We hear a lot about Cancel Culture these days. There are those who claim it is a fabrication: that the people who are “cancelled” then get a platform to talk about what happened to them, so how can cancellation be a thing? There are those who say people who claim to have been cancelled either a) deserved it because of their egregious views or b) it’s a dog-whistle for the right wing who just don’t like/can’t cope with the fact that their world view is being slowly eroded.
I don’t share that view. I think Cancel Culture is a very real phenomenon. I have seen it damage people I know, and people I don’t know. Yes, often the story of the “cancellation” makes the press - see recent examples of Kathleen Stock and Rosie Kay - but generally speaking it comes after the cancellee has been subject to abuse/bullying/being hounded out of their jobs.
It would be nice to think that publishing, an industry I have worked in all my adult life, was immune to Cancel Culture. But sadly, that would be untrue. There is something very very rotten at the heart of today’s publishing industry. Everyone knows and has a view on JK Rowling, who has been subjected to consistent attacks for expressing the until recently hitherto uncontroversial statement that people can’t change their sex. The attempts to cancel her have failed, mainly because she is one of if not, the, most successful living writer. Her publishers to their credit have supported her. Cynically I could say, that in part that is because she makes them a lot of money, but when you see the weaselly way Warner Brothers are promoting her new film, and the fact that HBO have effectively written her out of their upcoming 20 year Harry Potter reunion, you realise they could keep the money coming in without actually supporting her very much.
Publishing at heart is a business. Companies frequently make decisions based on the money a particular author brings in. So while Piers Morgan is a controversial figure (who probably agrees with JK Rowling), he will still get a book deal because it makes good business sense. You don’t have to like that, but that is the reality of our industry. All my life I have heard people decry the money spent on celebrity books, but the truth is, without them, a lot of other books might never get published. It’s a symbiotic relationship - companies need money to survive, to pay their workers and writers, and your average debut from a new literary writer isn’t going to bring in that kind of revenue. So the big hitters (and I don’t just include celebrity authors in this) bring in money for the company, that allows them to take risks on newer, unknown authors. To cancel one of your big hitters is a massive own goal, so yes, these people whoever they are are usually safe.
However, what most people outside the industry are often unaware of is that there are many little people, working away at the coalface year after year, writing books their readers love and enjoy, who are at huge risk of cancellation, should they dare to step out of their lane and express a view that the majority feel is wrong.
This is what has happened to Rachel Rooney. A celebrated children’s poet, who had the temerity to raise concerns about the sudden rise in gender dysphoria among adolescent girls, especially autistic girls. For the crime of doing so, she started to receive abuse and trolling on Twitter, especially after she published My Body and Me, a lovely picture book for children extolling the joys of loving your own body. I cannot for the life of me think why anyone could claim this book to be transphobic, but to some apparently it is. And it was after this was published, that the bullying towards Rachel became much much worse. I have followed some of her story from the sidelines, aware she was having a rotten time, and aware that as a result of it she had decided to leave publishing. However, it wasn’t until last week when I read her account of what had happened, that I realised quite how vicious and nasty the campaign against her has been. You can read it here and judge for yourself.
https://wildwomanwritingclub.wordpress.com/2021/12/09/rachel-rooneys-exit-interview-from-publishing/
I read Rachel’s story and it shocked me to the core. That people who ask us all to #bekind, and claim to be on the “right side of history” could behave in such a fashion to a fellow author, simply because of ideological differences, is unfathomable to me. But they do and they have. I imagine a lot of people reading this will be on “my side” of this debate, and agree with me, that Rachel’s treatment has been shocking (as has been the utter lack of support she has had from the Society of Authors.).
If, however, you are coming to this piece as someone who thinks differently on this issue, and feels that people like Rachel need to be called to account in some way, I urge you to read her story and consider whether you really want our industry to be the kind of place where people are hounded out for Wrong Think and Wrong Speak. I know I certainly don’t. I like to think if I read this story and it was about someone who was being bullied and harrassed for views that didn’t agree with mine, I would think the same. This kind of bullying has no place in our industry. It is a huge stain on the wonderful world of children’s publishing, where I spent many happy years early in my career.
I know many people in publishing who are frightened of speaking out on this or any other contentious issue, for fear of losing their livelihoods, or the online pile on that might ensue. This has got to stop. We should be able to work without the fear that speaking our minds could lead to our being sanctioned by others who claim to have right on their side. Which isn’t to say that I would support racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia or disableism in any shape or form. Of course I don’t. Neither does any right thinking person. What I am against is people being silenced for raising valid and honourable objections to ideas that are not only unscientific, but threaten the hard fought-for rights of not only women, but gay men and lesbians.
So this is a call to arms, to all those of you who work in publishing: those who agree with me, those who disagree, those who are sitting on the fence. We cannot go on allowing this kind of vicious bullying towards anyone in this industry whoever they are. We all have a duty to stand up and be counted and call out hateful behaviour for what it is (and that does not mean trouncing the perpetrators in the same way).
If not now, When? If not, you, Who?
#IstandwithRachelRooney #IstandwithJKRowling
Good piece. One criticism: Rachel's book is called "My Body Is Me!", not "My Body and Me". Quite an important conceptual distinction, apart from the factual issue.