Monday, April 13, 2009

Amazon De-ranks Books With Gay Content

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clipped from www.advocate.com
Amazon De-ranks Books With Gay Content

Online retailer
Amazon.com recently began to de-rank books containing
“adult” content, resulting in what appears to
be an arbitrary censoring of many gay and lesbian
titles.

The censored titles span a variety of
genres and include pillars of gay and lesbian
literature such as Giovanni’s Room by
James Baldwin, Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown,
and Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg.

Books that are
de-ranked lose the chance to appear in Amazon’s
best-seller lists, and also may be removed from search
results.

Author and
independent publisher Mark Probst noticed the change on
Saturday, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Probst inquired with Amazon, and received the following
response:

“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.”

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