We can't publish you. You're the wrong gender.

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Bartholomew

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That's right. I'm male, therefore, my writing obviously cannot appeal to your female crowd. Not your lesbian crowd, your female crowd.

I bumped into a publisher that catagorically refuses to read anything of mine because of my gender. This just seems wrong to me. I support equal rights for women, god damn it. I don't live in a different world from females; sometimes my perspective isn't even different.

You can't publish me because of that dangly thing between my legs? I'm sorry, my ability to purchase your books and magazines just crash landed on the eastern seaboard.

I'd love everyone's thought on this sort of discrimination. Is it justified? Isn't the writing biz the same as any other business? Has anyone else come across this?

Edit:

I'm keeping a list of the Publishers in this post that only publish female authors, as I find them. Feel free to join me in boycotting them.

Virgin Publishing Ltd

First things first. We accept submissions from female authors only, with no exceptions. We have found that, in this genre, authors tend to write better for their own gender. Besides, the fact that all our authors are guaranteed to be women is a valuable part of our marketing strategy.
The KKK has a similar marketing strategy.

#

Lunacat Publishing

We do not want to discriminate against male authors, but...
Then don't.
 
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KTC

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I find a LOT of publications seeking WOMEN only, Bart. Happens ALL the time. I absolutely do not like it. I constantly choke on the double standards of this world.
 

Bartholomew

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KTC said:
I find a LOT of publications seeking WOMEN only, Bart. Happens ALL the time. I absolutely do not like it. I constantly choke on the double standards of this world.

Double Standards only pass if people let it happen. Frankly, I'm pissed enough about this do something... but I'm not sure what, yet. My personal boycot of these deplorable publishers will probably not help much.

What would happen if I had a magazine out that only published male authors? Hah! The world would dump on my head like a load of shit-bricks.
 

KTC

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You would be in a lot of trouble, my friend.
 

Bartholomew

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KTC said:
You would be in a lot of trouble, my friend.

I don't resign as quickly as you, I think.

I think I'm going to call the ACLU and see what they say. I'm pretty sure you can't openly descriminate against gender in the US.
 

KTC

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Well, I will listen intently for the outcome...but I tell you, I look all the time for new publishing possibilities and I come against this gender wall on a DAILY basis. Not just every now and again. Post the results, please Bart.
 

Bartholomew

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KTC said:
Well, I will listen intently for the outcome...but I tell you, I look all the time for new publishing possibilities and I come against this gender wall on a DAILY basis. Not just every now and again. Post the results, please Bart.

'kay.

If its at all possible, can you send me the names of the bigotted assholes publishers you've encountered that present this gender wall?
 

KTC

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lol. Next time I come across one, I'll post it.
 

Misty_Blue

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Discrimination makes my blood boil, right from the time when as a performer/ singer, I found out I was being paid half the amount the male acts were getting paid! I hope you get some justice B!!
 

janetbellinger

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This is really discriminatory. You could likely win an appeal in court if you felt so inclined. I once received a letter from a Canadian Roman Catholic Board of Education refusing to consider my teaching application because I was not Catholic. Now becing Cathoic is not a requirement; you just have to have a letter of reference from your Roman Catholic parish priest. Like, how are non-Catholics supposed to get one? Personally, I like to see a male's point of view in a woman's magazine.
Bartholomew said:
That's right. I'm male, therefore, my writing obviously cannot appeal to your female crowd. Not your lesbian crowd, your female crowd.

I bumped into a publisher that catagorically refuses to read anything of mine because of my gender. This just seems wrong to me. I support equal rights for women, god damn it. I don't live in a different world from females; sometimes my perspective isn't even different.

You can't publish me because of that dangly thing between my legs? I'm sorry, my ability to purchase your books and magazines just crash landed on the eastern seaboard.

I'd love everyone's thought on this sort of discrimination. Is it justified? Isn't the writing biz the same as any other business? Has anyone else come across this?

Edit:

I'm keeping a list of the Publishers in this post that only publish female authors, as I find them. Feel free to join me in boycotting them.

Virgin Publishing Ltd


The KKK has a similar marketing strategy.

#

Lunacat Publishing


Then don't.

#

Magic Carpet Publishing

(I'm waiting to hear back from Magic Carpet about whether or not they consider male authors.)
 

ChaosTitan

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I'm probably about to get lynched for this one, but am I the only person sitting here going, "So what?"

Niche markets exist all over the place. There are magazines and imprints that only accept manuscripts if you are African-American. Same for a variety of other races and cultures. So what? They cater to a niche audience. Let them. There are hundreds of other places to submit your stories.
 

Jongfan

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What would happen if I had a magazine out that only published male authors? Hah! The world would dump on my head like a load of shit-bricks.


Exactly.. this is just wrong.. Go git em..
 

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chaostitan said:
I'm probably about to get lynched for this one, but am I the only person sitting here going, "So what?"

