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By Karen Ballum for BlogHer
Did you know that you can self-publish on Amazon? You can, and that's kind of cool. What's not cool is that it means that anyone can self-publish on Amazon -- people like Phillip R Greaves II, who self-published an ebook called The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure. Yes, you read that right.
The book description:
This is my attempt to make pedophile situations safer for those juveniles that find themselves involved in them, by establishing certain rules for these adults to follow. I hope to achieve this by appealing to the better nature of pedosexuals, with hope that their doing so will result in less hatred and perhaps liter [sic] sentences should they ever be caught.
My Twitter stream exploded with tweets about this today. Some called for a boycott of Amazon until the book is removed. Others encouraged people to post trigger warning with the link. One thing that was the same about all the tweets I saw was the outrage that people felt.
Twitter pointed me to a discussion about the book in a MobileReads forum that stated Amazon replied to the complaints on an Amazon.com forum. I found the forum but the response from Amazon wasn't exactly there ...Amazon.com allegedly replied to a complaint about the book via email by stating it is censorship not to sell certain titles. The alleged response to the complaint was pasted into the forum and contains the following:
Let me assure you that Amazon.com does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts; we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions.
Amazon.com believes it is censorship not to sell certain titles because we believe their message is objectionable. Therefore, we'll continue to make controversial works available in the United States and everywhere else, except where they're prohibited by law. We also allow readers, authors, and publishers to express their views freely about these titles and other products we offer on our website. However, Amazon.com doesn't endorse opinions expressed by individual authors, musical artists, or filmmakers.
But this response seems to be in conflict with Amazon's own Content Guidelines, which state:
Offensive Material
What we deem offensive is probably about what you would expect. Amazon Digital Services, Inc. reserves the right to determine the appropriateness of Titles sold on our site.
Illegal Items
Titles sold through the Digital Text Platform Program must adhere to all applicable laws. Some Titles that may not be sold include any Titles which may lead to the production of an illegal item or illegal activity.
Pedophilia is illegal and therefore a self-proclaimed guide to pedophilia would fall under those guidelines, don't you think? The author's comments on the book's page do nothing to help the situation. In the comments section of the book's listing page on Amazon.com, he replies to the protestations about the books' content by stating that pedophiles "share sexual pleasure" with children and pedophiles only rape children in the "statutory sense of the word."
I haven't read the book. I certainly don't want to. It seems to me, and again I'm not a legal expert, that this book violates Amazon's content guidelines. Hopefully the public outcry in response to the book will mean that it is removed, but only Amazon can make that decision.
But if they don't remove it, I know this -- I will not buy anything from a company that sells this material. I would not shop in a physical store that would display that on the shelf, and why should it be any different online? The holidays are the on the horizon. I have a lot of shopping to do. If Amazon continues to sell this book, I know that they will not get a single penny of my money, nor will any of the companies they own. I'll take my money somewhere else.
More #amazonfail:
Amazon pulls Macmillan books then puts them back
Do you have the right to keep your book purchases private?
Will you shop Kindle while this book is being sold?
Contributing Editor Karen Ballum also blogs at Sassymonkey and Sassymonkey Reads.
Reaching more than 20 million women each month, BlogHer is the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online with a publishing network of more than 2,500 blogs. BlogHer adds unique voices of women bloggers to the TODAY community. Read more at www.blogher.com -- and sign up for our newsletters to get the best of BlogHer in your inbox.
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Leave a Comment:
Absolutely disgusting!!! As a mother of two children, this literally makes me feel nauseous. How can banning a "how to" book on an illegal practice be considered censorship? You can be arrested for posting and possessing child porn; however, you can't be arrested, let alone censored, for telling the world how to rape a child? What is the difference? This makes no sense to me, and I would definitely be willing to boycott Amazon over this.
This is disgusting and I am also a mother of 2 girls. I guess the book isn't illegal if it is the authors original work and the seller follows Amazons rules. If he didn't admit to abusing a child then that is probably why he isn't sitting in jail. Unfortunately, this is one of those times that living in a free country is a double edged sword. I think a book like this is awful and those people who abuse kids should all suffer the same abuse and much worse but I also don't want my personal freedoms taken away either. We have the choice to not buy the book, inform law enforcement so they can keep an eye on the perv, or boycott Amazon. I personally will not boycott Amazon for any reason because I do buy stuff from them especially during the holidays. If everyone boycotts Amazon and they were to go out of business(1 in a million chance of that ACTUALLY happening) then that will just hurt us in the long run because that is 1000's more people w/out jobs.
A a survivor of sexual abuse I am appalled. In my case I survived and grew up to be a productive citizen. I am worried about how many victims and how many children will be victimized because of this publication. Abuse marks a child for the rest of his life. Victims of child abuse are three times more likely to commit suicide than children who have not. Amazon.com is an accomplice to crime. I will never buy anything from them or their related companies ever....
This is beyond appalling. I am so disgusted with Amazon that I am closing my account ASAP. What ARE your values, Amazon?
By the way, Sarahb83 I don't understand your logic for not boycotting Amazon. We have to hold our giant companies to a minimum level of decency - and if that means they go down, so be it. If Amazon goes down, some company WILL take its place.
This is absolutley REPULSIVE...a happy childhood lasts a lifetime, and unhappy childhood lasts even longer as we pass on to our children they pass onto their children. As a victim of childhood sexual abuse perhaps I should write a book on how to protect your children from "amazing" people who you trust, love, honor and ALLLOW into your life, home, etc and they abuse your children...it is eye opening and disgusting.
ANYBODY can be a pedophile.....do not worry about the Megan's Law and who might be your neighbor...worry about the one who has not been caught. Children do not lie...trust me I would never ever ever want to live this ugly nightmare! I am blessed to have a loving family and support system but MANY victims are not.
This book/author need to be investigated, and any and all children he and his friends have been in contact with need to be questioned. This is NOT about freedom of speech people this is about PROTECTING OUR CHILDREN....
Shame on Amazon...