Julio Genao > Status Update

please share. please hit the like button, please tweet, please email, please text.

so everyone can see how far this has gone.

please speak.

it's time for us to raise our voices.

god knows amy lane has raised hers.

Gawd

What fresh bullshit is this?

You know, Im still flabbergasted that you were accused of mansplain and shaming of women because you wrote why GFY is not ok in romance.

And then that m/m is for women status update, and WHAT the hell???

*love&hugs*

it's been like this forever. it blew up two weeks ago with various fuckeries from people trying to erase bisexuality. but this week all these other people felt empowered to get extra salty because they saw some of my former friends trashing me all over the place for a week.

the mask has fallen. they're done pretending they give any fucks for queer people of any kind.

and it's authors.

heidi cullinan, josh lanyon, damon suede, kiera andrews, a fuckton of b-team rejects on facebook... and now amy lane.

our heroes fall.

I have no words, only feels of WTF, and aversion.

I wasted sooo much time wasted reading that entire post of hers. It pissed me off so much with not just what she was saying, but that she was talking down to readers the entire damn time. (It's like she feels her readers are idiots or something, honestly.) And the fact that she dedicated (literally) thousands of words...yet totally missed the entire damn point to begin with is just something else. (And then what the hell does that say about someone whose occupation is entirely to do with words.)

I guess we're all supposed to be super fine with objectification and what happens in a book because "it's they story they chose to write." "WE NEED FUCKIN' HAPPY"...but fuck the marginalized group of people who are offended and hurt in the process by said thing that makes YOU happy, right? You can't "shit on other people's happy," but it's fine if those people are shitting on you and objectifying you, right? So long as YOU'RE happy, the feelings of the marginalized group you've offended are totally invalid, huh? I see.

And her whole thing about not hating on the writer, but if you dislike the trope, don't read it? Wait...so I'm not supposed to dislike those who produce those sorts of works? As a POC, I'm not allowed to get mad at directors (and others in charge) for the whitewashing in films and other media? And I need to leave it the hell alone because, obviously, that movie is at least one person's "FUCKIN' HAPPY."

It's fine to "offend the sensibilities" of others, so long as they don't offend yours, it seems. So long as you get to keep your "FUCKIN' HAPPY."

Seriously...fuck her.

That book, Winter Ball, she keeps mentioning? I read it and didn't care for it too much. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that she doesn't understand shit because, in that book, there's one scene in which the straight friend, Carpenter, drags one of the main characters, Skip, to play golf with his friends. What he doesn't tell Skip is that his friends are homophobic. So...he's only bringing Skip along to essentially put him on display in order to make his homophobic friends uncomfortable. And he didn't tell Skip this beforehand or ask if it'd be hurtful or difficult for him. He just dragged him along and then told him about it in the middle of golfing. And they all had a good ol' laugh about it because it's soooo funny when you bring your gay friend to meet with a bunch of homophobes, isn't it? Sooooo hilarious. Not.

(And she even misspelled both Michael Jordan's and Dwayne Johnson's names. She spent who knows how long drafting and editing this post, yet she couldn't even spell their names right. A nanosecond Google search could've helped you out there, Lane.)

exactly. fuck her, fuck that book, and fuck her spelling.

that post is staggering. i still can't believe it's real

Seriously disappointing, seeing the rainbow flags come off to reveal asshattery underneath :/

like, they're stampeding to do it, now

heidi cullinan wants to write a romance between a lesbian and a gay man.

...because her powers extend into the very machinery of reality; her privilege will cover all the world with a second darkness.

Was going to message you last night warning you not to read it but figured that was merely going to send you there quicker.

I was taken aback by it.

i had no idea it existed until i saw people being appalled by it on twitter

i could not believe my friggin eyes

julio wrote: "exactly. fuck her, fuck that book, and fuck her spelling.

that post is staggering. i still can't believe it's real"

Me neither. A whole bunch of offensive, dismissive shit, throw in that Kinsey scale image to accompany it, and then book-end it all with that story about that drug addict woman who tragically died (because let's just go ahead and minimize what that woman possibly went through because, obviously, the only thing that could've possibly made her a drug addict was her dislike and incomprehension of musicals).

