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Amazon pulls yaoi from Kindle store
Robot 6 posts this story:

Amazon pulls yaoi from Kindle store

Excerpts:

Yaoi manga is a niche genre, but like all niche genres, it has a devoted following. Yaoi readers gobble up the books like romance fans read Harlequin novels, which is not surprising as they are basically the same thing, except that yaoi 1) is manga, 2) is a love story between two men, and 3) often includes lots of sex.

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Recently Amazon has become more strict in enforcing their content requirements for ebooks. Several DMP books that have been available online since 2009 are getting the axe, beginning with our 801 Media titles like Weekend Lovers and King of Debt. However, in the last few days the issue has spread to the June imprint by Amazon’s refusal of The Selfish Demon King, and the removal of The Color of Love from the Kindle store.

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....all the reviews I checked described the book as more sweet than sexy, which raises the question: If this story had been about a man and a woman, would it have been removed from the store?

A quick search suggests that the answer is “no.” Titles currently available on Kindle include Christmas Creampie, a graphic novel in which “horny Whoreville hussies show a frustrated dildo shop owner the true meaning of Christmas,” and Little Lorna in Resort Sports (I’m not even going to link to this one), in which Little Lorna, who is spunky, sexy, but “not too bright,” goes on vacation to Mexico with her Uncle Bob; “nudity, spanking, and sexy humor” result.

So apparently a sweet love story between two men is unacceptable, but an orgy in a dildo shop is OK.

Thanks to crabby_lioness for posting this over at noscans_daily

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	sandglass 2011-05-04 06:50 pm UTC (link)
	So, am I remembering right that this is the third instance of homophobia at Amazon.com? Fuck, and I just made another big purchase there. Fuck you, Amazon.com. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	sandglass 2011-05-04 06:50 pm UTC (link)
	Also, Amazon.com straight up sells dildos. And BDSM gear. And hate speech. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ekaterinv 2011-05-04 07:14 pm UTC (link)
	I really hope you're not grouping dildos and BDSM gear with hate speech. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	spawn_of_kong 2011-05-04 07:21 pm UTC (link)
	I think what she's trying to say is that Amazon seems okay with selling het accessories, but not yaoi-related stuff, ergo there's a double standard at work. At least, I hope that's what she means, because otherwise... yeah. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ekaterinv 2011-05-04 07:23 pm UTC (link)
	Dildos and BDSM gear are strictly het accessories? Wow, that's news to me! I'll have to inform all my non-cis non-het friends that they've been doing it wrong for years. (I'm guessing you know they aren't, I'm just really, really worried certain other people don't know.) (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	spawn_of_kong 2011-05-04 07:51 pm UTC (link)
	Yeah, I should have said "accessories associated with het." My bad. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ekaterinv 2011-05-04 07:53 pm UTC (link)
	I'm surprised and a bit disturbed that anyone would associate them with any particular sexuality. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	keri 2011-05-04 10:39 pm UTC (link)
	I thought it meant "not associated exclusively not-het" but clearly ymmv (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sandglass 2011-05-04 08:36 pm UTC (link)
	Not necessarily a double standard, just homophobic. Double standard implies that it'd be okay if applied to both, doesn't it? Whereas obviously, Amazon.com is known for selling everything and there's nothing wrong with that and it'd be bullshit to exclude everything related to sexuality, but excluding this one small area is some ripe bullshit. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

ekaterinv
2011-05-04 08:45 pm UTC (link)

Double standard implies that it'd be okay if applied to both, doesn't it?

I don't think necessarily, but it would be okay if the standard applied to dildos and romance novels and etc. was applied to yaoi. Though actually some of the sex toys they sell are likely unsafe, and some of the lube causes yeast infections in those prone to them: phthalates (found in jelly toys) and glycerin (found in KY) are bad mojo. So if Amazon actually wanted to protect their customers, they'd actually warn about that stuff. And they certainly wouldn't censor yaoi, which has never caused genital itching as far as I know.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	sandglass 2011-05-04 08:51 pm UTC (link)
	I don't think I'd be okay with them stopping selling sexual stuff. Why can't the store I buy bulk replacement sweetener at also sell me vibrators! Walgreens now sells them, after all! (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	ekaterinv 2011-05-04 10:43 pm UTC (link)
	I would not be okay with them stopping selling sexual stuff at all. I just wish they'd put more information on the stuff they sell. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sandglass 2011-05-04 08:32 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, of course not. Sorry, I didn't mean at all to give that impression. Rather, these two things are like yaoi, and this other thing is sooo far worse that it's ridiculous to exclude yaoi. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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