Niche markets exist all over the place. There are magazines and imprints that only accept manuscripts if you are African-American. Same for a variety of other races and cultures. So what? They cater to a niche audience. Let them. There are hundreds of other places to submit your stories.

There may be thousands of others, but would we allow one magazine to say 'we only accept Manuscripts from white people - no blacks?" I know its hard to fight for what you believe in, but discrimination if left to its own devices tends to spread.. I'm with Bartholomew on this one!
 

Bartholomew

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chaostitan said:
I'm probably about to get lynched for this one, but am I the only person sitting here going, "So what?"

Niche markets exist all over the place. There are magazines and imprints that only accept manuscripts if you are African-American. Same for a variety of other races and cultures. So what? They cater to a niche audience. Let them. There are hundreds of other places to submit your stories.

Put it in business terms. Writing is my job, and they won't hire me because I'm male. The only difference is that I'm freelance, not paid-by-the-hour.

A niche market is all well and good--the material they sell is aimed at one group of people. Why must this material be supplied by women only?

Are you telling me that if I started a magazine that was by men, for men, and wouldn't hire females---you'd be okay with that?

What if I started a magazine that was by whites, for whites, and wouldn't hire Jews? Sounds a bit like how a certain dictator got into power.
 

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Celia Cyanide said:
I understand why you have a problem with this, but I think comparing it to the KKK is ridiculous.

Discrimination. Bigotry. Know the difference.

A lesser evil is still evil. The likes of the KKK are the very reason they shouldn't be allowed to do this. If they can start a rag that only hires women, the KKK could certainly open a chain of stores that only hired whites. Why not?

Female-only Gyms I can understand. Magazines? Nope. Sorry. Even Cosmo has male contributors.
 

Maryn

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Bartholomew said:
I think I'm going to call the ACLU and see what they say. I'm pretty sure you can't openly descriminate against gender in the US.
Your case will not stand up in court. It's perfectly legal for a private entity to discriminate against people who are not part of a protected class. As a group, men are not legally protected, having not been victimized by past discrimination.

Maryn, whose lawyer is shaving at the moment
 
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Bartholomew

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Maryn said:
Your case will not stand up in court. It's perfectly legal to discriminate against people who are not part of a protected class. As a group, men are not legally protected, having not been victimized by past discrimination.

Maryn, whose lawyer is shaving at the moment

Doesn't mean I can't try.

What's the difference between being victimized by a past descrimination, and being victimized by a current one? Men are people too, and I'm seeing a disturbing trend in this, and other things, where man-bashing is becoming acceptable. I shudder at the actual logic behind the decision to exclude males from their publication.

Worse comes to worse, I'll still never read anything with their name on it. Ever.

Bart, who needs a catchy tag-line.
 
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James D. Macdonald

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Surely you don't mean the Magic Carpet Books that's an imprint of Harcourt Brace, do you? I mean, I've been published by them. The rest are tiny little niche publishers -- assuming you wanted to get published by them at all, I'd have to ask why?

For the rest, why do you think pseudonyms were invented? I bet that if they got all their authors together in person that they'd get a couple of real surprises.
 

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James D. Macdonald said:
Surely you don't mean the Magic Carpet Books that's an imprint of Harcourt Brace, do you? I mean, I've been published by them. The rest are tiny little niche publishers -- assuming you wanted to get published by them at all, I'd have to ask why?

For the rest, why do you think pseudonyms were invented? I bet that if they got all their authors together in person that they'd get a couple of real surprises.

The Magic Carpet Books I am talking about has an AOL email address and is based out of Conneticut.

Same place?

If they were connected to Harcourt Brace, they kept it very, very quiet. All I know is I saw a submission guideline that said "Female only." Unless the niche is something like lesbian erotica, why wouldn't a male write for said niche?

Pen Names are all well and good, until I try to cash a check made out to Thuvia von Klick.
 

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I'm with Maryn on this one. If they said they didn't accept work from old people, minorities, certain religions, then you'd have a case. Fact is, white males are almost the only classification that it's OK to discriminate against.

I'm think if they'd said they only accept from heterosexuals it would still be kosher. At least that's how it used to be, not sure if that's changed.

Being female, I don't think I'd be this upset if, say, Maxim told me they wouldn't accept my work.

If this company's audience demands a female voice only, why not cater to that? Would you prefer they say they allow male submissions only to SASE them without even reading the work you went to the trouble of submitting.
 

Julie Worth

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In the case of Virgin Publishing, the founder of the umbrella company--Virgin Enterprises--is a man. A "sister" company is Nexus Books, which publishes S&M books for straight male readers.
 

maestrowork

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I think in principle discrimation is wrong. In practice, however, these businesses have the right to dictate how they want to run their PRIVATE business and what kind of books/authors they publish. Is it fair? No. But you also have the right to not buy their books. I think it's time to move on.
 
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