If I hadn't known the tone of the article from the tweets before reading it, I legit would've thought it was leading into some big joke.

and it goes on foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

sraxe wrote: "julio wrote: "exactly. fuck her, fuck that book, and fuck her spelling.

that post is staggering. i still can't believe it's real"

Me neither. A whole bunch of offensive, dismissive shit, throw i..."

not tragically - ironically!
It would only have been tragic if she liked musicals. Or something.

she is both tragic and ironic and she should stop talking to people like they're her fucking pets.

julio wrote: "i had no idea it existed until i saw people being appalled by it on twitter

i could not believe my friggin eyes"

My first thought was WTF
My second thought was Julio is going to explode!

For the record not all white straight females feel they have the right to tell others what to think. I don't.

julio wrote: "she is both tragic and ironic and she should stop talking to people like they're her fucking pets."

yep

Meep wrote: "For the record not all white straight females feel they have the right to tell others what to think. I don't."

no, not all. i just know the white straight ladies in this genre well enough to make the occasional generalization.

certainly the outcry on twitter last night is ample proof that we have real allies, not just the ones who pretend to be in order to sell us shitty books that hurt us.

My first thought was WTF
My second thought was Julio is going to explode!

i so did!!!

That blog was sooooo convoluted and reminds me of drivel I spew when I'm waking up from a horrible dream. It was so roundabout and ridiculous, almost hard to believe it was written by a published author.

SHROOMS....I think it must have been shrooms, because fucking pineapple.

Oh and ducks...the irony of using a duck analogy to tell queer people to STFU.

she's disgusting, and i'm done with her.

julio wrote: "like, they're stampeding to do it, now

heidi cullinan wants to write a romance between a lesbian and a gay man.

...because her powers extend into the very machinery of reality; her privilege wi..."

Are you kidding?? No, of course you're not, this virus just keeps spreading. Her blog a few days back, couched in an apology, but actually scolding others, was one of the more manipulative things I've seen this year.

YO, I'M DEAD SERIOUS. in the comments someone was like... please don't write that story

and she was like, lololol w.e.

julio wrote: "and it goes on foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

omg yes. I started reading it...and then looked at the scroll bar. Then I proceeded to count the number of page-downs it'd take to finish it.

Meep wrote: "not tragically - ironically!
It would only have been tragic if she liked musicals. Or something."

haha, that's very true. Her correlation between drugs and musicals was just so nonsensical. She obviously spent a shitload of time coming up with that story simply so she could use it throughout because she not only used drugs in her title, but also in the end with how books are her drugs for her. (She probably thought she was so clever when she came up with that title.) Though, tbh, I don't know if it's entirely true that books are her form of drug because she must've legit been on something when she composed that entire post.

she thought she was cute

with her obnoxious horsefuckery

twitter was not having it.

no sir.

julio wrote: "she thought she was cute

with her obnoxious horsefuckery

twitter was not having it.

no sir."

Good! Call her out on her shit. I was a little worried when I started reading the comments on the post because they were in support of her, but then I was glad to see them turn and call her out. I hope people continue to go in on her because she obviously still stands by her words, having not removed the post nor apologized for it as of yet. And she's obviously been on the internet and seen the outrage, if her Twitter is any indication.

Christina wrote: "At the moment, I'm speechless, which, as I'm sure you're aware, does not happen often."

i appreciate the gravity of the situation, yes

I've been thinking about what someone said on Twitter last night--that this post casts an ugly light on Lane's tendency to heap angst and despair onto her gay characters, like emotional sadism.

yes, you saw that, right? they said 'no wonder her characters are so miserable.'

she thinks they deserve to be.

I admire you Julio. I read the first part about the lady who could have avoided heroin addiction if she had liked musicals.

AND I STOPPED RIGHT THERE!!!

Because obviously all those medical people, therapists, social workers etc etc have been using the wrong strategy for all these years. All they needed to do was issue tickets to the latest musical and hey presto!! No drug addiction!!

What utter crap!

This is why I don't read author blogs. Just because you write a book does not immediately make you an authority on health problems.

That poor woman she writes about. I feel for her. Who knows what agony that lady went through with her drug addiction and Amy Lane takes her story, tramples on it, and trivialises it.

A child lost a mother in a heroin sale and Amy Lane thinks it is appropriate to wade in and ascribe this tragedy to disinterest in musicals.

