Mick Hartley

Jenny Lindsay, at The Critic, on Scotland’s sorry literary scene, where a poet can be “disappeared” for expressing gender critical views. Novelist and poet Polly Clark’s latest collecion, Afterlife, was much praised. But – oh dear – she believes that sex is real, and it matters.

And so, to the craven behaviour of Gutter, who are funded by Creative Scotland to self-identify as “Scotland’s leading literary magazine.”

A few days before publication of Afterlife, they made it their Book of the Month, alongside publishing a stunning review. 

The reviewer, poet Iona Lee, praised it as “a fine collection: funny, feminine, and violent; confessional yet mysterious.” Within 48 hours, however, both the online review and Book of the Month accolade disappeared from Gutter’s website.

The reason given, provided in writing to Clark’s publisher, was: “a reader drew our attention to social media posts by Polly Clark that they considered to be offensive.”

One gender puritan was offended. And that was that.

Clark put in a Subject Access Request to discover precisely what Gutter felt justified her treatment. The result is astonishing.

A barely literate complaint, clearly sent via social media, claimed it was “harmful” for Gutter to praise the work of “someone who has demonstrated TERF views and support for other out right (sic) TERFS”. This zealous reader provided screenshots they felt merited their complaint.

Nothing shows Clark saying anything “harmful”, which is subjective anyway. Included was a retweet of me, which read:

“There’s not a woman on earth born before 2002 or thereabouts who thought her life would be eaten up by having to argue men aren’t women and being punished for saying so. It is the most insane thing that has ever happened to a lot of us. That mustn’t ever be downplayed.“

The irony bypass of including this as a reason to punish yet another woman aside, it’s clear this person must be someone Gutter either fears or feels must be taken seriously. Attempts to discover their identity have proven fruitless, and neither reviewer Iona Lee nor Gutter’s editorial board have responded to repeated requests for comment by journalists.

There is absolutely no legal remedy for Polly Clark to take. Creative Scotland is missing in action; Gutter’s funding remains in place. Meanwhile, Scotland’s toothless literary class continue their near silence.

It’s a witch hunt. The cowardice is extraordinary.