Is there any such thing as genre discrimination?

Happy Sunday my treasured and most wonderful readers of this post, remember to be excellent to each other!

On Friday I posted a post called TTBG’s Authorgate which yeah, it has ‘author‘ in the title. So, you guessed right! It was about an issue with an author. In it, I alluded to ‘genre discrimination‘ and so this is a sort of follow-up, more in-depth post on that little doozy.

I’ve seen the term ‘genre discrimination‘ bandied around recently by authors pulling up bloggers on what they choose to read! I know, shocking right! You wouldn’t think that reading should be FUN and that we should be able to read books and genres that we ENJOY! Heaven forbid! That’s a crazy idea, right?!? Perhaps we should applaud these authors for their ingenuity! You see, they didn’t use that old chestnut of stating that you don’t want to read their book due to them being an ‘indie author‘. Oh no, they put on their thinking caps, boxers, thongs and brassieres and came up with a new phrase ‘genre discrimination‘ to pull you up on! If you don’t want to read their book or to allow them to appear on your blog then you are discriminating against a whole entire genre! Ooohhh, someone can’t handle rejection!

If we choose not to read certain genres then are we really discriminating against them?!? Personally, it seems like a strange term to me! I don’t read certain genres but I don’t see it as me discriminating against them, I just read what I know I like and I also stay away from things that I know don’t like, it’s not discriminating or even hating it’s purely making sure that I read books I will hopefully like and enjoy. That isn’t me discriminating, it’s me using my precious time wisely!

After all, we can’t read all the books, we can’t like all the books and we shouldn’t have to read every genre! Then! When we don’t read certain books within a genre would we then be discriminating against those specific books! Sigh, this could get confusing!😂

I really don’t think it’s discriminating though, it’s simply reading what we enjoy. We won’t watch films in certain genres or listen to music in certain genres because we don’t like them. I’m a rock and metal fan, does this now mean that I’m discriminating against other genres of music because I don’t listen to them?! I’m pretty sure that the gamers amongst us don’t play games in every genre either or the sports players out there, are they then discriminating because they choose to only play a certain sport and should, in fact, be playing all sports just so they don’t discriminate against any one particular sport. Can we not just listen, watch, read and play things that we know will bring us enjoyment?! Is that so bad?!

Hhhmmmm…..here’s a point that only a pedantic arsehole like me will make! If you as an author are pulling up bloggers for genre discrimination because we don’t read certain genres does that then mean that we can then pull you up on genre discrimination because you choose not to write certain genres?!? Ooohh, that’s a good one Drew!

What about book blogger discrimination! That sounds like a good term for me to start using! Authors! Every time you ask me to review your book when it clearly states that I’m closed to review requests you are discriminating against me as a lowly book blogger! Some of you may ask why it’s discrimination, well, I don’t really know! But, don’t let that worry you because I’m telling you that it is! That’s the only reason you need! And you know why?!?

Well! Quite simply, authors have coined the phrase ‘genre discrimination‘ due to bloggers declining to read and review their own books! No other reason. So, if it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me!😂 Told you I’m a pedantic arsehole!😉

I know that we discriminate against book covers. I remember a long time ago now Stephy at the Teacher of Y-A blog taught me the phrase ‘cover whore‘ – yes, I’m naive, I hadn’t heard of the term before and yes, I’m a good boy so I even had to look up what whore meant too!😂 But, that term means we buy books based on their covers and looks. Which is true, you see a fantastic cover, especially in a style that you like and you will be immediately drawn to it, probably making grabby hands and stating ‘want, want, want, mine, my precious‘ in the bookstore. And the opposite is true, we see bad and low-quality book covers and we immediately think, no, the cover doesn’t do anything for me, I don’t want to read the book. Which, technically, I guess means that we discriminate against poor book covers!

