Waterstones says ‘no truth’ in claims it refuses to sell books on gender and feminism
Waterstones has said “there is no truth” in claims that some of its shops were refusing to sell copies of two books by gender-critical feminists.
The book retailer was trending on Twitter earlier this week, after a number of social media users shared their belief that Waterstones was deliberately choosing not to stock Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children by Hannah Barnes or Hags: The Demonisation of Middle-Aged Women by Victoria Smith.
Several of these concerns were expressed in response to a Waterstones tweet that showed an image of five newly published books and asked followers what they were reading. The novelist Amanda Craig replied that she was reading Hags, “bought from Am*zon as you don’t seem to stock it.”
Writer and independent bookshop owner Anna Wharton tweeted in response to the claims: “I am STAGGERED to hear that Waterstones is not stocking HAGS. I have sold more than 40 copies this week, so their loss is my gain.”
Yet a Waterstones spokesperson told the Guardian that it had been stocking and selling copies of both Hags, a book that criticises the way some middle-aged women are deemed “Terfs” or “Karens”, and Time to Think, an investigation into the Gender Identity Development Service based at the Tavistock and Portman Trust in London by Barnes, a BBC Newsnight journalist.
“It appears that a small number of people are determined to characterise Waterstones as boycotting or otherwise minimising the presence of books on gender,” the spokesperson said. “In fact, Time to Thinkhas sold well for us. Quite simply, many of our shops sold out temporarily and the reorders have yet to arrive.”
“In the case of Victoria Smith’s Hags, we have reacted to the increased
Read more on theguardian.com