I don't normally swear but what a crock of shit!

Good on you Julio for managing to wade through the rest of the horse manure! I hope you have had your tetanus shots.

Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "I admire you Julio. I read the first part about the lady who could have avoided heroin addiction if she had liked musicals.

AND I STOPPED RIGHT THERE!!!

Because obviously all those medical peopl..."


Yes that was totally insensitive and egotistical.

Thank you Gay Jesus for waking me up to the awesomeness of musicals. I dodged an early death of drug addiction by thiiiiis much. *wipes brow*

I couldn't read past that, and that outrageously offensive Kinsey graph didn't convince me to go back and give it a go. I skimmed some of it though and NOPE.

Where did this idea come from that people are socialized into their sexualities? (Hint: from the same mentality that "such-and-such made my kid gay" and the same mentality that believes conversion therapy actually works. But they're "allies" so it's ok.) Have any of these authors even taken a sociology or psychology course ever? (Tip: Googling on the internet and reading Wikipedia articles don't count.) Because if they had, then they would know that you're BORN straight or gay or bi (or ace - yes, we DO exist and don't fall into your "everyone's fluid" mindset - thank you for erasing us yet again).

They seem to think that more people coming out bi means more people are becoming bi because society is more accepting????? Instead of the fact that bis were actually repressing themselves in the past (because one thing society does influence about sexuality is it's repression) and have historically been an underrepresented demographic (just like gays, just like ace) and maybe, just maybe, they feel like they can come out now where they couldn't before, and not that society is turning them bi or gay with its open-mindedness or whatever the hell logic they're using.

But I forgot. Women writing and reading M/M is totally a woman's rights issue. Because the only way a woman can explore her historically repressed sexuality in this paternalistic society is taking women out of the equation entirely in order to exploit the historically repressed sexuality of other marginalized groups. Except for GFY, where women are needed as plot devises to help the men realize how gay they are. Because feminism, or something.

When will the cray-cray end?

UGH! I'm finding it harder and harder to be polite about all this.

julio wrote: "like, they're stampeding to do it, now

heidi cullinan wants to write a romance between a lesbian and a gay man.

...because her powers extend into the very machinery of reality; her privilege wi..."

I though it was Keira who said she was working on that story idea. But I could've gotten that wrong. I'm not going back to check.

And anyway it's about accepting the bis. It's not about "fixing the gays" like, at all. *side eyes*

Aislinn wrote: "Are you kidding?? No, of course you're not, this virus just keeps spreading. Her blog a few days back, couched in an apology, but actually scolding others, was one of the more manipulative things I've seen this year."

I've read some pretty manipulative stuff this year but that blog took the cake.

MostlyDelores wrote: "I've been thinking about what someone said on Twitter last night--that this post casts an ugly light on Lane's tendency to heap angst and despair onto her gay characters, like emotional sadism."

That's why I only ever read one of her books. But maybe I was reading it wrong? Like ANGST = HAPPY PLACE after all. *rolls eyes*

Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "I though it was Keira who said she was working on that story idea. But I could've gotten that wrong. I'm not going back to check. "

No, it was Cullinan who said it (but the post was about Andrews's book, so that may have been way the confusion arose). And her response to that person (the one who asked her not to write a story like that) was so damn dismissive: "You’re excused without prejudice from reading the gay man and lesbian story. It doesn’t sound like it’s for you."

I haven't read any Amy Lane's books ever. But I have seen her blogposts and it's the second or third time she shows who she truly is. I'm so glad i never read any of her work because i don't want to support people who hurt me.
That post is beyond hilarious and totally shows she lives in a bubble and knows nothing of what's going on in the world. Sad.

Christina wrote: "Julio, you get all the kudos for calling this shit out. Ridiculous and beyond insulting. It'd be funny if it wasn't so infuriating."

it's both

What shocks me is the utter cluelessness of the article written not just by an author, but she used to be a high school teacher, right? That kills me.

So my whole life, I've been wondering why my dad was a junkie, who chose drugs over his family, and now I know! It was the musicals! He didn't like the musicals! Or the happy, whatever.

