Twitter!

[nicole]

Recent college grad said she didn't want to be assigned a Sarah Dessen novel for the "one read" at her school and said "She's fine for teen girls."

Millionaire best-selling novelist Sarah Dessen cries about how incredibly cruel and wrong this comment is.

Millionaire best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult cries about how misogynistic it is to say horrible things about Sarah Dessen because Dessen is a lovely person.

Cabal of women young adult fiction novelists tweet about what a raggedy ass fucking bitch the college grad is.

College apologizes for its grad's mean, mean comments about Dessen.

[Hugh Akston]

Recent college grad said she didn't want to be assigned a Sarah Dessen novel for the "one read" at her school and said "She's fine for teen girls."

Millionaire best-selling novelist Sarah Dessen cries about how incredibly cruel and wrong this comment is.

Millionaire best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult cries about how misogynistic it is to say horrible things about Sarah Dessen because Dessen is a lovely person.

Cabal of women young adult fiction novelists tweet about what a raggedy ass fucking bitch the college grad is.

College apologizes for its grad's mean, mean comments about Dessen.

nicole hates her mom for bringing her into a world where stupid shit like this happens.

[Ellie]

But nicole, the best-selling author is the powerless one here

[nicole]

Oh yeah I forgot to explain that part.

No, that part is about how this is what my mom is like, and obviously I grew up with my mom as the avatar of the feminine, and so that's how I feel about women.

[nicole]

But nicole, the best-selling author is the powerless one here

OH GOD ELLIE I JUST FOUND MYSELF READING ABOUT THAT PART

in jezebel

Did you see the COMMENT JENNIFER WIENER LEFT ON A LOCAL SD NEWSPAPER:

“It’s hard to know what’s sadder: that Brooke Nelson has internalized misogyny to the extent that she can see nothing of worth in books beloved by “teen girls” but is presumably impressed with the merits of a book centered around video game culture that is beloved by teenage boys; that Nelson joined the committee not to champion a book or a genre but to keep a specific author’s work out of contention; that she bragged about her actions, as if she’s done some great service to literature, or that Nelson graduated with an English degree, is pursuing graduate work in English, and will someday be foisting her sexism and elitism on the next generation of readers.”

hahahhahhahhahahhahahhahaha

[Ellie]

(later on Jennifer Weiner strongly implies that being dismissive of YA lit is what enabled Larry Nassar)

[Ellie]

graduated with an English degree, is pursuing graduate work in English, and will someday be foisting her sexism and elitism on the next generation of readers.

I thought being able to do the third was the whole point of doing the first two!

[thoreau]

How much of this is SocJus and how much is just girl drama?

[thoreau]

Way back in freshman year of college there was Some Drama in the dorms. I wasn't much into it, but at some point my then-girlfriend made an amusing remark about it, and I repeated it to a friend of mine who knew some of the players, because I thought it was an amusing comment.

The friend got all mad that we would dare to say anything about the Queen Bee when she's having A Very Difficult Time.

This twitter spat seems similar.

[JD]

How much of this is SocJus and how much is just girl drama?

...is there much difference?

[thoreau]

How much of this is SocJus and how much is just girl drama?

...is there much difference?

SocJus nominally has an ideology. I mean, say what you will about the tenets of critical theory, dude. At least it's an ethos.

[Hugh Akston]

How much of this is SocJus and how much is just girl drama?

...is there much difference?

SocJus nominally has an ideology. I mean, say what you will about the tenets of critical theory, dude. At least it's an ethos.

So does girl drama. Some girls are just flat ugly skanks and they need to know it.

[D.A. Ridgely]

Wait! What? Anthony Weiner had a sex-change operation and is now writing novels?

[lunchstealer]

How much of this is SocJus and how much is just girl drama?

Damn son.

[lunchstealer]

Wait! What? Anthony Weiner had a sex-change operation and is now writing novels?

Naw she's still preop.

[Eric the .5b]

So what's the business about the committee?

A point of fact, given the Vast Power of Teh Authorz via Twitterz is an issue:

Millionaire best-selling novelist Sarah Dessen

Millionaire best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult

Are either of these women actually millionaires?

(The "best-selling" seems to be true; Dessen had one best-seller ten years ago, and Picoult has had four.)

[D.A. Ridgely]

So what's the business about the committee?

A point of fact, given the Vast Power of Teh Authorz via Twitterz is an issue:

Millionaire best-selling novelist Sarah Dessen

Millionaire best-selling novelist Jodi Picoult

Are either of these women actually millionaires?

(The "best-selling" seems to be true; Dessen had one best-seller ten years ago, and Picoult has had four.)

I wish people would stop pretending that having a million dollars worth of assets makes one rich. Not even close.

[Andrew]

How much of this is SocJus and how much is just girl drama?

Sociopaths engaging in girl drama using the language of SocJus because that's currently their best avenue for imposing their will and making others suffer.

