Recently, one of our marketers discovered that Amazon does not allow "queer theory" to be included as a keyword in enhanced product descriptions (the fancy graphics you sometimes see at the bottom of a book page on Amazon).
The MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social
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The MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social
@mitpress
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- Comprehensive and deeply insightful, "A History of Bodies, Brains, and Minds" provides a brief history of life, the brain, and cognition, from the earliest living beings to our own species. #SfN24 #OpenAccess bit.ly/4eKvi7L
- Replying to @mitpressIn other words, our book about how LGBTQIA+ content is rendered invisible by the internet's infrastructure could NOT be tagged as "queer theory." Ironic, don't you think?
- Replying to @mitpressAs Monea explains, “The internet is being policed by overbroad, heteronormative algorithms that are routinely censoring art, literature, and LGBTQIA+ content across the world.”
- Replying to @mitpressShe was uploading content for our new book by @alex_monea, The Digital Closet: How the Internet Became Straight. The content was flagged automatically by an algorithm because using the word "queer" is--apparently--considered "a violation of community guidelines."
- We can't speak highly enough of the newest issue of LINGUISTIC INQUIRY! Take a look at articles on current topics in linguistics, such as "Gender at the Edge" and more. #ReadUP the last issue of its 50th anniversary volume on our website now! mitsha.re/P6tp50wXEws
- Replying to @mitpressThis issue is not just about Amazon. It's not just about publishing. It's about the systemic anti-LGBTQIA+ bias that we encounter EVERYWHERE on the internet, from online retailers to search engines to porn sites.
- "What my students paradoxically fail to realize, in their zeal to be responsible, is that describing things by certain characteristics rather than others merely because those characteristics are countable is a profoundly subjective decision."
- Replying to @mitpressMonea traces this phenomenon to the United States' 30-year war on porn and the over-regulation of sexual content, which has been driven by anti-porn activists, religious groups, biased coders and moderators, and many others.
- How global workers, influencers, and activists develop tactics of algorithmic resistance by appropriating and repurposing the same algorithms that control our lives. "Algorithms of Resistance" by @EmilianoTrere and @tbonini is available now 👉🏻 bit.ly/3JdESCo #openaccess
- Replying to @mitpressThe collateral damage of this crusade has been the censorship of LGBTQIA+ community resources, sex education materials, art, literature, and other content that engages with sexuality but would rarely ever be categorized as "pornography."
- Replying to @mitpressEquality. 👏 Is. 👏 For. 👏 EVERYONE. 👏 (And getting there goes WAY beyond posting a rainbow profile pic on Twitter.) More on Alex's book here:Replying to @alex_moneaMy book explores how heteronormative bias is deeply embedded in the internet, hidden algorithms, keywords, content moderation, and more. Below you’ll find summaries of each chapter in the book to give you a preview. 2/17
- Replying to @mitpressWhen President Obama declared June 2009 #PrideMonth, he evoked the Stonewall uprising and observed that the Pride movement in America was born out of resistance. It was, and will continue to be, about calling attention to injustices and standing up against them.
- Replying to @mitpress“Just as the door to the closet seemed to have been pried open with the blood, sweat, and tears of millions of people," Monea writes, "its logic is being rearticulated in our digital world and embedded in the infrastructure of the internet.”