At this point, I wish the authors would go back to the good old days, write the books, and be done. Quit trying to explain everything away when someone has a problem. Write the books and let them stand on their own merits, or lack thereof. Every time one tries to jump into something like this, they end up making it worse, fanning the flames up again, and I'm just getting so tired.

Anna wrote: "Gawd

What fresh bullshit is this?

You know, Im still flabbergasted that you were accused of mansplain and shaming of women because you wrote why GFY is not ok in romance..."

Wow that article is wild. I am grateful as always Julio for you highlighting blogs and twitter of which I would otherwise be blissfully ignorant of.

Julio's review of Beyond the Sea is also quite brilliant. I have to admit my own flabbergasted-ness that other people opening a feminist discourse about the definition of erotica and romance (using the review as a catalyst) is viewed as suggesting that Julio is mansplaining or shaming of women.

I would have thought it was broadening the topic. Surely there is room for some academic rigour without personal offence and a break of friendship. It just makes me sad, and a little wary of saying anything at the risk of causing unintentional hurt.

Ije the Devourer of Books wrote: "A child lost a mother in a heroin sale and Amy Lane thinks it is appropriate to wade in and ascribe this tragedy to disinterest in musicals."

if only her fuckery had ended there.

it did not.

she's appalling.

Linda ~ chock full of hoot, just a little bit of nanny ~ wrote: "But I forgot. Women writing and reading M/M is totally a woman's rights issue. Because the only way a woman can explore her historically repressed sexuality in this paternalistic society is taking women out of the equation entirely in order to exploit the historically repressed sexuality of other marginalized groups. Except for GFY, where women are needed as plot devises to help the men realize how gay they are. Because feminism, or something."

this.

and they're so fucking proud of it. no! I finally get to screw someone else over! you can't take it away from me!!!!

nobody's trying to take it away from you, assholes.

all we ever said was "ouch."

sraxe wrote: "No, it was Cullinan who said it (but the post was about Andrews's book, so that may have been way the confusion arose). And her response to that person (the one who asked her not to write a story like that) was so damn dismissive: "You’re excused without prejudice from reading the gay man and lesbian story. It doesn’t sound like it’s for you."

careful, Cullinan—your privilege is showing.

oh, that's right! you don't care.

jackass.

Fenriz wrote: "I haven't read any Amy Lane's books ever. But I have seen her blogposts and it's the second or third time she shows who she truly is. I'm so glad i never read any of her work because i don't want t..."

I'm never supporting any of these people again.

they can take their fake assed allyhood and stuff it.

Steelwhisper wrote: "What shocks me is the utter cluelessness of the article written not just by an author, but she used to be a high school teacher, right? That kills me."

and she was shocked—shocked!—when they fired her for making her high school students read her own smutty books.

Bitchie *Bored Now* wrote: "So my whole life, I've been wondering why my dad was a junkie, who chose drugs over his family, and now I know! It was the musicals! He didn't like the musicals! Or the happy, whatever.

At this p..."

you're not the only one. *scowl*

Reflection wrote: "I have to admit my own flabbergasted-ness that other people opening a feminist discourse about the definition of erotica and romance (using the review as a catalyst) is viewed as suggesting that Julio is mansplaining or shaming of women."

seems to me a rationalization based in their sense of being attacked for their tastes. that argument has no basis in reality, as no charge they've leveled at me can be demonstrated without making shit up.

I would have thought it was broadening the topic. Surely there is room for some academic rigour without personal offence and a break of friendship. It just makes me sad, and a little wary of saying anything at the risk of causing unintentional hurt.

it was I who terminated the friendship.

my review attacked an idea; their reviews and threads attacked a person.

those are no friends of mine.

julio wrote: "you're not the only one. *scowl* ..."

That bit about why people use was seriously in bad taste. Everyone who's had family abusing hard drugs knows that it's certainly not something as idiotic as disliking musicals (by that definition I must be using like mad - I hate the stuff).

I'm officially on record for taking the middle road of this whole issue, but what puzzles me is the seeming need to dogpile and defriend.

Debate culture is truly dead.

julio wrote: "and she was shocked—shocked!—when they fired her for making her high school students read her own smutty books."

*flips all the tables*

She talks about how she's going to break it down for people who aren't at all familiar with the LGBTQ community. lol. So says the author who's most likely a hetero-cis female.... She has firsthand experience with us gays, y'know?