I’ve been thinking a great deal recently about where the line is regarding legitimate inspiration for writers vs the accusation they appropriate the lives and experiences of others. Let’s be clear here that I’m not talking about writers claiming to be gay males (or females) when they’re not. That’s undoubted appropriation and an entirely different can of worms that I don’t want to stick my hand into today. I have enough with the worms I have chosen to write about!
Partly this blew up for me personally at EuroPrideCon in Amsterdam when a question during the Ask an Author slot resulted in me spending the following weeks reflecting hard on writing diversity in fiction. And, of course, it all really blew up post-Amsterdam for the entire genre, when a gay male writer wrote about his anger and hurt that his experience and life were, he felt, appropriated by (in his view) mainly straight female authors writing for straight female readers in order to titillate. The issue has been thrown into very sharp relief.
What the dilemma boils down to is this. Is writing about the experiences of a group you don’t belong to, one that’s ethnically or sexually or physically/mentally different than the one you’re in, intrinsically wrong and hurtful? Do we writers have the right to use in our stories racial issues, or disability, or sexuality, or gender, or mythology, or religion, or anything else you can think of that characterises specific groups of humans, if we don’t live and experience those issues ourselves? Does the fact that I—a milky-white straight woman—write about gay and bisexual men (one of whom is biracial, and another having Anglo-Indian roots at a time when that was even more problematic than race is today) mean I’m appropriating the lives of people who live that as a reality and somehow stops them from voicing their own experiences? Am I silencing them by having my characters speak as though they were one of them? Does it choke off or drown out the culture’s own voices? Is using any influence from another culture, no matter how transformed in the imagination and reinvented in the writer’s thoughts and prose, a crime? Are we usurping that culture for personal gain?
Bottom line: am I and other authors stealing another group’s culture when we write about it?
After much reflection and discussion, I’ve concluded that I don’t think that culture is truly susceptible to theft in that way. Of course, I’m not talking about anything that objectifies, mocks or caricatures. Those are problematic and should be called out. I acknowledge, too, that there may be a power/privilege dynamic going on here—I doubt that any cultural flow is on a level playing field—but in writing my books, I haven’t silenced anyone. I haven’t denied them their right to speak and write. The mere act of writing about gay male relationships doesn’t mean I’m preventing anyone else from writing about them. And if that ‘anyone else’ is a gay man, then his voice can only be more authoritative and more authentic than mine, no?
Yes, many of the writers in our genre are women writing about gay men, but cultural flow is at the heart of creativity. Honest, if all I could write was my own experience, who wants to read about that milky-white straight woman living in a little village in the heart of England, who is slightly deaf, and doesn’t do a lot? Not much of a creative bloom on that, I can tell you. Instead, I hope what most of us do, whether we’re male or female, gay or straight, is take that cultural flow, as messy and imperfect as it is, and treat it with empathy and respect, aim for depth and substance, avoid stereotypes, and build connections to the community we acknowledge as our influence. In short, not being jerks.
At the same time, there are issues we should all tackle. Publishers are notoriously chary about publishing authors of colour. A man is far more likely to find one of the big five publishers willing to look at his work than is a woman. There is no level playing field anywhere.
And I’m still wary about getting something catastrophically wrong. I want to write about any and every human condition, but I don’t want to be actively hurtful. Who would be? So the answer for me is to work bloody hard at it: think, reflect, research, discuss, and listen to the voices of those living the experience I want to depict. And then roll all of this into a sort of synthesis that is thoughtful and, above all, respectful, giving credit and acknowledgement where it’s due.
That’s the key, I think. Respect. Good oldfashioned mutual respect.
And lots of it.
Thoughts?
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About Anna
Anna was a communications specialist for many years, working in various UK government departments on everything from marketing employment schemes to organizing conferences for 10,000 civil servants to running an internal TV service. These days, though, she is writing full time. She lives with her husband in a quiet village tucked deep in the Nottinghamshire countryside. She’s supported there by the Deputy Editor, aka Molly the cockerpoo, who is assisted by the lovely Mavis, a Yorkie-Bichon cross with a bark several sizes larger than she is but no opinion whatsoever on the placement of semi-colons.