I’m not going to go into detail about indie authors and whether or not we discriminate against them as it’s not the point of the post. Some of us might do, admittedly, while others don’t, it is just what it is. For most of us, we can’t read all the books in the genres we read anyway and miss out on many awesome reads be they traditionally published or independently published by an indie author, how they are published is an irrelevance to many, a good book is a good book regardless. Likewise, a bad book is a bad book (though calling a book bad seems unfair, I apologise and perhaps there are no bad books only the wrong readers of the books). If we did choose to read only indie books wouldn’t we then be discriminating against traditionally published authors and books?!? Told you earlier, this gets confusing!😂

On a serious note, what about those book bloggers, sorry, book hookers who charge for reviews?!? They are discriminating against the rest of us who do this simply for our love of books. They are discriminating against us due to the fact that they are charging for reviews as that implies that they are better than us! Any of you book hookers who charge for reviews reading this, shout out and respond, please. Tell me why you deserve to be paid, why you are better than others and what right you have to charge for something that is a hobby! Ooohhh, burn! I’m on fire! If you my dear book hookers are on fire I’d highly suggest that you visit a doctor, being on fire down there isn’t normal and probably means that you caught something whilst selling your reviews!😂

Sorry, I went off on a tangent but you all are probably used to that with my rambling nonsense! Back on track, what happens then if bloggers start stating that other bloggers are discriminating against them for not following them, liking their posts, etc. It might sound stupid and it is but if genre discrimination for books is a valid thing then it’s feasible that genre discrimination against blogs could become a thing too as you do get a variety of blogs that focus solely on specific genres. Surprisingly, those genres are the ones that the blogger enjoys reading, what a shocker!

To those who don’t follow my blog you are obviously discriminating against me because I, on occasion use sarcasm, have a tendency towards being a foul mouth and lack the eloquence of lots of other bloggers! – see, I told you, it gets stupid!

Honestly, if you keep adding the word ‘discrimination‘ to something at some point it gets crazy and then when does it stop?!?

My point is, you can’t pull the discrimination label on someone simply because they decline not to read your book, it’s wrong and quite frankly, it’s also sad.

To me, the actual term ‘genre discrimination‘ has been coined for one reason and one reason only, validity! You add the ‘discrimination’ label to something and it immediately makes it valid, relevant and an important as a topic.

Discrimination is one of those buzz words, it’s like diversity, it’s a go-to word to get a response and garner support. If we are going to be accused of genre discrimination for declining your book does that then mean that the next step will be discrimination against diversity? That, you will tell us your book is ‘diverse‘ and even if it’s in a genre that we don’t read you’ll then pull us up on not wanting to read it because it’s diverse and we hate diverse books irrelevant of the fact it’s an actual genre we don’t read?!? Oh shit! I’ve probably just given some self-important authors an idea with that!😂

Discrimination is a big deal, don’t get me wrong, it is and I’m not making fun. It and it shouldn’t happen in today’s modern world but it unfortunately still does and honestly, with the state of affairs, sad as it is, I can’t see it changing anytime soon.

But genre discrimination, oh hell no! It’s a minor thing, a nothing issue, a phrase coined by some authors because their books were declined for review by bloggers and/or because the blogger didn’t want them to appear on their blog either.

Surely it’s our choice what we do or do not read. My blog is mainly fantasy but I do occasionally read books in other genres. Likewise, lots of you all focus on specific genres too, funnily enough, as I mentioned earlier those are the genres that you as a reader enjoy reading!

I’ve tried to come up with a polite way to end this post but alas, I can’t and really, let’s face it, you all expect some foul language from me in my posts and I wouldn’t want to disappoint anyone!

So, I read and will continue to read the genres that I know I enjoy. If I do choose to read a book outside of my favoured genres, then it’s because something about it has interested me and piqued my attention but mainly, I’ll stick with what I like and I’ll use that old saying to back up my words ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it‘.

In closing, we should be able to read whatever we want, like and enjoy without any fear of reprisal.

As far as I’m concerned so-called ‘genre discrimination‘ doesn’t exist and it can, with all the sincerity that I can muster, go and fuck itself!

So, my questions to you are, do we discriminate against the genres that we choose not to read?!? Do we discriminate against authors if we don’t have them on our blog due to them writing books in the genres that we don’t read? And, finally and perhaps most importantly, is genre discrimination actually real?!?

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