So I have some feelings I would like to discuss. I was going to write this on twitter but I think I’d get the virtually equivalent of impaled and guillotined.
If you’re on the more diverse side of writing twitter (it’s a ride I promise) you’ve probably seen/read a few thread and subtweets about things like representation, bad representation, appropriation, sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, classicism and fetishization of POC/ gay men. I seriously love all my mutual and the people I follow and I mean this in the nicest way possible, you SJWs need to make up your mind.
And honestly another unpopular opinion before you guys leave critiques and exit this post, just because a story is own voice and the rep is good doesn’t mean it’s a good book or that everyone has to like it because the rep is good. Don’t call reviewers and readers racist/homophobic because they dislike characters or say the plot is cliche or boring. Society is a racist misogynistic hellscape that most people don’t even know the part they play in propagating it.
Okay, okay, put down your pitchforks and listen for a minute, you gotta read at least half of this before you can cancel me okay?
I’m only going to be really talking about representation of people of colour and queer identities because that mostly what I see talked about on twitter. (There’s a lot to unpack about cultural appropriation/ colonialism/ internalized prejudices/ problems with traditional publishing/ gate keeping/ privilege/ classicism but I ain’t talking about stuff I don’t know about but all of those do play a part in what I’m going to discuss. I’m not going to mention it but I am aware they have an effect.)
90% of the time I agree with everything you say and the problems in publishing and the writing/reading community, I do! But sometimes the messages are contradictory. I get different people have different experiences and have different limits for they think is okay and isn’t but you guys need to not be hypocritical. Some say sensitivity readers are good, some say people use sensitivity readers as an excuse or proof their questionable story isn’t problematic.
For example, Sarah J Mass (*checks if the coast is clear*) is a popular straight white who writes stories so toxic, misogynistic and heterosexual I can’t comprehend how she has such a large female audience. She gets tons of flack for writing stories with large casts of almost entirely straight white characters and her LGBT+ and characters of colour are treated like shit, which is a fair criticism. She can’t write diversity, she obviously doesn’t want to, so stop asking her for more diversity. (*run, ducks behind bush, await the mob*)
You can’t demand white authors write diversity and then criticize them for the bad diversity. Just tell them to not even try. No rep is better than bad rep right? I think (*gulps*) that since readers now know that diversity is important and a good thing, they want the stories they like to be diverse because now, diversity=good, no diversity=bad. It’s best to read stories by AOC and LGBTQ+ writer SO either stop reading the stories with straight McWhite characters written by straight McWhite authors or read them and accept the stories/writers you like are problematic.
I see a lot of criticism and discouragement about who can write what stories. I do think own voices is important and that there should be more authors and agents and editors of colour and all the gender and sexual identities. But complaining that women shouldn’t write m/m romance because it’s harmful is a bit extreme. I know that most m/m books are written and read by women and I know that’s a problem because they are often filled with stereotypes, homophobia, biphobia, misogyny and racism but surely shouldn’t the criticism come on a case by case basis?
I want there to be more authors who are own voices gay/bi/pan men/ trans men/ masc leaning enbys/ enbys/ gender fluid people (basically anyone but cis women) writing m/m stories, their narratives are obviously more important but claiming someone is being harmful and stealing opportunities from mlm will likely to prevent women who want to write decent, sensitive stories to not publish their books leaving only the women who don’t care to keep pumping out problematic stories.
I don’t see nearly as much (or anyone) complaining about cis men (straight or otherwise) stealing opportunities from wlw by writing f/f books. Maybe because less people overall write f/f books or maybe because it’s less lucrative than m/m but it feels a bit like “I don’t like that it’s easier for women to profit off my identities than me.” That’s a valid criticism but please direct it at the publishers/ agents and other gatekeepers and not the women who are probably just ignorant and aren’t actively try to kick mlm out of the m/m writing space.(there might be some but most people aren’t that awful) And sometimes, the criticism of women writing m/m books comes with a tinge of misogyny attached *ducks tomatoes flying towards me*
One of the writers I follow has mentioned that she (a gay woman) has been called lesbophobic for writing m/m stories, which was a bit weird. None of the mlm writers have mentioned being called out for having female main characters queer or straight.
So, if it’s bad to write about an identities of a minorities that you aren’t a part of, should you be criticized for not having diversity? Is it only bad to write bad rep but what makes bad rep? Even among the same identity there is a large diversity of experiences, so if it doesn’t represent you does it mean it doesn’t represent someone else?
What if your a bi woman are you not allowed to write about bi men? Or it only okay as long as its f/m? Are lesbians barred from writing stories about gay men? They both experience same sex attraction but is the rep still bad? Are only enby writers allowed to write m/enby and f/enby and enby/enby stories? Are ace writers the only ones allowed to write ace characters? Not even ace stories like about coming out or discrimination but having ace protagonists?
What if people don’t want to come out but want to write about their identity? What if they are questioning?
Is it okay to write LGBT+ characters as long as the story doesn’t focus on their stories (like coming out, homophobia, transphobia, discrimination, gay history)? Is it okay as long as they are only the side characters and not the focus? Is it okay as long as it is not focused on their love lives and sex lives?
Is it the same with racial and religious diversity? If you are white are you not allowed to write from the POV of a person of colour and only have POCs as side characters? Is it okay as long as it doesn’t try to comment or racism and the struggles of a POC? I’ve seen white writers avoid writing about the racism/culture of a character or colour and get criticized for erasing the character’s race and culture. Where do mixed raced characters fall? Do only mixed raced writers get to write about them? Can an AOC write about POC who aren’t exactly the same race as them? Is it bad for a Black person to have Asian characters and vice versa? What about those who are living in diaspora or are second generation immigrants are they not allowed to write stories set in their ancestral country?
And I hear you screaming, you need to do research! Get beta readers, sensitivity readers! Listen, learn and try to get the rep right! But some are speculating that the use of sensitivity readers has lead to fewer books by POCs being published. So… this is all a big mess. You are damned if you do and damned if you don’t, especially if you are a woman.
Honestly, I’m not mad about it and I’m not even asking for permission for me or others to write outside their lane, but all this calling out and gate keeping is confusing and frustrating and often hypocritical.
Is a book with good racial identity rep still good if there is sexism and homophobia? Is a book with good LGBTQ+ rep good if there is racism or transphobic comments in it? Is a lesbian book still good if there is biphobia?
Do straight white authors have to stay in their lane and not write diversity into their books? Won’t that result in less diversity since publishing is racist and terrible? Or what? Not read books by straight white writers? Is the diversity in a book and the author’s identity more important than the story they write?
I love that diverse writing twitter is brutal and petty but maybe pick a narrative to what is and isn’t okay? Call people out for being problematic and harmful, but making blanket statements and telling people what they can and cannot write or can or cannot enjoy is unfair.
Is all rep bad rep if it’s not own voice? Is it not harmful if it’s own voice?
Buy books with diversity from own voices authors if you want more of it. Promote diverse books and writers!
Comment, DM me if you want to say I’m wrong and discuss things. I probably am wrong and I’ve 100% made a spelling mistake like excluding a ‘not’ and said the opposite of what I was trying to.
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