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Very well done. Lee Child has very little in common with Jack Reacher and JK Rowling with Harry Potter.
Inclusiveness comes with understanding and even realizing that this is fiction I think understanding has grown exponentially with the growth of readers in the genre.
I think that’s true, that the more we’re exposed to the cultures that are ‘not me’, the better our understanding, the stronger the sense that we’re all just humans of different shades, shapes and sexuality. The m/m genre has created a great many allies, I think, who are passionate and vocal about human rights at all levels.
I must agree with you. I have seen on television and in movies, autism used as a base draw. The spectrum for autism is HUGE and on top of that new information is being revealed almost daily. For example: PANDAS and PANS are new diagnosis of autism but not autism. Meaning previously diagnosed Autism patients are now being re-evaluated under new specifications that put them in these new categories. My 17 yr old son was diagnosed with autism at 2, I knew something was different at 13 months. In only 15 years autism diagnosis has come a long way. In my state of New York, USA when my son turned 8 was told he was no longer autistic enough even though he tested the same as at 2 and 5. All this boils down to is if I wanted to write about autism I have life experience, but if someone without life experience does their research well, they may have a better perspective than even I or my son could. He truly has the life experience! Although his is very different from 100 other children. Who is right? They all are! When the movie “Rainman” came out, autism was an almost unheard of “illness” and when I would tell family and friends my son has autism. Everyone said no he’s not, he’s not like the guy in the movie. In the past year or two TV shows have had non autistic actors portraying autistic people. There is one show that has an actor who is indeed autistic, but who is nothing like my son. I am not offended. Simply because life is a different experience for us all. If any genre is being portrayed by writers who do not identify with their subject matter, as long as they do their homework and write accordingly, fine. I write about elves and dwarves in fantasy, I can’t really identify with either race…so, I just do my best. Anyone no matter their race, religion, sexuality or anything can be portrayed in one single way. HUMAN BEINGS of which all those folk are made of (unless the were dragon alien shifters are real, then I’m in trouble) kind and generous people, others are introverts and still other are jerks. There is no way every male is “toxic”, every lesbian is butch, every pansexual wants to “do it” with everyone. No Mormon is into polygamy ( 100% of practicing Mormons are not-if they do, then they are not accepted members to the faith) Can you tell I’m a writer? I cannot answer a simple question with a simple answer under 500 character LOL, I write a one shot instead! It is becoming a terrifying world for anyone who serves the public and one person takes offence and that public servant is suddenly being burned at the stake. When no offence was done deliberate or otherwise. As a Pansexual, white female, I enjoy reading M/M literature. I also love regency M/F, paranormal, fantasy and many other genres with genres within genres. So if we just do our very best to be true to our subject and genre, we should not be taken out and shot for it. Too many people are getting on the oversensitive wagon. In my never to be humble opinion (and that is all it is…an opinion)
I have a dear family member who is on the spectrum, now in his eighties and what used to be described as ‘very high functioning.’ I’ve never yet felt the urge to write an autistic character, but I do see the attraction of having someone with a different mindset as a main character. They would have such a unique outlook and perception that it would be fascinating. But I know that if I based such a character on my uncle, then what I’ve divined and discussed and experienced with him, would not depict ‘autism’ as a whole. As you imply, how can it when the spectrum is so very wide? And more than that, just knowing Robert all my life doesn’t give me, in my view, *enough* to write such a character without a lot more research and thinking.
I’m cheering at your thought that we’re writing *humans*, with all their infinite variety. We’re too hung up on labels.
Thank you for writing such a well-thought out piece.
