you swim in a dudely sea

[metaphortunate]

Hordes of people are freaking out about Tempest's suggestion not to read any books by straight cis white men for a whole year.

So, like; none of them ever had a year where they didn't read a single book by a Latina lesbian, and a trans black woman, and a Malaysian man, and so on, did they? They read something by every single combination of ethnicity and sexuality every single year?

Wait, they didn't? There was a year they didn't read anything by a gay Latina? THEN WHY THE FUCK IS IT A BIG DEAL IF THERE IS A YEAR IN WHICH SOMEONE DOESN'T READ ANYTHING BY A WHITE MAN.

Incidentally, I did this. One year right after college, I decided I was going to only read books by women, for one whole year. I highly recommend it. I read books I wouldn't ordinarily have read, that didn't at first appeal to me, simply because I had arbitrarily placed more familiar books temporarily off limits. I picked up books by authors who were labeled by their marketing as not FOR me; same reason, and it was great.

But more importantly, it reprogrammed my brain. It took white men out of their Center Of The Universe, Authority, Source And Validator Of Information status in my internal map of the world in a way that they have never fully recovered from; though I should do a refresher year sometime. You really, really, really cannot tell what the water you are swimming in is like till you step onto dry land sometime. Yes, there are tons of great books by white guys. I read them now! But it did me no harm and great good to spend a year leaving them to one side.

Comments

[phi]

You mean you don't think there are disabled, poor, non anglophone, non traditionally religions writers who are also women or POC or queer? I think in this comment you are actually proving Tempest and metaphortunate's points.

Also, you missed non neurotypical and not college educated. Most people only see the identity categories where they differ from the privileged default assumption.

[davidgillon]

You mean you don't think there are disabled, poor, non anglophone, non traditionally religions writers who are also women or POC or queer?

Ow! Where did I say that? Absolutely there are people who aren't straight, cis, white males who are also disabled, poor, non anglophone, non traditionally religions writers. My point is that I see so many people phrasing the diversity in publishing issue as solely an ethnicity issue, or solely ethnicity+QUILTBAG issues, that I think we need to speak up to ensure the other diversities, such as my own disability, aren't forgotten. And even if that wasn't the intention in Tempest's suggestion to avoid straight, cis, white male writers for a year, I think it risks reinforcing the ethnicity+QUILTBAG only perception, and I think that's something that is a legitimate target for discussion.

Disabled people are roughly 20% of the world's population (using the UK's inclusionary definition of disability), yet our representation in published writing, especially in the existence of published fiction writing that addresses the widespread and open discrimination we face is minuscule. I genuinely don't think we can afford to exclude a single disabled voice if they can make it through the publishing labyrinth and out the other side into print, and I find the idea of excluding some of those voices in the name of diversity just bizarre. And similarly for other critically under-represented areas of diversity. I can only address this point from the position of being straight, cis, white and male, because that's what I am, but I am also a diverse voice and I think that gives me the right to say 'Hang on a minute...'

As for missing non-neurotypical, it's not really possible for me to miss it, amongst other disabilities I'm also non-neurotypical. While not everyone within the non-neurotypical camp considers neurodiversity a disability, I do (just not a disability that needs fixing). It's also one of the disabilities I've faced discrimination around, so important for me to ensure it's a voice that's heard. Fair point on non-college educated, I'd actually come back to update that list to include Traveller/Gypsy as that's a white ethnicity that faces open hostility and discrimination in the UK, and I should probably have included fat/plus-sized, but part of the point I'm trying to make is that in campaigning for representation of diverse voices we need to presume and encourage inclusivity for every diversity, and every intersectionality, and remind people to always consider that. It's probably impossible to list every diverse group when there's always going to be one you've forgotten or weren't aware of - orphans, street kids, immigrants to name a few more - so let's think of lists as a start, not a limit.