Discover Top Posts Tagged with #mixed+race

She's as German as you can be...

... when you have a Senegalese father.

#africanization #mixed race #black and white #race mixing

Nonbinary half-angel + half-demon having to choose sides; should I avoid a possible mixed race allegory?

Anonymous asked:

Hello! I'm writing a MG fantasy series with a white nonbinary main character who is half-angel and half-demon. They are trying to decide which magical school to go to (the one for angels or the one for demons) and also deal with some prejudices about the fact that they're both an angel and a demon, but at the end of the book they realize that they shouldn't have to choose just one part of their identity, so they make a plan with their professors to go to both schools. (It might also be important to note that in this story, the demons are not portrayed as 'evil' like they traditionally are. Neither are the angels, for that matter. They are more like two sides of the same coin, even if they don't always get along.) The story is based on my own experiences as a bigender person who was often told to 'pick one gender', but after writing the outline I realized that it could also be read as a metaphor for being mixed. Do you have any advice on how to write this story respectfully and avoid stereotypes about mixed people?

Hi! I’m a relatively new mod, and mixed Latina. Any time a story’s thematic argument challenges binary thinking and moves toward more nuance, I’m over here cheerleading from the sidelines. That would have been a very helpful message for me growing up. From what you’ve described, your story isn’t reinforcing harmful ideas about mixed identity but rather dismantling them by showing that the MC doesn’t have to choose one side of themselves over the other.

If your core message is about rejecting the idea that identities must be binary (whether that’s angel v. demon, good v. bad, or even gender) then any harmful prejudices or conflicts in the story should feel like natural extensions of the MC’s internal struggle and the flawed perspectives of those around them, rather than the story itself endorsing those beliefs.

As long as the narrative ultimately affirms wholeness and self-acceptance, you’re on solid ground.

Of course, execution matters, but based on your outline, your thematic structure seems thorough and mindful of the points you’re trying to make. Good luck and happy writing!

-Melanie 🌻

I’m taking a bit of a different direction. I’m intrigued by your concept and want to dig a bit into your metaphors. Personally, I think there absolutely is a way to take this concept and write a focused story on your experience as a bigender person without having to focus on or worry about portraying other intersections like race or ethnicity.

As Melanie mentions, the overall rejection of binaries in your message will resonate with mixed folks regardless, and as your question suggests you’re aware, you can’t actually prevent a reader from giving a story their own meanings. But!

If you want to tell a specific story about gender, there is a way, and that is to make the allegory very specific.

The only reason why the premise might currently be reading as a primarily mixed-race allegory is because I assume your MC is half-angel, half-demon by birth. Your physical appearance and genes are traits that exist from birth and cannot be hidden from the world or changed drastically.

But gender identity varies by person whether it’s been the same since birth or has changed over time. And you can choose to emphasize or hide your gender identity by employing different physical presentations, encouraging society to categorize you based on different gendered traits.

Change, transformation, and performance can be empowering in the context of gender, though it can also be used to shame and oppress (you can change your appearance to come out or go into the closet in equal measure).

In the context of race, it’s almost entirely the shame and oppression half (think racefaking, race-fishing, people going under the knife or spending money on cosmetics to change racialized features, and so on). So it’s not exactly the same.

To be clear—I’m not saying that you shouldn’t make your MC mixed angel-demon by birth. They can still absolutely be mixed in the story (see my point above on metaphor ambiguity being fine and good!).

Just consider de-emphasizing overt physical aspects to how one is categorized as an angel or demon (like wings, horns, etc). But maybe, at the same time:

Could there be nonsense about what facial traits make someone more angel-like or demon-like?

That one “can tell?”

That certain looks are more desirable for angels & demons?

Consider adding proportionally much more to the metaphor that makes angel or demon status something that is embodied, presented, and performed, just like gender.

Maybe there are ritual aspects through which angels & demons must constantly prove their status to society and to their peers.

Maybe what people consider angel-like or demon-like are conventionalized norms that are followed and/or broken.

If you’re not doing so already, you can mold the culture of your angel & demon schools after gender-segregated boarding schools, with all of the traditions, taboos, and social microcosms that those come with. There may be linguistics quirks or social etiquette rules that vary based on whether you identify—or are identified as—an angel “or” a demon.

You’re already there with the idea that neither angels nor demons are good or bad, but don’t always get along; is their rivalry innate, or socially conditioned? Are angels & demons merely socialized to think of themselves as adversaries?

Sounds familiar!

As a mixed person, I personally find your story a lot more interesting when told through this specific lens of gender. There’s a fair number of stories out there of characters dealing with reconciling two or more heritages or getting them recognized by the world. There’s also a fair number of stories out there commenting on cis-patriarchy and the way men and women are divided and oppressed, but more often told from the perspective of cis people within the system.

Your story which focuses on a character whose first reaction to the binary is “nope, I’m both of those” will be a unique and meaningful contribution to the ecosystem!

~ Rina

#nonbinary #mixed race #racial allegory #allegory #angels #demons #supernatural beings