but I think writers are afraid of opening themselves up to accusations of racism if their portray isn't "accurate".
Sure. And I agree with you that there seems to be more fear when talking about race to get it wrong than many other types of writing. At the same time, don't you think that it's scary to write BSDM? Have you ever been afraid of someone commenting and telling you that you've gotten it all wrong? I know that when I've tried to write it, I have had that fear. Didn't stop me from writing it though.
But also, say i went out today and published a fic set in the buffyverse filled with characters of color, and posted it to my lj. I'd be surprised if people's first reaction was to tell me i'd gotten something wrong about writing people of color. The fic community we're in tends to praise things they like and less than half the time complain about things they don't (or they might complain to someone else, but not me). I might not get many comments, but even if some of them were comments telling me I'd gotten it wrong, wouldn't it still have been good to make the attempt?
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Date: 2007-01-06 03:46 am (UTC)Sure. And I agree with you that there seems to be more fear when talking about race to get it wrong than many other types of writing. At the same time, don't you think that it's scary to write BSDM? Have you ever been afraid of someone commenting and telling you that you've gotten it all wrong? I know that when I've tried to write it, I have had that fear. Didn't stop me from writing it though.
But also, say i went out today and published a fic set in the buffyverse filled with characters of color, and posted it to my lj. I'd be surprised if people's first reaction was to tell me i'd gotten something wrong about writing people of color. The fic community we're in tends to praise things they like and less than half the time complain about things they don't (or they might complain to someone else, but not me). I might not get many comments, but even if some of them were comments telling me I'd gotten it wrong, wouldn't it still have been good to make the attempt?