I give Tierney shit for depicting the racism Shane faces in this very obvious stiff by-the-book way but so many white viewers still didn’t pick up on it so it’s like at what point does it become acceptable or even necessary to be obvious stiff and by-the-book to get anything done. When it’s with anything else I loath being spoonfed but with this it’s like well if you don’t spoonfeed them they aren’t going to eat so. But then there’s the issue of racism only ever being depicted explicitly leading white viewers to believe that racism only ever happens explicitly, which means that pretty much either way you get white people believing it’s not racism unless a slur was used so idk it feels like a completely lost cause as a writer sometimes but we move.
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DISCLAIMER: This post's audience is well intentioned creatives, when discussing representation and "good"/"bad" represenation of minorities this post assumes the subject has educated themselves on bigoted caricatures and the like and is asking for further, general advice, as well as approaching this task in good faith. This post does not advocate for the continuation of malicious stereotypes
PS: i say representation a lot. Sorry. PPS. This gets fairly long for no particular reason, so the read more.
I see a lot of authors of all stripes asking all kinds of people how best to represent this disorder, this culture, this race, and oftentimes they are perfectly well meaning and in the midst of research but feeling anxiety about their story or confusion at differing answers. I think there's perhaps a very general 'second step' after internalizing the fact that you should attempt to depict people from their lived experiences and listen to their voices instead of operating off of cultural assumptions.
I think most people could use internalizing the logic of what makes 'good' or 'positive' representation so decisive and situational. When you are aiming to represent an underdiscussed and silenced minority, you are primarily attempting to combat the dehumanization that comes when viewing an entire population as a singular identical image.
The goal of representation is to not sell a more agreeable image, ie to make x minority a heroic, beautiful, loveable force. This firstly can other the group. Secondly it also tends to take the bite out of stories, limiting your scope and capabilities as a writer. Thirdly, it's not accurate! It's simply replacing fiction with another fiction. The result you want is understanding that this minority group is full of individuals, who can have complex, messy lives. They can be rude, can hurt others, can be in the wrong just as much as they can be kind, can heal, and can be fighters for a noble cause.
This can only be combated by variety. Ultimately a single creator can only do so much within their given scope and on a societal level we all have to consider our depicitions of others in fiction and in nonfiction, but that's no excuse for you as an individual to shrug it off. There is something you can do!
The usual first step is defying established stereotypes. This is the most common I see given, and I absolutely agree with it, but it's important to note that this can be wildly different across minorities, and conflicting stereotypes can come into play.
Another good way to help your cast represent a wide variety of people is to show a variety within a minority.
This is vital advice to writers with minority villains, and what can be what distinguishes a bigoted story from a diverse one. I don't think I need to clarify here but I will, you shouldn't have characters that exist in single traits to offset other character's impact on the text. Again, complex humans deserve complex stories about them. A story where a white cast fights against a black villain is a very different story to one where a racially diverse cast including a black character fights against a black villain.
You do not need to exclude minorities from having negative traits entirely. Context absolutely matters and ultimately your cast can always benefit from more diversity.
You may see posts who claim things like "we need more feminine lesbians, all lesbians I see are butch!" Literal accuracy of that statement aside for a moment, the two identities put into conflict here are both reflective of real groups who both require representation. A singular viewpoint of any group is always going to cause harm.
This is the cause of much infighting and struggle, and also why many people can see themselves more in 'bad' representation than 'good' representation. Some autistics do not experience loud and violent meltdowns, while some do. Both of these groups deserve to be treated in stories with respect, and if our communities totally ignore one of these groups to promote a single concept of a respectful depiction of an autistic person, then we are not creating good representation of autism.
While these arguments are usually unproductive, we have to understand these are real frustrations even if they are fighting over a small pond, and until our stories are as diverse as our realities we as a culture will continue to require effort to change this. Stereotypes are not static either, nor a thing of the past, and ideas we can form and create in our spaces every day by close mindedness and narrow representation. This is why we need respectful stories of all shapes and of all sizes. This sort of strife is the most damaging among internet spaces where narratives can quickly become extremely aggressive to some portrayals and become entirely hostile to populations of this minority. It's not a moral failing to see parts of yourself in these depictions, it's only a failing that there hasn't been stories written for you that aren't predicated on cruelty. The only way to genuinely soothe this divide is to provide space for all of us.
Those who are wheelchair bound and those who are semi ambulatory, those who were born without a limb and those who lost theirs due to a medical event, chronic pain sufferers who don't work and chronic pain sufferers who are athletes. Masculine black women and feminine black women, scholarly black men and athletic black men, black people who excel in both and black people who weren't educated. Fat women, fat men, transgender people who pass and transgender people who don't and gender-nonconforming people. Asexuals who have sex and asexuals who are sex repulsed. Psychotics, addicts, domestic abuse survivors, religious minorities, sexual abuse survivors, sufferers of eating disorders, the deafness/blindness spectrum, dissociatives, pwPMOS, the list goes on and on.
All of us exist and all of us deserve to see ourselves in stories across the spectrum, across the genre, as children, as adults, as heroes or villains or troubled protagonists, in movies in television and in our fannish spaces as well, treated with respect. As seen in life.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before on my blog, but I’ve been writing a book and the main character is Mexican, and a big part of her story is that her mom dies, so I thought it would be nice to incorporate a couple chapters dedicated to the day of the dead.
I’ve been doing research and as a white person, I wanted it to be as accurate and respectful as possible, so I thought I’d come on here and ask some actual Mexican people about things like traditions you have and some things that people either get wrong or don’t come up on an average google search.
In honor of Disability Pride Month, this is your reminder to please remember that representation is important! If your writing a story it's mandatory that you include at least one character from the provided list. (/hj)
- a blind person
- a cane user
- a deaf person
- a forearm crutch user
- a mute person
- a person with arthritis
- a person with gastrointestinal problems
- a walker user
- a wheelchair user
- an amputee
- an asthmatic
- an autistic person
- an underarm crutch user
Thank you for working to further representation <3 (heart)
I have so much respect for all the blogs offering writing advice for specific representation, because more often than not it’s so obvious the person asking hasn’t done even an ounce of research before practically expecting the blog to turn them into an expert in the span of a single post.
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One of the main characters of this story I'm writing is androgynous/enby and has vitiligo. I might've found the right words to describe Them in Their initial appearance, but I thought I'd share all my scrapped ideas.
"'The heavens', as he'd known them, appeared as neither man nor woman, but bearing semblance of both's likeness. Their skin, dark as the night sky and adorned with blotches akin to starlight."
"...adorned with an artists' touch of speckled starlight."
"Their skin, as dark as the night sky and adorned with the finest touches of starlight. As if painted (or sculpted) by the world's finest artist." (Friend's suggestion)
"...adorned with scattered hues akin to starlight." (Another friend said, 'Yuck')
And, because I might as well, this is the working description. I still think I could do better than this.
"Their skin, a canvas as deep as the night sky, is complemented by an artistic splash of starlight." (I suggested 'artful', but nahh)
I’m writing a blind character, I’m not blind myself though I do have some visual impairment so of course I decided to do research. And what I found especially when it came to ROP(which is the type of blindness my character has) there isn’t a lot of information about what it’s like actually having it. What accessibility is like, the spectrum of sight that people can have. Symptoms and long lasting effects- instead it’s pretty much just what it is and how to get it treated. If anyone has any advice about writing a blind character I’d love to hear it!
