(no subject)

Thoughts on the current multiheaded conversation on race (rydra_wong sums up here)

As a reader: I've lost a lot of respect for Elizabeth Bear and the people who came rushing to her defense. It's probably wrong of me to say I expected better of them because they're writers, but I did. This is a colossal failure of imagination and empathy; I expected people who can create characters to be able to listen to human beings.

I've been very happy to see intelligent responses from writers I respect, including Tim Pratt, Jo Walton, and Naomi Novik.

As a writer: killabeez said it very well: If I write something that makes you feel marginalized, invisible, fetishized/exoticized, or just plain misunderstood, I want to know about it. Seems to me that the point of writing is to understand. If I fail to understand, I'm eager to be corrected. (I don't promise that my first response to criticism won't be to run away and hide for a bit. I do promise that my first response to criticism won't be to lash out at the critic.)

As a fan: I'm a little sad that the name RaceFail has stuck so well, because I've read an awful lot of win on this subject. Fans of color are writing beautiful and moving accounts of their own experiences. White fans are listening and discussing things that we've always been taught are dangerous to talk about. Astonishingly, I've even read one or two conversations that were about the original topic rather than about the conversations! (I especially liked supacat's insights about fantasy.)

I consider slash fandom to be my 'us,' and on the whole, I'm proud of us.