Diversity
Even though this blog is very inactive (due to the lack of requests and the lack of interest from my side to come up with imagines myself at the moment) I woke up this morning with a message in my inbox concerning the Alec being shipped with a girl discussion I've posted about concerning my posts on this blog.
Instead of posting the asks and reacting on it, I want to create a post about diversity in general. I am aware that I will probably burn my fingers somewhere during this post, but I do hope that people can understand my point of view.
Firstly I want to state that usually I'm an advocate of the live and let live policy. Instead of using my energy to hate on something or someone else, I'd rather promote and focus on the things I love. I will never attack someone for shipping something and I will never hate on anyone because of their likes and dislikes. Usually hate makes me tired and angry and I prefer being happy, so I prefer simply posting about things I love instead of bashing people who like or post things I dislike. To me, personally, it doesn't matter who you ship with whom.
However, I do understand that sometimes things are not just a matter of live and let live due to the social context. I think that shipping canonly gay characters with girls and canonly lesbians with males must been seen in such a context. It must been seen related to history, related to the circumstances of LGTB+ people around the world and the huge amount of people who can not accept homosexuality for whatever reason.
Purely technically we're all writing fanfic here and let's be honest, a lot of fanfic is hopelessly out of character and a lot of fanfic has little to nothing to do with canon. Characters are often "disrespected" one way or another in fanfics. They do things they would never do and they say things they would never say. There is nothing we can do about it. Not one writer here owns the characters they're writing about, which means that we always have a certain point of view which can differ from someone else's point of view and the point of view of the original writer and creator of the character. The nice thing about fanfic is that your possibilities are endless and as a writer you can simply write whatever you want to write. If a reader doesn't like it, they can simply stop reading.
So, pure technically, people can do to characters whatever they want. They can change their sexuality, they can change their species, their gender, their skin color, everything. You can create all the AU's you want and in an AU everything is possible, because it's an AU after all.
But, when it comes to discussions about representation and diversity we're never truly speaking purely technically. We're also speaking about a certain emotional load. We're talking about emotions, feelings, we're talking about social context and we're talking about a certain lack of respect in general. I'm personally a cis white straight girl, but with a disability.
I've looked up on google some time ago how many characters with a disability there are on television. Shockingly when it comes to series broadcasted on public networks in America there are only about 10 characters with a certain form of a disability in a recurring role (so we're not even talking about mains here). This includes all mental disabilities and all different forms of physical disabilities. (On top of that 95% of those are played by abled bodied actors.)
One of those characters is Raven Reyes from the 100, broadcasted by the CW. I don't think I need to explain how important Raven Reyes therefore is to me. Her disability comes close to the one I have (very close) and her struggle is therefore very relatable to me. On top of that, the series shows that she's far more than her disability: Her brain is all kinds of awesome and people do accept her, love her and respect her.
Technically there is absolutely no problem with people writing AU's and fanfics where Raven is abled bodied for the reasons stated above. Emotionally however I feel differently about it. If people write her as abled bodied, it gives me the impression that they only think she's interesting enough to write about without her disability. It gives me the impression that she's only interesting enough to read about when she's healthy and not struggling with her leg. It gives me the idea that people like me are not interesting, don't deserve to be written about. On top of that, it makes me feel like I can only be happy if I can get rid of that disability (which I can't).
I know perfectly well that this is absolutely not what people mean. The fanfic writers probably don't even realize that this is the sign I get from their writing. They just wanted to write a nice story about a character they love so much because she's smart and amazing. They just wanted to see her without the pain. They just wanted to explore her character before the accident in another universe. In theory that's completely fine, but my emotions think differently.
I personally believe that something like this counts for all the minorities on television and in fanfic. It's only in the last few years that slowly LGTB+ characters are finding their way to the screen. First in very minor roles, slowly also in main roles. Those few mains (and the minor roles too, but especially the mains) are very important to the LGTB+ community, just like Raven is very important to me. They can related to them, they can see that they're treated like any other character, they can see them happy, they can see them struggling and they recognize themselves in them.
Technically you can totally write an AU where those characters do have a relationship against their canonly sexual preference. As stated above, it's a fanfic and in an AU everything is possible and allowed. Emotionally however it doesn't really work like that. Emotionally those fanfics, where that LGTB+ side is erased from a character, feel like a stump in their face. Because that one part that is so important to them is being erased. An important part of themselves is being erased, disrespected. It's like that character, and therefore them, are only interesting when they're not LGTB+, when they fit the standard image. It's like people like them are not interesting, not worth writing about, not worth caring about and not deserving of happiness.
Once again, that's not what the fanfic writer probably meant, it's just how it's perceived by the readers who are part of the community. And it's totally not that weird that they perceive it that way, because in daily life that's what they face. A lot of LGTB+ people face their sexualities being disrespected on daily basis. A lof of disabled people face their disability being overlooked, disrespected or limiting on a daily basis. A lot of people of color face being treated differently because of their skin color on a daily basis. Whitewashing, erasing disabilities and disrespecting sexualities and gender preferences are the daily life of a lot of people. It's the default setting of our society.
Slowly series and movies are working on changing that default setting. More characters with disabilities are being shown, more LGTB+ characters are breaking through on screen, more people of color get main parts in big franchises. The world is slowly, too slowly, changing in a good way. But, every time a minority is in some way turned into the "default setting" it feels like a huge step back again.
Now I hear you say: But what about all those "straight" characters that are being written as LGTB+ in fanfics? Why is that okay, but the other way round isn't?
Technically, both should be okay. You're writing and reading a fanfic, and it's an AU and characters are not fully themselves anyway. Your AU, your rules. Emotionally however it's not. Straight people are in daily life not disrespected for their sexuality. Turning a straight character gay for a fanfic doesn't have any influence on the confidence of straight people. After all, the default setting of society is still straight and there are tons and tons and tons and tons of characters on television who are straight. Straight people don't face their sexuality being erased, disrespected and mocked on daily basis. Straight people don't need to be afraid that they are hurt, harmed, raped or murdered because of their sexuality. If a straight character is written as gay in a fanfic, that is not a reflection of something they're facing in daily life. Let's be honest, no parent is throwing their kid out of the house because it's straight or sends it to fixing programs.
I understand that technically there is a double standard when it comes to minorities and the default setting in fanfics. I understand that from a certain point of view shipping a gay guy with a girl is the same as shipping a straight guy with a boy. Technically it is the same thing. Emotionally however it isn't.
Yes, all minorities want equal rights. Equal rights means equal rules and equal treatment. However, as long as there is no equality for minorities in our society, and we're far from there, I think it's emotionally very understandable that minorities are treated a little differently in the fanfic world to make sure they don't get erased.
It would be amazing if one day we'd reach a point where we don't have to think like that anymore, where an AU can be an AU and no one has to feel disrespected. Where everyone can ship whatever and whoever they want to ship. Where we can live and let live.
But we're not there yet. We're far from there yet.