Amazon has its share of critics right now, especially after a* New York Times* expose, which alleges that e.g. a senior member of female staff had to go on a work trip two days after a miscarriage, that another worker was put on improvement plans after taking time off after a stillbirth and that another worker was told to buck up after taking time off because, y’know, she had breast cancer.
And now the company, which now includes a streaming service and that one-click-and-it’s-delivered service we all know and love, has been called out for selling the books of a gross pick-up artist.
Daryush Valizadeh, who goes by the nickname Roosh V (doesn’t sound like a nickname for Rohypnol at all, does it?), shares his tips on how to ‘pick up’ women e.g. ‘stop asking for permission’ and ‘defeat bedroom resistance.’ He also called for rape to become legal because then girls will stop feeling raped.
According to The Independent, in a blog post called ‘How To Stop Rape’, Roosh V wrote: ‘I propose that we make the violent taking of a woman not punishable by law when done off public grounds.’
‘If rape becomes legal under my proposal, a girl will protect her body in the same manner that she protects her purse and smartphone.’
‘If rape becomes legal, a girl will not enter an impaired state of mind where she can’t resist being dragged off to a bedroom with a man who she is unsure of—she’ll scream, yell, or kick at his attempt while bystanders are still around.’
Roosh V, as you might have guessed it, self-publishes his books, but that doesn’t stop them – they include location-specific guides to pulling girls e.g. Bang: The Pickup Bible That Helps You Get More Lays and Bang Iceland - being sold through Amazon.
There’s a petition calling on Amazon to remove Roosh V’s books from its stock, reading: ‘They aren't 'pick up tips' - they normalise and diminish rape. He even confesses to raping at least one woman in his book Bang Iceland. Having these in stock suggests that Amazon, and by extension you, condone his actions. Please show that this isn't the case and remove them from your stock.’
It’s got over 5,000 signatures so far. Fingers crossed that, and a little publicity, is all it takes for Amazon to do a little monitoring of what they’re selling.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.