Here's my big question. Why do you need to ask? Go out there and create the characters you want to see in the media? Is that totally impossible? Because I don't see any reason why people who are part of minorities should be any less talented and creative than stupid, patriarchal white males right? You know yourselves best anyway, so you won't be offending your own with dangerous prejudice and stereotypes? Right? Right? I can't be that crazy.
I’ve been thinking about how to answer this question, forgive me if I get a little too wordy, haha. You’re right, of course, we are perfectly capable of creating characters just as well as anyone else. And we do. There are many diverse, beautifully written stories out there with excellent representation. The problem is, to begin with, none of these stories that I’ve found has ever caught the public eye, either existing entirely online as a webcomic (which, as much as I love them, will likely never have quite the same influence on our culture as a whole as a published book or movie) or sitting in the back of a dusty shelf in a long forgotten library.
But why should that responsibility lie on us, anyways? We’re not asking for people to write FOR us, god knows I would hate to see a cis person try to explain the experience and struggles of being trans for me. But is it so hard to just have a character who just happens to be transgender? Mentally ill? Nonwhite? Without those things defining who the characters are and their role in the story? Is it so hard to sit down for a few minutes and just research whoever it is you’re trying to represent? Just as those white, patriarchal males- who might I point out are certainly not the only ones writing bland, tasteless stories with the same bland, tasteless characters- minorities don’t always have the time, skill set, or inspiration necessary to write a full book or script. And we shouldn’t have to! Being part of a majority does not make you exempt from criticism in the lack of diversity in your writing. Men still write women, and sometimes, they actually do it well. Try a muslim woman next time.
I’m a writer myself, actually! You know whats stopping me from publishing a novel I already have halfway finished? I’m 15. Oh, I know there are young authors out there who made it big, in fact Nancy Yi Fan was one of my first inspirations and she published Swordbird when she was 12, but not all of us can do that. I just don’t have the time. I’ve been working on my story in my free time for the past two years, it might never be finished. My grandfather was a writer too, he finally managed to publish the book he’d been writing for 20 years when he retired at 80. None of my dad’s stories ever got past the magazine stage, and he was a cishet white male growing up in a time when it was much easier to be an author. There are so many reasons why not everyone is in a position to write, these are just the reasons specific to myself and my family.
Not to mention, even within minorities there is still a huge diversity in experiences and ideas. My experience as a biracial aroace person in Massachusetts is going to be vastly different from the experience of a biracial aroace person in say, Texas. I am still capable of offending someone, its almost impossible not to. However, I can still do what I can to ensure I avoid doing that as much as I can, and listen to whatever group I’m writing when they tell me I’m doing something wrong. Just as a member of a majority is capable of.
You know why stereotypes exist to begin with, right? It’s much easier to digest a story when you don’t have to view members of a minority as separate, individual people. As it is, without popular media presenting non-stereotyped characters, readers and watchers will have trouble accepting media that opposes how they think media should be. As a result, publishers are going to be less likely to accept such stories because they don’t think they will sell as well, which, of course, leads to what began this whole thing. We want to normalize diversity, to end that gross cycle, and sometimes, the only way we can do this is to appeal to bigger, already established writers and publishers (which is by the way what we’re doing with this blog).
Well! That was extensive! I’ll take this opportunity to remind our followers that we are compiling a list of these aforementioned good stories to read, so if you have any to suggest, please let us know!
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