Anyone who has been on the internet for the last few days must have been aware of the Kathleen Hale stalking drama. If you are not fully aware, here are some excellent posts on the matter
Dear Author’s On the Importance of Pseudonymous Activity
Smart Bitches’ The Choices of Kathleen Hale
Jenny Trout’s DON’T DO THIS EVER (An Advice Column For Writers): “Stalking The Hands That Feed You” edition
Love in the Margins also has an excellent Link Roundup
So I don’t want to repeat what has already been said excellently in so many other places - but I do want to say we have a problem.
It’s very tempting to consider this all happened because Ms. Hale is a deeply unpleasant and, frankly, scary woman - which is not inaccurate. It’s also tempting to think that she got the profile she did because she is very well connected - which isn’t unlikely. It’s also tempting to think that it doesn’t take much to set off some stalkers - sometimes the slightest thing can lead a stalker to building up a rather terrifying elaborate fantasy.
It’s tempting, and reassuring, to decide that this is a “one off.” Except, it’s already clear that it isn’t. And, in some ways more worrying than these frightening stalkers themselves, we’re also seeing consent and approval for their actions. It’s not a “one off” (or a “two off” or how ever many off it turns out to be) when these actions are praised and celebrated by so many in our community.
That isn’t worrying - that is frightening. It is frightening that fans and authors respond to this report of outright stalking and made excuses for it - or openly praised it.
What have we become? And how much further will we take this?
This culture of attacking reviewers for criticism has been developing for a while - of which STGRB is perhaps the most visible manifestation of it. And yes, we must draw a direct link between Ms. Hale’s stalking and the wide acceptance of her actions if not directly to that group then certainly to the attitude that spawned them, not least of which because Ms. Hale herself referred to them. When STGRB first caused so much outrage with their campaigns against reviewers - including doxing, revealing reviewer’s names, addresses and work-places many of us spoke out against them - but equally there were many more willing to speak in favour of them and to their defence. There were many who were willing to join them in labelling negative reviews as “bullying” (a grossly offensive comparison that takes advantage of the high profile of vulnerable suicides that drew attention to bullying, especially of marginalised people) and in labelling criticism as “attack”. Authors like Anne Rice and Nathan Bransford spoke up in support of this characterisation, ignoring or tacitly accepting STGRB’s tactics (including doxxing and slandering reviewers with allegations of them being bad mothers, or having a drinking problem). News outlets like Huffpost Books further added credence to the idea that criticism was “bullying” and that the tactics of STGRB were either acceptable or negligible.
