On representation and assimilation

My partner and I had an interesting conversation yesterday which has got me thinking about representations of non-white/non-hetero/disabled people in mainstream media. This topic interests me as a white writer who, while striving to be anti-racist, has encountered difficulty when attempting to portray a minority, non-white culture in my work.

I chose to write a science-fiction book which specifically centred around protagonists of colour, and writing that story was and still is important to me. But I didn’t want to just write any old story, such as the space-capitalist narratives which proliferate in sci-fi, and then make one or all lead characters people of colour. I specifically wanted to explore some of the challenging differences which characterise the lives of my novel’s minority culture – things like whether and how much to assimilate into a dominant culture; schisms of culture and faith that can be found in just about every minority group; and, yes, prejudice encountered from the outside.

Now of course, as a Jew, these are all issues which I regularly encounter within my community. However, as a white gal, I know I have big, dumb blind spots, which is why I commissioned an editor to give my draft a sensitivity reading. And hey! Now I get to rewrite the thing, because even while trying to explore difference I ended up doing that thing that white authors sometimes do and condensing down what I had hoped to portray as a vibrant and varied community into a monolith.

Do some white authors get it right the first time? Yes. But for me, it feels important to talk about where I fell down as a white author, because I know for a fact that my mistakes have been replicated by countless white authors with the best of intentions. And that comes down to not just the inclusion of non-white (or otherwise non-‘normative’) characters, but also the larger story in which they feature.

Representation has become a mandatory must for many mainstream writers and content creators. Marvel Comics springs to mind – over the past decade they have made many white male nerds cry delicious tears with their inclusiveness. And yet. To what extent is mainstream inclusiveness simply taking a story written for a white, hetero, and/or able-bodied character, and swapping them out for a POC, queer, and/or disabled character? I’m thinking specifically about characters like America Chavez, who inherited the moniker of Miss America from a blond-haired, blue-eyed predecessor.

And so, the central thrust of the conversation with my partner yesterday: To what extent does mainstream representation of minority groups rely on the cultural assimilation of those minority groups? And can the lived experiences of minority characters and cultures really be depicted by white, mainstream authors?

I have a very easy example of this as someone who previously identified as queer and has been queer-adjacent for most of my life. A large percentage of queer people identify as non-monogamous – that is, they are casually or romantically involved with multiple people at the same time. However, how often do you see non-monogamy and its implications depicted in relation to a queer character, or at all in mainstream media? (Okay, there’s John Constantine, maybe. Anyone else?) Very often, when I see a queer person in mainstream work, the line tends to be ‘They’re just like you and me! Except they are A Gay(TM)!!’

And I see that line recycled with other minority representation too. A disabled character who just shows up in a wheelchair and no further mention is made about how that affects their life, their ability to participate in the plot action, etc. A POC character who perhaps faces some discrimination, but is otherwise culturally indistinguishable from their white colleagues, with no examination of their life path or the particular sociocultural milieu that shaped them. It’s not necessarily check-box tokenism, but I find that mainstream stories which feature minority characters tend towards assimilation more often than not.

However, there’s also a fine line that you tread as a white author trying to unpack the cultural differences between mainstream and minority characters. It’s certainly easier to rewrite Star Trek, with one dominant ‘space culture’ being populated by minority characters. But when trying to write something more challenging, you do run the risk of misrepresenting the subcultures you’re trying to subtly unpack, and then feeling like a big ol’ white dumbass when this is pointed out to you.

I have no easy answers here, no prescription for how to properly represent minorities in mainstream work or content otherwise written by white, straight, able-bodied authors. I do find myself thinking about this topic though, particularly as I’m now writing a new book which is incredibly easy and fun for me to write but doesn’t address these challenging questions of difference. One day I’ll return to my sci-fi draft, when I’ve had the chance to breathe, process what I did wrong and how to change it so that I can do my characters justice and give them the story they so richly deserve.