International Blog Against Racism Week
I'm not sure how many of my f-list follow this, but thanks to kat_lair for reminding me that it's international blog against racism week (ibarw).
I'm in an odd position this year, that I haven't been in in previous years. I'm dating someone who is mixed race. I think he counts technically as a person of colour, but he doesn't look it. He's part native american, but looks white. I, and everyone who meets him, think of him as white, and when we were talking the other day about the odd fact that he isn't white but still gets white privilege, he said 'I don't want the privilege', and I know how he feels. As a queer woman, I've experienced my fair amount of silencing, violence and oppression, but I am acutely aware that there are many people who don't have the privileges I do.
But right now, I want to write about writing characters of colour, not only within fandom but in primary material - movies, books, TV shows.
As far as I see it, people get afraid of writing something outside the 'norm'. This is why we see so few gay, bisexual, trans, gender non-conforming, disabled, coloured and female characters. I was complaining about this fact to my significant other the other day, and his response was 'well, it's hard. How do you write a bisexual character without making them into a complete slut?' And while I'm not here to bitch about alternate sexualities being under represented, I definitely feel that people of colour are under represented in the vast majority of media, and I think it's for similar reasons.
As far as I can tell, people shy away from writing these characters because they think that this trait has to be the major thing about this character. So, a three dimensional character with an interesting and complex back story, complex motivations and interesting interactions with other characters, who is also a person of colour (and a person of colour who owns that as part of their heritage and isn't just a character written as white that they paired with an actor of colour), becomes absent because people are afraid of Doing It Wrong and so don't try.
But I feel there's something wrong with the mindset of 'Oh dear, I'm afraid of offending people, I better stay away from that territory'. Firstly, it's othering at its best. "These people are different from me, I don't understand these people" means that you don't think of 'these people' as people. Second, it leaves huge swathes of the population completely under-represented, and invisible.
I'd rather that people try, and get things wrong. After all, it doesn't take a lot of effort or brains not to be a complete asshat. Just a little education and empathy, and it's hardly like the information isn't out there. At least if people seem willing to try, they can be helped to get things right.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, I wish people were not so afraid to push the boat out. As long as they don't get defensive and throw up their hands when they get things wrong (and everyone gets things wrong sometimes), it can only be a good thing, right?
I'm in an odd position this year, that I haven't been in in previous years. I'm dating someone who is mixed race. I think he counts technically as a person of colour, but he doesn't look it. He's part native american, but looks white. I, and everyone who meets him, think of him as white, and when we were talking the other day about the odd fact that he isn't white but still gets white privilege, he said 'I don't want the privilege', and I know how he feels. As a queer woman, I've experienced my fair amount of silencing, violence and oppression, but I am acutely aware that there are many people who don't have the privileges I do.
But right now, I want to write about writing characters of colour, not only within fandom but in primary material - movies, books, TV shows.
As far as I see it, people get afraid of writing something outside the 'norm'. This is why we see so few gay, bisexual, trans, gender non-conforming, disabled, coloured and female characters. I was complaining about this fact to my significant other the other day, and his response was 'well, it's hard. How do you write a bisexual character without making them into a complete slut?' And while I'm not here to bitch about alternate sexualities being under represented, I definitely feel that people of colour are under represented in the vast majority of media, and I think it's for similar reasons.
As far as I can tell, people shy away from writing these characters because they think that this trait has to be the major thing about this character. So, a three dimensional character with an interesting and complex back story, complex motivations and interesting interactions with other characters, who is also a person of colour (and a person of colour who owns that as part of their heritage and isn't just a character written as white that they paired with an actor of colour), becomes absent because people are afraid of Doing It Wrong and so don't try.
But I feel there's something wrong with the mindset of 'Oh dear, I'm afraid of offending people, I better stay away from that territory'. Firstly, it's othering at its best. "These people are different from me, I don't understand these people" means that you don't think of 'these people' as people. Second, it leaves huge swathes of the population completely under-represented, and invisible.
I'd rather that people try, and get things wrong. After all, it doesn't take a lot of effort or brains not to be a complete asshat. Just a little education and empathy, and it's hardly like the information isn't out there. At least if people seem willing to try, they can be helped to get things right.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, I wish people were not so afraid to push the boat out. As long as they don't get defensive and throw up their hands when they get things wrong (and everyone gets things wrong sometimes), it can only be a good thing, right?