Ampersand, male bloggers, selling out: UPDATED

I'm feeling a tiny bit better.

Warning: explicit language ahead.

I learned this evening from Lauren (who is working with me to create a new wordpress blog, about which you will all learn soon) about the serious news regarding Barry (Ampersand) and Alas, A Blog.   Amp has been one of the most important voices in the pro-feminist men's blogging community; indeed, he might well be the best-known male feminist blogger.  (Cuz it sure as heck isn't me.)  I'll always be grateful that Amp called in to the Glenn Sacks show when I was a guest in January 2005. (Bored?  Download the free MP3 of that broadcast.)

Anyhow, Violet summarizes what has happened:

I’m just now discovering what some of you may already know: Barry sold his domain to a pornographer, so now his blog is hosted alongside hard-core porn reviews. The deal is that the huge traffic to Alas — feminist traffic, generated by people who have built up that readership over years — drives up the search engine rankings for the pornographer. (Heart has a fuller explanation of the deal.)

Barry didn’t bother to tell any of his readers about this until someone discovered the links and asked him what the fuck was going on. Even now I’m not sure most of his readers are aware of it, since Barry’s explanatory post didn’t allow comments and so rapidly sank to the bottom of the list.

I think this is absolutely vile.

Lauren has more:

Some may think this is small beans, but in a community where sexual politics are so very personal, as well as political, this is an enormous business gaffe of exceeding irony. Of all the things one can do to save a buck, making money off the backs (and mouths and pussies) of women is not one that I encourage for a feminist man.

I do understand that hosting a popular blog is expensive.  I don't criticize my fellow bloggers who accept advertising or who market shirts, caps, and other blogware.   This (NSFW), however, goes well beyond the acceptable.

Men who blog as pro-feminists are --rightly or wrongly -- under a microscope.  Anti-feminists and feminists alike are frequently suspicious of our motives.   Is our feminism a strategy for sexual conquest?  Is it a manifestation of self-loathing?  Are we for real, or are we frauds?  Lauren's right: in the feminist blogosphere, sexual politics are personal as well as political.  How we live our lives matters.  What we do for money, what we do for pleasure, what we do in private must be congruent with what we profess in public. 

The feminist community is split over the porn issue.  Some of us are hostile to all forms of visual erotica, at least in commercial form; others are more ambivalent; still others of us are enthusiastic proponents of helping women become more active, discerning consumers of pornography. All of us, however, are concerned with the impact that the male-dominated, male-centered commercial sex industry has on our lives.  All of us are concerned with the impact on the women who work in the "industry."  Alas, A Blog was a forum for discussing this very topic.  But it is impossible to see Amp's blog as "safe ground" for that discussion when it is sponsored and supported by pornographers.

I've forsworn the "good feminist", "bad feminist" game.  (See Jill today for more on this aspect of the topic.)    I gave up discussing the whole idea of "feminist credentials" after this debacle.  But I do think that it is important that feminists in general, and pro-feminist men in particular, talk about our communal obligations.   Given that we daily tread on very personal ground, given that we write about our intimate lives and advocate for radical changes in how we and others live those lives, we have a huge responsibility to be clear and honest and gentle with each other.  ("Honest" and "gentle" are not mutually exclusive.)  And quietly selling a prominent feminist blog's domain name to someone who will use it to drive traffic to porn sites is a hurtful, bewildering, and -- until I hear more -- frankly inexplicable act.

If what I do for money, or what I do in my marriage, or what I do in my church, or what I do in my classroom doesn't match my professed beliefs, my friends, family, students, colleagues and readers had better call me on it.  And right now, a lot of us are calling Barry (Amp) on this one.  Barry, you owe your readers a public forum where you can further explain your decision, and offer those who are stunned and hurt an opportunity to express that to you directly.

It's the right thing to do, and it needs to happen right now.

UPDATE:  Amp has responded swiftly with a new post, further explaining his decision and his regrets.  He has also wisely and bravely opened that thread up to comments.  It was indeed the right thing to do, and I commend him for it.  Thanks to those of my commenters who pointed this out.

Comments

[R. Giskard]

Not that I expect you particularly care, but please don't imagine you are doing Amp any favors by what you are writing here. The support of anti-feminist trolls who can't recognize racist porn is no support at all.

Me Anti-Feminist? Hardly. I just question some of the ridiculous theories that certain feminist bloggers pass off as factual and at times, call them on it. As for the troll definition.. If by that you mean I don’t agree lock step with your personal definition of feminism, and just might question you about it, well, I guess you just might be right on that one.

As for the “racist” porn. This is one of those questionable things I refer to. The question to me would be how do you define and in what context you use the descriptor “racist porn” :

Racism in pornography is sexual fetishisation of a someone's race. It's really common, but I guess you just aren't going to see it, the way most people also refuse to see the sexism in porn.

Delphyne, I see what you are saying but don’t understand why you see this as either problematic or racist. That, to me, is like saying homoerotic porn is inherently homophobic. There are as many types of porn as there are sexual preferences. I do see the problem in that porn at times can be misused to reinforce certain stereotypes (whether good or bad). But segregating porn based on race is more often a reflection of customer preferences and marketing than on overt racism. And people are entitled to their own sexual preferences whether we think they are the right ones or not. Sometimes its not all about racism no matter how hard you wish it to be.

I apologize if it seemed as if I were sneering at you about this subject. It was not my intention. I was actually sneering at you about your take on Alas.. and your (and other’s) willingness to deny that he has done anything positive, because he doesn’t run his personal blog as you see fit.

As for helping Amp. Not really my goal and I doubt he wants or needs my help anyway. But from what I’ve read of his work, I like Amp. I’ve been reading his blog for years, although I rarely post and skip all the negativity in his comments sections. There is only so much whining about trolls that I can stomach. If you can’t support your thesis, then whine and complain about trolls until your detractors get drowned out. Its pretty common. But I have enjoyed his writings and found his arguments persuasive and I appreciated the thought and effort that he put into it.

I just find it sad and somewhat pathetic when Feminists eat their own. Especially when one of the eaters thinks his or her particular brand of feminism is the only valid one. And unlike some, I don’t dismiss or outright deny the good someone has done for feminism when they don’t agree with me or do something I don’t like.

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scarpe timberland
 La maggior parte dei fresco, nuovo giorni in cui viviamo riguardo considerare e che chi siamo . In questo momento di hanno qualsiasi principale durata ora possiamo condividere la nostra vita che fare molto che un tempo non poteva seriamente non deve immaginare. Ma cosa significa questo questo fatto business?
,scarpe timberland
 accuratamente attenzione, io non la penso così. In generale unica cosa che la maggior parte è sicuramente deve essere ancora più verso programma !
http://www.scarpembtpuntivendita.com
Scopri i tipo di una risorsa che gli esperti di stato in tutto il mondo ottenere propri clienti, creare dei flussi di cassa ma sicuro più avere a che fare con capacità con all'interno per tra le prospettive.