Good Vibrations Magazine

Over the weekend, Amazon.com dropped the sales ranking of a number of books pertaining to sexuality — of adult-themed literature such as The Joy of Sex, and LGBTQQI/Queer themed books.

A recap: On Friday, two gay-themed romance novels disappeared from Amazon’s sales rankings — they were still listed on the site, but could not appear on best-seller lists. On Saturday, hundreds more vanished. Writer Mark Probst asked Amazon.com customer service what happened, and got this answer from an “Ashlyn D.” in customer service:

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.Twitter users started decrying the move en masse, tagging their posts “#amazonfail” and accusing the online retailer of homophobia. Amazon.com PR didn’t help matters by calling the problem a “glitch.” Even though the sales ranks of most gay and lesbian titles had been restored, Twitterers taunted Amazon.com by posting messages with the tag “#glitchmyass.”

Glitch my ass, indeed. One LiveJournal user speculated that the mass flagging of gay books on Amazon.com might be the work of organized antigay groups — or troublemaking hackers… [via ValleyWag]

There’s been much upheaval about the situation, many bloggers calling out the unfair ranking or de-ranking of some books over others. Many authors have removed their Amazon Affiliate links, others have called for a boycot in other ways. The most successful response was a google bomb created by Smart Bitches for Amazon Rank. What was interesting was the riff in the divide between people expressing their outrage of censorship of Queer material while putting down adult and sexually explicit material in the same breath. Many authors were reporting that it was due to adult content that their books were removed of their sales ranks.

Though one known hacker claimed to be the cause (which is debatable), some Amazon reps called it a ‘glitch’ — which has some wondering if they meant it was a glitch to include LGBTQQI books and authors in the de-ranking of adult-themed content. Feministing further confirms this idea about the glitch.

Basically he said that amazon has been experimenting with the way they dole out content specifically so that people who are searching Harry Potter or whatever won’t run into links to products that might be offensive.

…It’s super fucked up, but apparently he’s saying that Amazon is a bully when it comes to stuff like this and it’s all about sales for them and it’s not about censorship. [He said t]hat they love you, love Seal, but that this is mandated from their bosses, who essentially want to be Walmart. [via Feministing]

Tony Comstock (who has been subject to the fails of censorship) commented: “What are you willing to cut out in the never-ending quest for “safe” search results?” Many authors are outraged about their own books, but the finger should not be pointed at ‘adult content’.

…thousands of users have voiced concern after the seemingly random application of the new rules not only affected a number of high-profile authors, including Annie Proulx, EM Forster and Jeanette Winterson, but also led to thousands of gay and lesbian titles being stripped of their sales rank, regardless of their sexual content.After being bombarded with angry emails from authors and readers, Amazon blamed a “glitch” in its system, which it said last night was being fixed.

But just a few days ago, the company told complainants books classed as containing “adult material” had been prevented from appearing in some searches and bestseller lists “in consideration of our entire customer base”. Yesterday a spokeswoman denied there was ever any such “policy”. [via Guardian UK]

I’m curious to see more as this develops. In the meantime, feel free to check out the Erotica and Sexuality books at Good Vibrations, and the ever poignant America’s War On Sex.

Marty Klein, Ph.D.

To enter many adult websites, you have to click on a button that declares “Yes, I’m over 18.” The ubiquitous age page is part of a systemic effort to repress expression, limit curiosity, and deny choices regarding sexuality, argues Dr. Marty Klein. Chapter topics on abstinence-only sex ed, reproductive rights, regulation of the Internet and broadcast media, porn, adult entertainment, and sexual privacy explore the ways that law, religion, and culture deny the positive power of sexuality. Dr. Klein, a sex therapist and public policy analyst, uses rigorous analysis to break down the arguments for protecting children and grown adults from sexual expression and additionally, to explain why research and peer reviewed studies are needed to contradict the sex negative forces around us. 2006, 212 pp. Won American Association of Sexuality Counselors and Therapists 2007 Sexology Book of the Year

UPDATE:

Heather Corinna of Scarletteen.com makes an important point about teens searching Amazon for sexual information in the Guardian UK.

Our own Carol Queen gives her report on the subject on City Brights, the SF Chronicles’ blog. (If you do read it, please take the time to leave a comment. There are some really ignorant, sex-negative trolls on there.)