well behaved women

I just got Angels' Blood, by Nalini Singh, from Third Place Books. I was looking forward to it so much I called over the weekend to special order a copy, and I got it the day it came out.

And I just--

EEEEEEEEE

It goes so beyond my farthest, dearest hopes and expectations! And I'd been building it up in my head, trust me. So much lovely, lovely fun. This isn't even a guilty pleasure, it's just a pleasure.

Fucking Hell.

After spreading coffeeandink's full RL name all over the internet simply, I believe, because she criticized his book, Will Shetterly now tries the tried-and-filthy tactic of patronization. Unsurprisingly convincing no one and disgusting many. Her response.

You outed me after people told you and told you and told you this was wrong and dangerous. You outed me knowing nothing of my circumstances. You outed me having been warned it could expose me to physical violence, sexual abuse, personal harassment, and professional and personal hardship. You outed me, you kept re-outing me, you encouraged others to out me.

However, and in general, the silence from sf fandom has been pretty fucking resounding. Apparently, it's a very, very, very big deal when a woman of color criticizes someone's book, or when a white editor's feelings get hurt, but outing someone's legal name on the Internet? That's not worth a mention.

Thanks, sf fandom. I hadn't quite understood my place. It's a lot clearer to me now.

More information/context

...but because they deliberately choose to threaten and damage real human beings (in this case for merely speaking out against racism) and I do NOT want to be anywhere near them or to be responsible for anyone else being placed anywhere near them. This shunning extends throughout their personal and professional life as I do NOT want to support their dangerous sociopathic behaviour towards real live human beings in any way, in any place.

For people who were previously unaware of either or both of these individuals I should point out that Cramer's an editor of the New York Review of Science Fiction along with her husband (who is also an editor at Tor books). W!ll Sh£tt£rly is an author.

I don't understand how anyone can be sick enough to do this kind of thing.

After a little poking, I found out what RaceFail 09 actually is.

Kind of interesting actually. But incredibly disheartening. Elizabeth Bear is at first an encouraging example, and then mildly disheartening. The worst part was Emma Bull, whom I'd previously been a fan of.

An Open Letter Which says, I think, important things.

A link to a collection of links. My--most favorite? least? most important--quote found is by shati, here,

... women of color have to prove they have the credentials to critique books by white authors. Fans of color have to prove they exist. People of color have to prove that they have meaningful conversations. People of color on top of that have to prove their good faith and their willingness to help white writers. Everybody who disagrees with TNH has to prove their non-sockpuppetry. All anti-racist people have to share the details of their class backgrounds with Will Shetterly, however personal or painful those details might be, and people of color have to prove their existence again. Now you have to prove that there are valid reasons to be careful about your full legal name on the internet. On top of all the damage. It's kind of ironic that SF fandom, of all things, is having such a crisis of imagination about the existence and the workings of other communities.

This is depressing me. I just wanna go make cookies.

ETA: I forgot to add in this link, which a kind person provided for some context and clear explanation of the situation.

Okay. Okay wow. Following these links is just...remarkable. I mean, when it comes down to it, I can hardly believe people like that still exist. Hmm! Wow.

Okay, let's sum his interactions up, from veejane: I think it's time his name become an internet law. Like, The Law of Shetterly Conservation: As any discussion continues to engage American social issues, the chance of a concern troll interrupting to insist that everyone is talking about the wrong issue approaches 100%. Corollary: Aforementioned interruptor will without fail disbelieve the existence of intersectionality.

This, on the other hand, is sort of horrifyingly hilarious: after throwing a temper tantrum about how someone only found a book offensive because of 'shallow reading', medievalist believes they are justified in throwing out grand conclusions and aspersions on someone's character because they ran a perl script on their blog. Wha?

WOW. JUST WOW.

Okay, I've been following links and now...I'm sort of depressed again.

Just have a timeline if you're still curious about what's going on.

My one comment on the whole issue: I find it hard to be impressed by white people complaining of racism towards themselves (specifically: how it justifies them) because in this culture caucasians are ultimately unmistakably in a position of power. It irritates me because I'm not interested in seeing only white people in my books, on my TV screen, etc., but it is undeniable.

Also: I remember when I was a child I heard someone tell me that if you visit France, they're not fans of people who don't speak the language. (This is paraphrased to use more mannerly terms.) I grew up, remembered that, and thought, "who the hell could get snottier than Americans over not speaking the predominant language?" (Not everyone, obviously, it's just an attitude that I've...noticed.) I haven't yet been to France, but people who have inform me that early statement was quite untrue.