mess with Movable Type a few years ago.  To recap that saga, they introduced a paid version of MT, but the restrictions on users & number of blogs was so restrictive that people were going to have to pay hundreds of dollars to upgrade to the new version.  Within a handful of days--no more than a week--they announced that they were re-evaluating their licenses and within a month they'd made changes to the pricing scheme that pretty much everyone could live with.  And that was without any sort of organized campaign on the part of outraged users, just on the strength of hundreds of trackbacks and emails from concerned users.

I was hoping for a similarly quick resolution of this issue.

I was hoping in vain, apparently.

I don't know where the line should be.  But I do know that it bothers me immensely that, because my breasts are not lactating, that they are considered obscene by some women whose breasts are lactating.  It also bothers me that male breasts are considered normative, while female breasts are deviant.  They are not.  I think I would rather see a "no naked male and female breasts at all" rule, where naked equals "visible nipple or areola" than a rule that implies that naked male breasts are acceptable but that female breasts are not.  Because that's what we've got right now, and that's sexist.  (Or, you know, make a rule that says that all breasts are acceptable; as a longtime fan of breasts, I could get behind that, too.)

I'm also very concerned with statements made, ex cathedra, by members of LiveJournal Abuse.  Many of these comments have been documented at the Exposing LJ Abuse blog.  Additionally, I am really bothered by a comment that Anil Dash made on this post over at the Whatever, in which he didn't disclose his financial interest in LJ/6A and basically said that people were blowing this out of proportion and that they should be worrying other, more worthy issues. 

While I'm not convinced that having a default icon of a mother breastfeeding her child does much to further the cause (I know there are those who disagree with me on that point and I hope we can agree to disagree on that point), I think it is beyond ludicrous to claim that making an issue about default icons means that the person making the issue hasn't the desire to worry about other issues as well.  In fact, it's downright insulting.

And yes, the behavior of some members of breastfeeding advocacy communities has been just as bad--and it has hurt the reputation of the community as a whole.  I would hope that there are repercussions for those individuals.  Comparing the banning of icons with visible nipple/areola to slavery is obscene and should not be tolerated.  The lack of moderation of the boob_nazis community is a major problem and I would hope that the more level-headed members of the community move to have a more active moderating team.  (Also, personally, I'd look into changing the name of the community, but that's jsut me; I'm aware it's a joke, but I don't think it's very funny.)

What I would hope would come out of this would be a re-evaluation of the role of the Abuse Team.  They perform a vital and important role in the smooth functioning of LiveJournal, but it's become pretty clear through this fiasco that there are problems.  There should be a transparent appeal process.  As of now, there is no appeal process in place.  If there are unpublished guidelines surrounding any part of the FAQ or TOS, those guidelines should be published--and it should be indicated that it's not an exhaustive list (to cover the rules lawyers, because there are always rules lawyers).  There should be a policy in place that prohibits retroactive editing of the FAQ to conform with a decision made by a member of the Abuse Team.  There should be a clear rule prohibiting the Abuse Team from acting on reports filed as part of a vigilante action, if for no reason other than the fact that such actions on the part of users use up time and resources that the Abuse Team could be using to deal with real issues.  The Abuse Team shouldn't be a weapon in inter-community warfare.

Anyhow.  I'm looking forward to the return of my friends tomorrow.  I've missed them.

Also, for fun: Tit Bits and The Nipple Project

For those of you involved in the breastfeeding icon brouhaha, I provide the following links for your use in icon-making (I went looking for one particular painting that I'd seen at the Met, but found a bunch more):

Virgin and Child, attributed to Simon Bening

Virgin Suckling the Child, Netherlandish (Antwerp) Painter

Virgin and Child, workshop of Dieric Bouts

Virgin and Child, Anthony Van Dyck

Virgin and Child, Hans Memling

Madonna and Child with Two Angels and a Donor, Giovanni di Paolo

The Holy Family, Joos van Cleve

Text of a comment I posted to this post over at Feministing (archived here for my own reference, no one needs to read what's below the cut unless they really want to read me wank on about romance novels and stuff).

( wank wank wank )

As most of you know, my sister has a daughter who was born on February 10th.

She's been trying to breastfeed, with mixed success.  It seems that she's susceptible to mastitis, which isn't a lot of fun, and the baby's having some latch issues as well.  She's been persevering (and working with a LC), but now disaster has struck:

Her breastpump--which she's been using to help buid up her supply (and to put a bit of extra breastmilk on ice) has broken. 

Her husband is not working.  She does not work.  She cannot afford to replace the part of the pump that's broken.  So I'm posting this here in the hopes that someone will be able to help her.

She has an Avent Isis pump, an older model.  She can't find the model number anywhere on it--she bought it off eBay.  The piece that has broken is the funnel piece.

If anyone happens to have this piece or know where it can be obtained, please let me know at natalieann @ livejournal.com.  You will be compensated.

Edit: It's been taken care of. Thank you, everyone.

Posting this in the hopes that someone will be able to help--

Does anyone know any publicists at Baen?  I'm trying to get a review copy of the new Wen Spencer and RT isn't having much luck finding anyone.

Also, because I suck, I meant to post this yesterday--



What I wrote in 2001: Manibus date lilia plenis