Write Away

I agree with what you said, though I do think that there's one aspect that might be worth mentioning as far as people avoiding minority characters from groups that they aren't a part of. Namely, the fact that someone's comfort level that group[s] experience, without even getting into worrying about being accused of racism/sexism/etc.

I mean, people are generally aware that people from various different groups experience the exact same society in different ways even if they don't always know exactly what ways those are. Even if a person does research that can be a really scary thing to write simply because you're tackling something that *is* different from you - sometimes to the point you have to write a mindset that's pretty different from what you're used to. That is something that can be uncomfortable enough to make some writers shy away from it, if it doesn't out right scare them off.

As far as this getting defended, I suspect part of the reason really depends on what communities you're talking about. If you're talking about fanfiction, for example, I'd argue that SJWs* are a much larger part of the reason simply because they're much louder in those spaces - or, they are in the fandoms I've been in. On the other hand, if you mean original fiction communities? I'd suspect part of it is that in a lot of writing circles you're expected to be supportive. Which, for a lot of people, doesn't mean pushing someone into writing something they're clearly very uncomfortable writing and in a number of cases even just saying nice things/avoiding things a person might need to hear, or would be a more helpful answer, simply to avoid rocking the boat.



*I'll agree that some people get slapped with the label that don't deserve it