I think that there are two questions that get intermingled. There’s the question of whether an individual work is an appropriation and then there’s the question of whether a genre or group of works are appropriations. I think it’s important for all writers to consider what they themselves are doing, as you’ve done and suggest. I think we also have to think about how we relate to larger groups and movements. You bring up a recent post that caused a lot of conflict. While it wasn’t diplomatically written, what I recall is that he was writing about group behavior much more than individual behavior. The way it was perceived though was almost universally personal. I think if more writers did the work you’ve done it would be eaiser for everyone to understand and process commentary when it appears.
The comment you make about women having trouble with the big five publishers is a very common misconception. Women dominate publishing, both as writers and as agents and editors. The romance genre makes up 40-60% of all fiction sold. Women do very well in mystery, cozy mysteries are almost entirely written by women. I think non-fiction is about a 50/50 split. And there are many other genres where women do quite well. Women struggle in literary fiction and sci-fi fantasy (though they’re quickly making progress with sci-fi). The reason this misconception is so common is that so much of the reporting on publishing views literary fiction as the sum total of publishing. Normally, I would argue that it’s fine if women rule some genres and men rule others, however, literary fiction is a problem because that’s where all the attention goes. The question is do we make the effort to change literary fiction or do we give more credit to genre fiction. (As a genre writer I’d rather see the later.)
Anyway, kudos for your thoughtfulness. 🙂
*There’s the question of whether an individual work is an appropriation and then there’s the question of whether a genre or group of works are appropriations.*
That is a very interesting point you made there, and it puts all the recent kefuffles into a new context. I do think that the reaction of many was very defensive and H’s post taken as a personal slight. My own view was that he had things to say that should be debated, not least because I’m aware that his views are shared by other gay men. My own view as a straight woman is that I don’t get to tell gay men what constitutes m/m sex or m/m culture and how that intersects with other queer cultures. But in the atmosphere that followed,it became impossible to debate these things without all that personal baggage being hauled in, and people went quiet and backed away. Me included, I’m afraid.
The genre talks a lot about ‘own voices’. If we sincerely believe in encouraging ‘own voices’, then it behoves us to listen and engage respectfully even when those voices express views and emotions that make us uncomfortable or with which we vehemently disagree. Listen, don’t dismiss out of hand but respectfully and courteously discuss. As I said in the post, bit of mutual respect goes a long way.
I suspect that you’re right that women do well in most genres, but literary fiction is where the main plaudits go. And that too is such a snobbish, elitist attitude! We should challenge that hard. Like you, I’m a genre writer (sci-fi, in my case), and I’m hard put to it to understand why sci-fi novels, some of which are the finest creations of inventive minds, are considered lesser and something the gatekeepers to ‘literature’ decry as pulp for the masses.
I’m coming to the conclusion that I should just keep on writing what I know and love, and not worry about winning the Booker prize…
Thank you for such a stimulating debate!
You and I have discussed this before, and I have very mixed feelings about the subject. Concerns as to whether I’m appropriating when I write M/M romance have me questioning whether I should continue to write in the genre. If I’m writing about something that happened in WW2 or writing a character with a spinal cord injury, I’m going to do my due diligence in researching the heck out of the material I’m using.
There is great value in seeing stories about ourselves–whatever that self may be–and I strongly believe in supporting own voices in the sharing of their stories. But I also feel we as storytellers, even the milky-white, boring, middle-aged ones, owe it to our audience to include diverse characters in our stories.
The genre talks a lot about ‘own voices’. If we sincerely believe in encouraging ‘own voices’, then it behooves us to listen and engage respectfully even when those voices express views and emotions that make us uncomfortable or with which we vehemently disagree. Listen, don’t dismiss out of hand but respectfully and courteously discuss. As I said in the post, bit of mutual respect goes a long way.
This is so true–and elegantly stated. This is true of the characters we choose to create as well. Respect the differences. Don’t hide behind “but the genre wants/expects”. Rather instead, listen when someone points out problematic material. Let’s put it this way: romances back in the 70’s had very specific guidelines to follow–one of the reasons certain tropes were popular was because the industry tightly controlled the degree to which women were allowed to express their sexuality. Storylines that were standard then are *very* problematic for many today.
