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559 No. 559 ID: 8319de
I was recently given a critique that male writers are incapable of portraying female (or that white authors cannot represent minorities, etc.) characters. The argument is twofold.

First, that the author is inherently incapable of representing a character that lacks the privileges they have. That, even genuine empathy only acknowledges that it is not involved in the plight. Additionally, by trying to represent a minority, the author will always misrepresent that world view which is inherently damaging to the struggle real individuals face every day.

Second, that it is a form of rape to force a character to take actions that a real person would not take. Specifically, in the context of a sex scene, that a male author is violating the sovereignty of individuals by forcing them to effectively be publicly displayed, even if it serves the story. And, since the persons involved are fictional, then consent cannot be granted.

I want to make it clear, I don't really agree with this critique. But I am a progressive, and I want to be a good storyteller. This just hit me like a pressure point and has left me mincing since I received it. So I guess I just want someone to talk me down.
>> No. 560 ID: 7c842e
What the fuck... are we now giving fictional characters the same rights as real people?
>> No. 561 ID: 86946b
Can women write men?
>> No. 564 ID: 8319de
>>561
OP here, according to the critique I received: yes. Women can write men because a person can always imagine a world where in they have greater power and privilege.

However, I want to make it clear, I don't want to make this a "Men's Rights" issue. I don't find any merit in those claims and I do believe in greater female and minority presence in media. What concerns me is how to genuinely represent this, and to respond to this (K) respectfully.
>> No. 566 ID: d27172
This is the dumbest shit I've ever read; it's so bad it's not even wrong.

I'm really a poststructuralist type of pretentious dickwad that truly believes the author is dead but I'll try to respond to this in a way assuming that there is indeed.jpg a writer that can intentionally "create" in the traditional sense. A character is a vehicle, it is an actor, it is not a real person and cannot have real feelings or thoughts. So the second point just really doesn't make any sense, in that what sovereignty do these individuals have in the first place? We are their gods, without us they do not exist, so they can fuck right off if they don't want to be portrayed as we see fit. Fortunately they can't, so they don't, so they won't, so that argument is stupid. How can anyone possibly posit whether or not the actions of a story are analogous to what a "real person" (whatever that means anyway) would do? If you believed this idea were accurate, you wouldn't write, because portraying any character anywhichway might be rape.

The first is a bit harder to argue against, but I'll do my best. First, it runs counter to any historical object. Writers, traditionally, have all been white males usually from the upper (sometimes upper middle) class, writing about the lower classes. Burroughs, Delillo, Pynchon, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Swift, Shakespeare, take your pick. To allege that their portrayals of minorities were damaging is just fucking lunacy. Look at Uncle Tom's Cabin; while Stowe was a woman, a white woman had a shitton more rights than any nigger in antebellum america. Was Uncle Tom's Cabin damaging to the real struggle of slaves during that time? Fuck no. And how exactly do we determine who has more "privilege"? Do Mexicans have more privilege than black people? Can Jews write about Muslims in America? Can Muslims in Germany write about Jews? What about an upper class black guy, is he more privileged than lower class white women?

The idea that anyone can misrepresent a "worldview" of an entire race/sex is in itself discriminatory. It implies that all women, that all black people or whatever, have the same world view. They don't. They have a unique insight into the institutional oppression that those demographics face which can be very difficult or possibly even impossible for white men to understand, but that doesn't mean they have a copyright on being black/female. The whole argument is wishywashy.

TL;DR check your privilege bro
>> No. 777 ID: 48bb4d
>>566
>This is the dumbest shit I've ever read
That's pretty much all that needs to be said here, I think. I hope you're not friends with whoever told you this, if you are I suggest removing them from your life immediately.
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