My 1.5 cents worth.
Fair warning: stream of conscious at work here.
I've been thinking about whether or not I should contribute to the cultural appropriation discussion going around, since last night when I came home from work. I read most of the posts, and had a knee-jerk reaction to some of the comments that luckily I had the good sense not to respond to; at least not in my angered state. I've calmed down considerably, but I think I'll still choose to limit where I engage for the time being.
My first reaction was, sigh... white folks. It's important to note that my reaction came from a place of been there, done that, because I'm around white folks every day who are drowning in their privilege and aren't aware of it, or they can't understand that such a concept exists. Hey, they've got struggles too, and it's their privilege to tell you so. Even when the discussion is clearly not about them. Because obviously, if you don't include the privileged, you're discounting them.
*cue bitch please icon* If we are in fact discussing a dominant culture appropriating a marginalized culture, then there is something wrong with derailing the conversation to the trials of the dominant culture being appropriated.
This brings up the important question first seen in rilina's post: can a marginalized culture appropriate a dominant culture or is it assimilation? In my opinion it's the latter. YMMV.
Going off on a tangent a bit to close this post: here's where I confess how I self-identify as a writer. I am a writer, who is black and female. My default is assimilation through a black filter. I intentionally include other characters of color in my original fiction. Truthfully, Farscape fanfiction is the first time I've ever written white characters in that capacity. As much as I love and enjoy writing John Crichton, I don't feel as if I'll ever do him justice completely because we are on opposite sides of the spectrum. I am more drawn to aliens and characters of color, although I would love it if those qualities weren't always synonymous in the scifi/fantasy genre.
I've been thinking about whether or not I should contribute to the cultural appropriation discussion going around, since last night when I came home from work. I read most of the posts, and had a knee-jerk reaction to some of the comments that luckily I had the good sense not to respond to; at least not in my angered state. I've calmed down considerably, but I think I'll still choose to limit where I engage for the time being.
My first reaction was, sigh... white folks. It's important to note that my reaction came from a place of been there, done that, because I'm around white folks every day who are drowning in their privilege and aren't aware of it, or they can't understand that such a concept exists. Hey, they've got struggles too, and it's their privilege to tell you so. Even when the discussion is clearly not about them. Because obviously, if you don't include the privileged, you're discounting them.
*cue bitch please icon* If we are in fact discussing a dominant culture appropriating a marginalized culture, then there is something wrong with derailing the conversation to the trials of the dominant culture being appropriated.
This brings up the important question first seen in rilina's post: can a marginalized culture appropriate a dominant culture or is it assimilation? In my opinion it's the latter. YMMV.
Going off on a tangent a bit to close this post: here's where I confess how I self-identify as a writer. I am a writer, who is black and female. My default is assimilation through a black filter. I intentionally include other characters of color in my original fiction. Truthfully, Farscape fanfiction is the first time I've ever written white characters in that capacity. As much as I love and enjoy writing John Crichton, I don't feel as if I'll ever do him justice completely because we are on opposite sides of the spectrum. I am more drawn to aliens and characters of color, although I would love it if those qualities weren't always synonymous in the scifi/fantasy genre.