But for the most part, today’s romances bear little resemblance to the stories of the 70’s. The genre has grown and matured as more writers stood up and said, “Women are allowed to want sex without marriage” or “I’m not going to write such misogynistic heroes anymore.” In her recent lifetime achievement award speech, Suzanne Brockmann spoke of having to remove a gay character from her first book at the insistence of her publisher–and how over the years, she’s pushed back on this sort of thing time and again. Change within an industry or genre doesn’t come overnight. It takes persistent demand for it.
So if there are voices saying there are problems with appropriation in the genre, it behooves us to listen and question if that’s what’s happening with our own works. At the same time, I feel our stories in general should be more reflective of the population around us–which means including characters of different races or backgrounds, characters who are disabled, or have mental illnesses, characters with different sexual orientations, religions, and so on. I think we can even make them our main characters, if we do so with respect for their different experiences. Much of why I enjoy writing M/M romance has to do with appreciating on a smaller scale what it is like to be discriminated against, or to feel like an outsider among my own family, but that in no way allows me to really understand what it is like to be a black person in the US, for example, or a gay man, for that matter.
I was following a Twitter thread today in which a woman said her husband had no concept of what it was like to be afraid to walk alone after dark, or specifically plan to park only in a well-lit areas, or to order his life around maximizing his safety at every turn. A lot of women joined in, sharing their personal experiences, many of which were along the lines of ‘yes, and this is just how it is for us’. If I were a male writer hoping to understand the mindset of virtually every woman out there before creating a female lead character, I’d have been paying very close attention to that thread.
I can only hope that I continue to write–in whatever genre I chose–with empathy and respect for the people I portray.
We’ve discussed this stuff a lot, you and I, and I’m grateful that talking about it has helped clarify my thinking here.
I absolutely agree that we have to show diverse characters in our writing. I’d hate for us to go back to the days Suzanne Brockman talked about (her acceptance speech was truly inspirational). At the same time, I’m firmly of the belief we don’t get to tell our RL diverse friends and colleagues what their experience of life is and that it somehow has to reflect what we write in our books. Yet that was the impression I was left with after the HH thing, and it left me very cynical about the genre’s commitment to own voices, when those voices were those of dissent.
As for your last point – I have never known you be anything less than empathetic and respectful! No worries there.
This is very much how I already feel, so I won’t labour the points very articulately raised! What resonates with me:
– The need not only to avoid silencing own voices, but to actively work with them, and support them, and welcome them into the same area – and vice versa. Surely that’s the best way over time to level the playing field? Admittedly, that can probably and realistically only be done from NOW onwards – attention and acknowledgement must always be given to the less diverse / less equal / less tolerant past, but we can’t rewrite history.
– The need for respect. I genuinely believe if this were shown to everyone, it’d be the first step towards constructive communication and collaboration. It’s the tool we need to discuss rather than rant or weep, yet can still reflect passion and care. It makes our writing better on so many levels. And if people show respect and interest and attention to others’ experiences and voices, that can only enrich the overlap in the middle. And allow people their not only Own but Unique voices.
– That respect should go both ways. In fact, ALL ways, whatever your orientation/status/etc. It’s extremely hard NOT to read from a personal POV – whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, or blog commentary. And we should all be allowed our emotional responses as valid, whatever our perceived privilege/not. However, I appreciate we should all work on stepping away first and listening properly before speaking out/back. That’s the sign of maturity and willingness to learn and improve behaviour to everyone’s benefit. Generalisations and sweeping statements – and let’s face it, social media lends itself to that temptation! – can do horrible emotional damage.
– And YAY for genre fiction! Fiction is about the joy and reward of writing and reading, whatever the genre.
And that’s gone on much longer than I intended, sorry for any pontification that wasn’t meant to come across as such.