I'm glad you enjoy the reviews. Most times I figure people just ignore them (which is fine!). :)
Well, part of my resolution to be a better ally is not to overlook race, GLBT, gender, or other issues in this book. And I realize that even I probably haven't picked up on all these sort of things, either, but making myself more aware and sensitive to them is a process, ya know?
Living in NYC, I definitely have no idea how someone can justify writing a novel set in anything that even resembles modern times with few to no characters of color. If anything, it should be easier to write a novel with no white people than with no people of color.
I mean, it's one thing if you're writing about medieval France (not exactly a hotbed of diversity), but if you're writing about a modern or post-modern American setting? There's no excuse.
In fact, I can't think of a time in American history where you'd ever have an excuse for writing an all white cast. Even in the most racist depths of the South, you still have the presence (and sometimes in very significant numbers) of African-Americans or Native Americans or Latino folks. You have obvious conflict, oppression, and exclusion, but those people are still THERE. So whiting writing them out? Not ON.
Why can't these women who write them understand that being a bitch is NOT the same thing as being a strong woman?
INORITE?! This times a million. Sometimes the strongest thing a woman can be is kind, or intelligent, or willing to admit her faults and try to improve herself. Which is sad, because I'd hate for a younger generation of girls and young women to get the impression that to be strong you have to be completely inconsiderate and thoughtless as well as stupid.
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Date: 2009-07-12 03:49 pm (UTC)Well, part of my resolution to be a better ally is not to overlook race, GLBT, gender, or other issues in this book. And I realize that even I probably haven't picked up on all these sort of things, either, but making myself more aware and sensitive to them is a process, ya know?
Living in NYC, I definitely have no idea how someone can justify writing a novel set in anything that even resembles modern times with few to no characters of color. If anything, it should be easier to write a novel with no white people than with no people of color.
I mean, it's one thing if you're writing about medieval France (not exactly a hotbed of diversity), but if you're writing about a modern or post-modern American setting? There's no excuse.
In fact, I can't think of a time in American history where you'd ever have an excuse for writing an all white cast. Even in the most racist depths of the South, you still have the presence (and sometimes in very significant numbers) of African-Americans or Native Americans or Latino folks. You have obvious conflict, oppression, and exclusion, but those people are still THERE. So
whitingwriting them out? Not ON.Why can't these women who write them understand that being a bitch is NOT the same thing as being a strong woman?
INORITE?! This times a million. Sometimes the strongest thing a woman can be is kind, or intelligent, or willing to admit her faults and try to improve herself. Which is sad, because I'd hate for a younger generation of girls and young women to get the impression that to be strong you have to be completely inconsiderate and thoughtless as well as stupid.