amazon rank
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): amazon ranked
1. To censor and exclude on the basis of adult content in literature (except for Playboy, Penthouse, dogfighting and graphic novels depicting incest orgies).
2. To make changes based on inconsistent applications of standards, logic and common sense.
Etymology: from 12 April 2009 removal of sales rank figures from books on Amazon.com containing sexual, erotic, romantic, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or queer content, rendering them impossible to find through basic search functions at the top of Amazon.com’s website. Titles stripped of their sales rankings include “Bastard Out of Carolina,” “Lady Chatterly’s Lover,” prominent romance novels, GLBTQ fiction novels, YA books, and narratives about gay people.
Example of usage: “I tried to do a report on Lady Chatterly’s Lover for English Lit, but my teacher amazon ranked me and I got an F on grounds that it was obscene.”
Alternate usage: “My girlfriend wanted to preserve her virginity, and I was happy to respect that, then she amazon ranked and decided anal sex was okay.”
[via Smart Bitches, Trashy Books]
See also:
- Amazon removes sales rank from sexuality, queer, feminist titles (Sexerati)
- Amazon Rank (Smart Bitches, Trashy Books)
- Search the #amazonfail hashtag on Twitter
- Petition: In protest at Amazon’s new “adult” policy
- Amazon Accused of Removing Gay Books from Rankings (Mashable)
- #Amazonfail and the politics of anti-corporate cyberactivism (net effect)
- meta Writer’s Amazon Censorship -who is affected list (Livejournal – add your name to this list).
