Etsy has taken down Maria’s Coronavirus “Housewife” magnet, claiming it was exploiting the coronavirus (even though they sell hundreds of coronavirus T-shirts and other trinkets.)
The magnets, which are not sold for profit but as a service to her readers and customers, are 5 inches tall and say “The Coronavirus is making women into housewives again,” they sell for $7 each (free shipping) for one or more.
When all is said and done, she will earn about $2 apiece in profit on each magnet. The sketch took a good deal of time to make.
You can see for yourself that there is absolutely nothing exploitive or expensive about them. The censorship of her – and many other artists – is outrageous.
And has become rightly controversial.
There are people all over Etsy charging $20 for a mask and more for T-shirts and underwear that feature mention of the virus.
Maria created the image as artwork for her Corona Kimono, her ongoing artistic record of the Pandemic.
She decided to sell them in response to the many messages she has received from friends and other women about how the virus has made them housewives again.
There is absolutely nothing that is offensive or exploitive about this gentle and wise piece of art, which a lot of women have already purchased.
She has 85 of them left to sell, and she will also sell them via e-mail, [email protected]. Her blog is fullmoonfiberart.com
The women this magnet art is about are at home with their children and make less money usually than their husbands, so they struggle to work and care for their kids.
They either also work or have to stop working.
The magnet was created at their request and from their stories.
It is a great irony of the Pandemic that it once again highlights the struggle of women to make enough money to be able to do their work and still meet their obligations to family and children.
The mindless Etsy decision is the result of using software to permit ignorant and unknowing software to make complex moral decisions without any appeal or recourse. Software can’t determine the difference between art and cheap exploitations of tragedy.
That is an absurd thing for a site created to help artists to do. Even Amazon wouldn’t do that.
And there is no one at Etsy to speak to about this censorship.
This is a kind of tyranny that will soon become a problem for many of us, as even companies like Etsy, which presents itself as an artistic, humanistic alternative to Amazon, trods on the rights of creatives.
There is no way to contact them or appeal their decisions, and they even threatened Maria, the last person on the earth who would exploit a Pandemic, with the loss of her page if she tried to post it again.
This, without speaking to her or giving her an opportunity protest.
In response, she put a Paypal button on her blog page and people who want the magnet can purchase it there. Good for her.
I’m buying some of the magnets myself. I hope you’ll consider it.
This is one of those things that ought not to stand, although I am hardly objective. I love Maria’s compassion for others, and her refusal ever to make a dollar more than she absolutely needs to make.
We have had a bunch of arguments about her reluctance to charge what her art is worth over the years, but I can’t and don’t tell her what to do. I admire the way she has kept her prices low, she wants her art to be seen and loved more than she tries to get rich.
“Don’t make me into someone noble,” she asked when I said I wanted to write about this. But she is noble, and I will tell the truth about her selflessness.
To be censored in this thoughtless and unjust way doesn’t feel right to me. Beyond that, the women who want these magnets should have the option of buying them or not. It’s not for Etsy software to decide.
You can see and buy the magnets here.
Big brother is too big. That is scary.
How absurd!! I bought masks on etsy myself. And it’s probably safe to say they wouldn’t have been on etsy if not for the virus. Maria gets censored and trump can continue to lie and spread conspiracy theories on Twitter. Just sad and crazy.
It might be wrong and clumsy, but it isn’t censorship–ETSY is a business, and they made a business decision to eliminate sellers trying to capitalize on the pandemic. They can’t do it perfectly, and they don’t have the staff to look at each item on a case-by-case basis. It’s no different from your blog–you delete comments that you don’t think are reflective of your brand, and that’s your right. If people don’t like your decisions, they can start their own blogs or post elsewhere. If Maria doesn’t like ETSY’s decisions, she can sell her magnets on her own (as she’s doing), or go to one of ETSY’s competitors for her store. No lawyer would call ETSY’s process in regard to the coronavirus censorship, even if many might agree that it’s regrettable.
Donald, sorry, it is absolutely censorship when a so-called art site forbids art without even seeing it.. One can rationalize anything, censorship is the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, art, that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security
Etsys brand is the artists who pay them to show their work, and it is to obscene for them to ban artists interpretations of a Pandemic so they don’t catch flak from somebody..Many..most artists cannot just go and sell their own, and I could care less what a lawyer would do, the do what they are asked to do and paid to do..Many lawyers would be thrilled to sue Etsy if they got paid for it..sorry but you can’t dress up this hog or rationalize it..Etsy’s brand is the work of artists, they don’t have a brand..regrettable is way too soft a word..
It is not simply a technical or legal matter..the question is not simply do they have the legal right to do it, the question is it the right thing to do…there is quite a difference..
Let me ask you something simple: you wrote yesterday that you removed comments from someone who told you that something you did offended her as an African-American woman. You wrote that you “removed those comments because they were profoundly stupid. To accuse an author of racism for buying a fellow author’s book and inscribing it to the students receiving it just too dumb, and I don’t permit nasty or stupid comments on my blog.” Were you guilty of censorship, or were you not? I’m sure that woman, who obviously did not consider her remarks “profoundly stupid,” probably would. What do you say? I’d really be interested in your answer. (For the record, I do not agree with the decision to remove Maria’s magnet, although I understand it.)
Good post Donald, and thanks..Yes, the person on my blog was censored by me, of course.
Sometimes censorship is quite appropriate, and if you post online it is inevitable and often appropriate. If have to censor people almost every day.
And it might have been wrong for me to censor that conversation. I never think that everything I do must be right. When you say they were wrong to censor the magnet, it seems we are agreeing.
I never said otherwise, my argument is that censorship, in this case, is wrong.
Etsy is using software to censor art that is not offensive or exploitive in any way. They are just covering their asses.. Art has always explored crisis and tragedy, it is an essential function of art.
I appreciate what you are saying, but the issue to me is right and wrong, not legality…I honestly don’t think we disagree…In deleting those posts I was also censoring myself, I thought the discussion went off the rails and was not useful or healthy, my fault as well as hers… We do have a disagreement about the meaning of the term censorship…You suggested this was not censorship..I think it is, censorship is the suppression of information or writing or images…this is definitely censorship by every dictionary
definion..https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship
Here is anoher definition of censorship, Merriam Webster ..censorship does not have to be just to be censorship..
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/censorship
I appreciate this discussion Donald, thanks for raising it..it is important and thanks for your thoughtfulness and civility.. jon
This is the conversation I yearn for on the blog, and it is sadly, so rare, thanks for instigating it without rancor or anger..we are forgetting how to do this in our country..
What Donald said. It is in no way censorship.
This is not a coherent message, Paula, if you have something to say, please take the trouble to post it, not to declare it as a truth…note Donald’s very coherent disagreement..we talk about things here, it’s a conversation..If you can find a different definition of censorship please post it and show it to us..I believe you are just wrong..
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/censorship
you have got to be *f*ing kidding me. I am nonplussed at reading this news. Exploitative? I have steam coming out of my ears right now. Really!
Susan M