[Jennifer]

But nicole, the best-selling author is the powerless one here

OH GOD ELLIE I JUST FOUND MYSELF READING ABOUT THAT PART

in jezebel

Did you see the COMMENT JENNIFER WIENER LEFT ON A LOCAL SD NEWSPAPER:

“It’s hard to know what’s sadder: that Brooke Nelson has internalized misogyny to the extent that she can see nothing of worth in books beloved by “teen girls” but is presumably impressed with the merits of a book centered around video game culture that is beloved by teenage boys; that Nelson joined the committee not to champion a book or a genre but to keep a specific author’s work out of contention; that she bragged about her actions, as if she’s done some great service to literature, or that Nelson graduated with an English degree, is pursuing graduate work in English, and will someday be foisting her sexism and elitism on the next generation of readers.”

hahahhahhahhahahhahahhahaha

I've never heard of Sarah Dessen before this, and based on context I strongly suspect I'd regret it if I looked up details about the book in question, but ... by Wiener's logic, wouldn't it be "internalized misogyny" to say "I dislike the Twilight books for various reasons, including the really unhealthy relationships and sexuality portrayed within?"

[Eric the .5b]

But nicole, the best-selling author is the powerless one here

OH GOD ELLIE I JUST FOUND MYSELF READING ABOUT THAT PART

in jezebel

Did you see the COMMENT JENNIFER WIENER LEFT ON A LOCAL SD NEWSPAPER:

“It’s hard to know what’s sadder: that Brooke Nelson has internalized misogyny to the extent that she can see nothing of worth in books beloved by “teen girls” but is presumably impressed with the merits of a book centered around video game culture that is beloved by teenage boys; that Nelson joined the committee not to champion a book or a genre but to keep a specific author’s work out of contention; that she bragged about her actions, as if she’s done some great service to literature, or that Nelson graduated with an English degree, is pursuing graduate work in English, and will someday be foisting her sexism and elitism on the next generation of readers.”

hahahhahhahhahahhahahhahaha

I've never heard of Sarah Dessen before this, and based on context I strongly suspect I'd regret it if I looked up details about the book in question, but ... by Wiener's logic, wouldn't it be "internalized misogyny" to say "I dislike the Twilight books for various reasons, including the really unhealthy relationships and sexuality portrayed within?"

I think the comeback to that is usually, "Not in your case, but the reason most people who sneer at Twilight do so has absolutely nothing to do with whether Edward resembles an abuser, etc.." Which does seem to be true.

I'm still confused about what "committee" the woman was on, given the explanation that this was started by her merely complaining about having been required to read a book.

[Jadagul]

Elizabeth Bruenig had a good explanation of this:



A lot of liberal arts colleges will pick a book that all the Freshmen have to read over the summer and then discuss during orientation. Apparently this college picked a YA novel, and this student thought that was not the best choice for the required reading book and said so, and then the author of the book did a vanity search and was Very Upset that this college student was Attacking Teen Girls by not wanting to assign this author's book.

Edit: the committee would be the committee of administrators, faculty, and students who get together to choose the required book.

[Ellie]

I wish people would stop pretending that having a million dollars worth of assets makes one rich. Not even close.

Damn, though, I'd like to be that class of poor!

[thoreau]

A common reading assignment for all incoming freshmen is a somewhat popular thing at many schools. Enforcement is often lax for a host of good and bad reasons, but it often serves as fodder for some campus events (e.g. a guest lecture by the author, if available, or another expert on the book's subject matter).

These books are chosen by committees, and sometimes the committees have student reps.

EDIT: What Jadagul said.

[Eric the .5b]

Elizabeth Bruenig had a good explanation of this:

Well, crap. Jezebel to the rescue, and how often can we say that?

I'm still curious about the millionaire thing, because the list of rich writers basically begins and ends with "people who are already celebrities" and "people who've had a lot of big movies made from their books".

[D.A. Ridgely]

I wish people would stop pretending that having a million dollars worth of assets makes one rich. Not even close.

Damn, though, I'd like to be that class of poor!

Yeah, well, I'm not saying people in "that class of poor" are eating much cat food, but they're not driving Lamborghinis and eating at destination restaurants every night or jetting around the world living in luxury hotels, either. A million dollars won't buy you a place large enough for a family to live in in a decent part of New York or San Francisco or even much of Washington. It won't even return a sufficiently high yield that you can live in more than a fairly modest middle class lifestyle without dipping into capital, let alone worrying what will happen when, as it eventually will, inflation rears its ugly head again.

When I was a kid there was a TV show called "The Millionaire" in which some fabulously wealthy guy would just give away (tax free!) a million dollars to some ordinary schlubs and then we'd watch how it did or didn't change them, did or didn't make them happy, etc., knowing that that was an impossibly large sum of money for 99.99% of the population ever to possess. Hell, even the Beverly Hillbillies a few years later had to be worth $25 million to make it plausible that they could live in their mansion with "swimming pools, movie stars!" and have their banker next-door-neighbor consider them his most important customers.

Yes, people with a net worth of a million dollars are quite well off, but they're not unimaginably wealthy. They're people who made good money over the years, maybe now own their own house outright and have a comfortable but not huge investment portfolio probably built over decades.