Dear Seal Press,
There’s nothing “groundbreaking” (nor *cough* “subversive” or “ironic”) about undeniably racist imagery. What the bloody blue hell were you thinking?
Warmest regards,
matttbastard
P.S. You might want to think about amending your tagline. I suggest going with a classic truth-in-advertising motif. How about: “Superficial pablum. By white women. For white women”?
Related: You can write letters too!
General Inquiries:
Seal Press
<!–1400 65th Street, Suite 250
Emeryville, CA 94608
1700 4th Street
Berkeley, California 94710
(510) 595-3664
Perseus Books Group (Headquarters)
387 Park Avenue South
12th Floor
New York, NY 10016
(212) 340-8100
Publicity:
Seal Press Publicity Department
510-595-3664
avalon.publicity@perseusbooks.com
International – General Inquiries
Canada
Toronto 559 College Street, Unit 402
Toronto, Ontario
M6G 1A9 Canada
800-747-8147 (Canada only)
416-934-9900
Fax: 416-934-1410
Graham Fidler
Executive Vice President
graham@pgcbooks.ca
voice mail: ext. 203
416-934-9900
Suzanne Wice
Sales and Marketing Manager
suzanne@pgcbooks.ca
voice mail: ext. 207
416-934-9900
Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic Provinces
Martin and Associates:
Michael Martin and Margot Stokreef
Phone: 416-769-3947
Fax: 416-769-5967
Susan Rogers
Phone: 416-762-1230
Fax: 416-769-5967
British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba
Michael Reynolds and Associates:
Michael Reynolds and Kim Herter (Vancouver)
Phone: 604-688-6918
Fax: 604-687-4624
Heather Parsons (Calgary)
Phone: 403-233-8771
Fax: 403-233-8772
Trent Olson (Manitoba and Saskatchewan)
Phone: (204) 292-1631
Fax: (888) 821-8569
Rest of World Perseus Books Group
International Sales
Eleven Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142
Phone: (617) 252-5211
Fax: (617) 525-5265
Update 04/25: Holly hits it out of the park once again:
Seal Press recently caught a lot of flak after two of their representatives made themselves look very, very bad by thoroughly failing to engage in any kind of productive dialogue with women of color who vocally criticized the lack of racial representation in their catalog. And now this. The publishing world is a hard place these days for a feminist press — it’s hard to figure out how to be an ally to disenfranchised voices and still make ends meet. Yes. But those excuses don’t even make sense this time around. If you’ve gotta put retro cartoons on your covers to sell books, fine. But how many retro cartoon images are there in the world that don’t have hoary old racist, colonialist tropes splattered all over them? Believe me, there are plenty. Not every one is as problematic as these.
[…]
Although Amanda has long been one of my favorite bloggers, any enjoyment I once got out of reading her snappy takedowns of misogyny is rapidly turning to ashes in my mouth. And that’s why I can’t sleep, why I feel like throwing up. Like a lot of bloggers these days, I’m no longer even sure if I feel comfortable calling myself a feminist, since it seems like the popular definition of that word in so many circles has come to mean “feminism first, every other issue second.” And that’s a formula that inevitably leads to a feminism for the few. A feminism for the small numbers of women who don’t deal with intersections of one, two or ten other kinds of shit getting heaped on us every day, too many to calculate “which is most important.” It’s not a kind of feminism that works for most of the women on this planet. But you know, brownfemipower already said all this in her sign-off, I don’t need to repeat her thoughts. Just add my name to the list of those who are no longer sure if we can simply “take feminism back.” Or even if it’s worth it.
Also see Lauredhel @ Hoyden About Town, Maia @ Alas, a Blog, Ilyka, The Rotund, Galling Galla, Burning Words and Natalia. Oh, and I join Mandolin and Amp in endorsing Sylvia’s sound advice:
If you really like the quality and style of Amanda’s writing but question the use of the imagery, don’t buy the book, go to the publisher (Seal Press hurr) and tell them why you’re not buying the book, and see if you can get a reprint with just as much irony without any racism. And buy it then. I think that’s possible, especially since there’s no longer King Kong on the cover.
Personally, I wouldn’t read, buy nor endorse the book even without the images (for similar reasons as Oh outlined here, along with the previous conduct towards/marginalization of WOC by Seal Press), but YMMV.
Finally, contra Hugo, this isn’t merely a matter of “perception”. The images gratuitously featured as chapter headings in It’s a Jungle Out There are racist. Full fucking stop.
And what Angry Black Woman said.
Update 2: More science courtesy karnythia @ ABW’s pad:
Frankly we’re at a point where it’s time for feminism to either get it together, or for us to leave it where it is and continue on with our own progressive movements. There’s been some talk for years about how feminism is comprised of multiple movements and until now that’s been enough for me. But I think that I’ve been deluding myself by thinking that the behavior of the allies that do get it trumps the hurt spawned by the bigots calling themselves feminists. I can’t take calls for sisterhood or solidarity seriously from white feminists at this point and I’m sure someone is going to call that attitude racist. And that’s their lookout, but I can’t stand in sisterhood with someone that’s (maybe) willing to knife me in the back and it’s taking too much effort to try to weed out the ones that are really allies from the ones that are only claiming the title.
Read the whole damn thing.
bastard.logic 
Omfg are you kidding me? What in the hell was she/they thinking with that art?? One more thing on my fucking huge letter list.
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Have I mentioned lately that I love you? Because I do. Awesome post, matt.
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*blush* you make me, er, blush, Magniloquence.
BTW, wtf is with these “possibly related posts” that WordPress has decided to start adding? Hrm, do not want.
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For those who have proven themselves allies by support of their convictions by their actions and words, please permit me to offer my respect and gratitude.
Some suggestions:
If you have friends that work as
– university administrators
– tenured professors
– lecturers
you can let them know that the attitudes that are espoused in the book as perpetuated by the illustrations are NOT attitudes that should be supported and disseminated in institutions of higher learning.
If you have friends that work at
– Borders
– Amazon
– Barnes and Noble
– Powells
you can let them know that this is not a voice that should be supported — and that you have let prospective large-scale purchasers KNOW that it should not be supported — until such time as the offensive images are pulled and a new edition of the book is issued without them.
If you have friends that work in
– the mainstream press
– the offline alternative press
you can let them know that the attitudes that are espoused in the book as perpetuated by the illustrations are NOT attitudes that should be supported and disseminated in public institutions or public lectures.
There are things (when and if one is not falling down tired) that can be done in addition to bloggers who write in support of justice and equity, and powerful withdrawal — like BFP’s — to demonstrate that there are voices that should not be marginalized, dismissed or ignored, and some things that should NEVER appear, in a culture that says it supports equity and justice for all people.
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