The only reason I think this is worth commenting on is because I guest-posted on Alas back in May (sadly, a hectic month, so less productive than I’d hoped) and so I think my opinion is possibly relevant. I have always had a lot of respect for Barry and his work; he writes thought-provoking articles and he backs up his information with numbers and facts. This is great, since there are people like me who like to theorize about stuff but have no real data to reference — I really appreciate a lot of the posts on Alas as a resource. And despite his handling of the recent situation at Alas, I still have a lot of respect for him and his work because it is well-researched and well-written, and because I think he’s generally a pleasant person. I am unhappy that he knowingly did something which goes against the principles of a large portion of the community which made his site so popular, but people make mistakes and do stupid things sometimes, and what’s done is done.

Was this situation handled poorly? Yeah. Do I think Barry’s decision to sell his domain in general was a bad one? I don’t know; I wouldn’t want to do it. But I also have more content on my domain than Barry does. (He has a blog and some cartooning pages; I have two blogs, my art portfolio, an Escaflowne fan site, etc.) I’m very attached to it. But I’m not in his situation so I have no right to judge, and I’m not. Am I disappointed in the sort of content now on the amptoons.com domain? Hell yeah. Do I wish he’d looked for alternative solutions that might be more women-friendly and in line with his feminism and the feminism of other Alas posters who might have a problem with pornography (or, like me, a particular variety of pornography)? Definitely. Do I feel he’s “sold out”? Well, maybe a little, yeah, but if he’d sold out differently it would be okay. Selling out isn’t such a bad thing if you’re doing something vaguely in-line with your ethics and ideals.

But…most important, given some of the criticism I’ve seen about him exploiting women by asking them to guest-blog for free, etc… Do I feel he’s exploited my work for personal gain? No. I don’t think he ever had that intention. Am I upset I wasn’t consulted about his decision to sell Alas? I’m not sure. Not really; I didn’t contribute as much as many other people have, and it is (was) his domain to do with as he pleases. Barry has now gotten in touch with everyone who’s written for his blog to let them know we can take our work down if we don’t want it on the site, and while it’s a little late in coming, better late than never, so I’m okay with it.

I’m separating here the person from his actions. Obviously, we can only judge people by their actions, and if they continually say one thing and do another, it can no longer be excused as a mistake, a lapse in judgement, a poor decision. I don’t feel Barry has done this (others do), so I think the situation is unfortunate but forgivable. No hard feelings.

But I have asked him to take my posts off the site while the content which he doesn’t control links to pornographic websites. If the advertising in the future changes to something I find unobjectionable or if Alas moves to a new home, I will be fine with him putting my posts back up.

Here’s why: I wouldn’t say I’m pro- or anti-porn. I see nothing wrong with sexually explicit material; I like to personally describe a lot of my fiction as being borderline-pornographic. To me, it’s a value-neutral term. Porn can be degrading and misogynistic, and it can be fun and egalitarian. Certainly, almost all of it is the former. But, if it depicts people who haven’t been coerced actually enjoying themselves (rare in hardcore movies and such, I know–fiction is better in this regard), I don’t see the problem. I like porn with feminist and queer sensibilities. (I know some feminists will argue that can’t/doesn’t exist, but I have a wide definition of what I’d term porn, including erotic literature.) So if the content on amptoons.com were linking to material I didn’t find otherwise objectionable, I wouldn’t really have a problem. My site isn’t exactly safe for work as it is, what with all my nude art and general amount of foul language.

The problem is that the material being linked to I find racist, misogynistic, anti-queer, etc. Given that I am currently attempting to build a career based on feminist, queer, anti-racist writing, and given that I do use my penname as my handle on Alas and Definition, I do not want my words associated with a domain that also promotes that kind of material. I do not want that content to reflect on me or my writing, because I feel that undermines what I am trying to achieve professionally. If I left my words there, I would feel like a hypocrite, and certainly, I wouldn’t be willing to guest-post on Alas now, given the other content on Barry’s domain — not because I don’t like Alas, or Barry, but simply because it runs counter to my principles and goals at this time.

Anyway, if you’ve somehow managed to miss this whole thing, here’s some links:

The new Alas post detailing the sale of amptoons.com.
A good round-up of posts on the issue at Creative Destruction.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 12th, 2006 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Feminist Movement, Random.