Diversity

[sarillia]

This is a topic I've been thinking about a lot recently but due to the nature of the topic and the stereotypes about people on different sides of the issue, I want to make it clear that I'm not interested in proselytizing and I am interested in hearing from people who disagree with me.

So, a disproportionate amount of media is about white, able-bodied, straight cis men. There is absolutely nothing wrong with writing characters who fit into all those categories. However there is a discussion to be had about how the media both reflects and influences the way we see the world. I'm sure most of you have already seen these arguments.

Personally, even if I didn't agree with them, I would still want to write about people who aren't represented very often. Female characters who are gay or disabled and written well are very important to me because of the way I relate to them and get so happy to see them treated with empathy. I'd love to give that feeling to other people.

Now this is the part that I'm really interested in hearing about: there are people who agree with what I have said so far but who are afraid to get things wrong so they avoid writing about people they don't have personal experience with. I recently said elsewhere that I don't understand people who do this (and then got congratulated for not having massive crippling anxieties like other artists and I laughed and laughed) but I was wrong. I do understand the fear of getting something wrong.

What I don't understand is what makes this different. I get if you are always afraid of getting things wrong on any topic that requires research. But why does this one get defended where others are met with "just get over it and do the research"? I suspect there are two related reasons.

First is the spectre of the "Social Justice Warrior". I admit they exist and as much as I always end up arguing when someone uses this term, I also argue with people who perform the behaviors it describes. I also think they get more attention than they deserve and reasonable people often get slapped with that label. They are not that difficult to avoid if you know how and I would be happy to give some tips for separating the reasonable people from the ones to avoid (tips that don't begin and end with "if they're visibly angry then don't listen to them") to anyone who wants them. The social justice that I'm familiar with is a productive place that welcomes all voices and I would like to see some people get past their gunshy feelings after encountering SJWs and find their way to the more welcoming brand of discussion that I know.

Even putting aside the whole SJW thing, people seem to be terrified of being called racist or sexist or anything like that. So now I'm going to explain the way these things are seen in the circles I run in. I never use words like "racist" as a noun and I don't use them to describe people, only behaviors. Because everyone is capable of doing things that contribute to institutionalized oppressions and marginalization and that doesn't make you a terrible person. Jay Smooth gave a TED talk about this view of things and I can dig it up if anyone is interested.

Now that I've rambled on about something that is only vaguely related to writing, I want to get to one tip for Doing It Right for those who are nervous: have multiple people who fit into each group. It's fine for some of them to be stereotypical. There are always people who fit the stereotypes in real life. The problem comes when they are the only representation of that group in the media. So have a variety of characters. Strong Female Characters(tm) and women who are delicate flowers, gay people who are obsessed with sex and gay people who are hopeless romantics, butch lesbians and femme lesbians, trans people who are extremely dysmorphic and others who are comfortable in their skin but are still a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth, disabled characters who overcome all their problems and others who make peace with their limitations, and everything else you can think of. I don't like advice that says "stop writing x". I prefer "Go ahead and write x but also try writing y and z to balance it out".

I also want to welcome anyone who wants to try writing about issues that I have experience with but has questions to PM me. I have disabilities that include mobility problems, chronic illness, and mental illness, and I'm bisexual and homoromantic. I will do my best to explain my thoughts instead of just telling you what to write or not to write.

So, um, this got long. Thoughts?

I hope I don't regret posting this

Comments

[serria]

Interesting post! Kind of late to replying because work has been busy, but yeah. I guess you and everyone else have said my opinions about "diversity". I think it's wonderful to represent people that aren't often represented, but the issues I see are:

1. Not having enough knowledge to be comfortable writing about a group one isn't a part of
2. There can be backlash, whether fair or not, if someone doesn't like your portrayal
3. Including "minorities" just for the sake of having diversity can seem not genuine and awkward (for example, having a story about five teenagers, one is black, one is Asian, one is in a wheelchair and one is gay... not an impossible premise but I'd need to see it developed or else it might come across as nothing more than tokenism). Shallow portrayals could also reduce the character's identity to the part of them that makes them a minority, which is unrealistic and potentially offensive.
4. There's nothing wrong with writing characters/groups/stories that you're comfortable with and interested in writing

But all of these can really trace back to one core issue: we're comfortable with what we view as "typical" and we're often afraid to branch out. As you said, though, it's awesome if you can represent more groups in your characters, especially groups that are often ignored.

I think it's interesting to offer ourselves as references. I'm kind of reminded of an LJ group called "Little Details", which is dedicated to people posting and asking questions that come up in their writing (anything from fact-checking to asking for help with realistic portrayals). I don't see why that kind of thing wouldn't be appropriate here - as long as it relates to writing, I think it's great if people ask questions (like, I don't know, "I'm writing about a character with autism, does (x) come across realistic, or too negative and stereotypical?").

[sarillia]

I do think people should be aware of tokenism and how to avoid it but it annoys me when people act like including characters from minority groups will automatically be tokenism (just to be clear I'm not saying you did this and I agree with everything you said). As long as you treat them like any other character and show them as a fully developed person than it should be fine.