text: But to many across the country and even here in Portland, it's best known as the bookstore Women and Women First from IFC's Portlandia. For six seasons of the show, In Other Words has allowed Portlandia to film the saga of feminist bookstore owners Toni and Candace, played by Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen. ||||| Several months ago the In Other Words community agreed to discontinue our relationship with Portlandia. This was a direct response to a particular egregious filming of the show in our space which saw our store left a mess, our staff mistreated, our neighbors forced to close and lose business for a day without warning, and our repeated attempts to obtain accountability or resolution dismissed. It was also a direct response to a show which is in every way diametrically opposed to our politics and the vision of society we’re organizing to realize. A show which has had a net negative effect on our neighborhood and the city of Portland as a whole. Shortly after this decision was made, a volunteer placed the Fuck Portlandia sign in our window. 
   
   Being on Portlandia Doesn’t Make Us Money 
   
   We are paid a small flat fee per episode filmed at in Other Words. This fee does not cover the profits lost by our having to remain closed for filming. It also does not cover the additional business lost by our neighbors who at times also have to remain closed for filming. The additional exposure we have received from our time on Portlandia does not provide financial or political support of any kind: tourists and fans of the show come to our door to stand outside, take selfies, and then leave. The vast majority of them don’t come inside. 
   
   The Show is Bad 
   
   The Women and Women First segments that are filmed at In Other Words are trans-antagonistic and trans-misogynist and have only become more offensive as the show goes on. ‘LOL Fred Armisen in a wig and a dress’ is a deeply shitty joke whose sole punchline throws trans femmes under the bus by holding up their gender presentation for mockery and ridicule. In a world where trans femmes – particularly Black trans women – are being brutalized and murdered on a regular basis for simply daring to exist, dude in a dress jokes are lazy, reactionary, and actively harmful. They’re also just straight up not funny. 
   
   Also: there are no Black people on Portlandia. There are a tiny number of people of color on Portlandia. Portland is white but it’s not that damn white. It’s also a city with a deeply entrenched history of racism and white supremacy. In Other Words is in the heart of a historically Black neighborhood in Northeast Portland. We have Black Lives Matter written on our window. Black Lives Matter Portland meets regularly in our space. But as more and more Black folks and people of color have become involved at In Other Words, Portlandia has only gotten steadfastly more white. Oh and also: the last time the show filmed in our space, the production crew asked to us to remove the Black Lives Matter sign on our window. We refused. 
   
   Gentrification Isn’t a Joke 
   
   Portlandia is fueling mass displacement in Portland. Fred and Carrie are on billboards and realtors have gleefully begun using Portlandia’s popularity and insipid humor (‘put a bird on it!’) to make displacing the communities that made Portland a great place in the first place something twee and whimsical for the incoming technocrat hordes. 
   
   The current board, staff, and volunteers were not involved in the decision, made six years ago, to allow Portlandia to film at In Other Words. We stand behind our collective decision to discontinue our relationship with the show. And we fucking love the sign. 
   
   Support our stance? Donate today so we can continue to serve as a hub for Portland’s social justice community – any amount helps! And if you’re interested in volunteering, please contact us at scheduling@inotherwords.org. 
   
   Like this: Like Loading...
target: – Portland's In Other Words bookstore is well known to Portlandia fans as the fictional Women and Women First bookstore featured in sketches on the show—but it's safe to say ties have been severed between the bookstore and the show, considering a sign that appears on the bookstore's door reading, "Fuck Portlandia! Transmisogyny – Racism – Gentrification – Queer Antagonism – Devaluation of Feminist Discourse." The Willamette Week tried on Tuesday to get an explanation from the bookstore, and a representative at first offered an interview, but also asked (repeatedly) for the Week to post a link to an online fundraiser the bookstore is running. After the Week declined to guarantee a link would be posted (though one did, in fact, end up getting posted in the ensuing article), the bookstore took back its offer of an interview in no uncertain terms. "After some consideration and research we've decided to officially tell the Willamette Weekly to go fuck themselves," read a message from the rep. "Your paper has absolutely zero journalistic professionalism and you are scummy rape apologists. Thanks for the opportunity tho! Have a great night." Then, Wednesday, a blog post went up on the bookstore's website explaining the "Fuck Portlandia" sign. It was placed on the window, and the store's relationship with the show was formally discontinued, as "a direct response to a particular egregious filming of the show in our space which saw our store left a mess, our staff mistreated, our neighbors forced to close and lose business for a day without warning, and our repeated attempts to obtain accountability or resolution dismissed," the blog post reads. "It was also a direct response to a show which is in every way diametrically opposed to our politics and the vision of society we’re organizing to realize. A show which has had a net negative effect on our neighborhood and the city of Portland as a whole." There's a lot more where that came from, here.