Returning to my topic of a few months ago, discussing my experience of the lack of LGBT characters in media, let’s talk about privilege and representation, because it affects everything – which means you’re probably guilty of it, and probably unintentionally, but no more so than I am.
Privilege and Disadvantage
I have privilege in my race because I am white and British.
I have privilege within the LGBT community because I’m a lesbian.
I am disadvantaged outside of the LGBT community because I’m a lesbian.
I am disadvantaged because I’m a woman.
I am disadvantaged because I’m genderqueer – both within and without the LGBT community, and also by much of mainstream feminism.
I have been guilty of using my privilege in the things I do – not by taking advantage of it, but simply by doing what most writers and creators do: I automatically write what I know. I know I can write characters that are anything but what I am, because I have, but I have done so rarely enough that I must call myself guilty of privilege. Why? Because my race privilege is so ingrained into me that I never even thought about it.
On the other hand, as discussed in my previous post, I make a point of redressing a tiny bit of the privilege balance by writing in LGBT characters. Well, I say LGBT – I mostly mean lesbian characters. There goes my privilege again.
Testing, testing…
The reason the Bechdel test (female characters in media, as discussed in the video above), the Vito Russo test (LGBT characters in media), and other tests exist is because they need to. Yes, they’re formulaic. No they therefore don’t cover every possible eventuality, but yes – they are important. They’re not there to slap onto something as a black or white answer, but to make you think about the content, the characters, etc.
The ultimate in privilege is the white, middle or upper class male – to whom the largest portion of this world is aimed at. Please let me clear on this: nobody sensible is ever going to claim that all white, middle or upper class men are bad. OK? OK. There is a lot of privilege to being in this bracket, however, and that’s important to understand. Things like the Bechdel test are there to open our eyes to our own privilege, as much as anyone else’s, at which point we can choose what to do about it.
I have admitted my privilege, and admitted that I have used it without thinking. The next step? Well, I could stomp my feet and shout about how my privilege isn’t my fault and therefore it’s not my job to do anything about it. Or I could make an effort in the future to remember my privilege and the unconscious way I’ve used it. I could apply that to what I know about disadvantages, and what I’ve done to try and combat that. Then I could combine the two and try to add more balance. Not by counting it out so everything adds up, but by taking a second look at who and what I’m writing.
Why it matters
I’m going to let Djimon Hounsou make this point for me. Lifted from Guardians of the Galaxy cast interview which you can find here:
“I wanna begin saying a story about my son. I have a four-year old son who loves superheroes from Spider-Man to Iron Man to Batman. He’s got all the costumes. One day he looks at me and says ‘Dad, I want to be light-skinned so I could be Spider-Man. Spider-Man has light skin.’ That was sort of a shock. This is why I am excited to be a part of the Marvel Universe, so I could be hopefully provide that diversity in the role of the superhero.”
It matters because that kid didn’t realize that he could be just as good as his favorite superhero.
It matters because I spent the better part of thirty years trying to work out what was wrong with me and why I couldn’t just be a woman only to realize that the problem is not me but the things I was taught in games, books, tv, movies and life.
It matters because somewhere out there is another kid like me who is going through hell trying to figure out what they are, and who may never be given the chance to figure out that they are as unique and amazing as everyone else they see.
It matters because this extends to everything that allows one person to beat down another (physically or otherwise) for being less than they are.
It matters because every single one of us exists, in our own individual selves, and every single one of us deserves to be told that who we are is exactly who we should be.
It matters because while it may look like a small thing on paper – it’s not. Most of us will have run into privilege before – this whole website exists because of the disadvantage still affecting women in media and entertainment.
It matters because there are people who hold great influence in this industry and others: People who are transphobic, homophobic, rape apologetic, gender biased, and more. People who can give these ideas to hundreds, thousands, potentially millions of others; excusing them for their actions, giving them permission to belittle or injure somebody else. For every one of those people, there needs to be a few of the inclusive, the brave, and the intelligent to oppose that influence.
First, think of how many people consume so much media in all its forms, every day. Next, think about the things so much of that media is teaching them. Finally, decide to be one of the people that teaches them the opposite.
On removing privilege
When the straight white male gamer told David Gaider and the team who made Dragon Age this:
I don’t think many would argue with the fact that the overwhelming majority of RPG gamers are indeed straight and male. Sure, there are a substantial amount of women who play video games, but they’re usually gamers who play games like The Sims, rather than games like Dragon Age. That’s not to say there isn’t a significant number of women who play Dragon Age and that BioWare should forgo the option of playing as a woman altogether, but there should have been much more focus in on making sure us male gamers were happy.
Their response was, pretty much, “Get over it”. Why? Because that gamer is pretty much the textbook of the angry privileged person being upset because their privilege was taken away. Actually he was more polite than many – but I decided it would stand for the point without adding some more vitriolic examples here. Hey, you’re on the internet – it’s not so hard to find those things if you really want to.
Removing privilege is not a bad thing. You will get some abuse from those who are privileged – or those who buy into the privilege – because nobody likes to be told they’re not king of the castle anymore, but that’s their problem, not yours.
Keep in mind that a statement along the lines of “I’m used to having everything be about me and catered to me and aimed at me and that wasn’t all of those things” is LIGHT YEARS away from “If someone like me is there at all, they’re stereotyped, troped, and used for the sake of the privileged people – not because they’re a human being in their own right”.
An exercise
There is a simple exercise to perform when writing/directing/playing/whatever characters that are away from your own comfort zone. Use your imagination and ask yourself this:
“If this character were white/straight/male/whatever, would I be portraying them the same way I am here?”
If you can truly answer yes, then keep going. If the brutally honest answer is no, then consider reworking them until you can answer yes.
This isn’t to say that all characters must be the same regardless of who they actually are – if that’s what you just thought then you missed my point completely. The actual point is: ask yourself if you are, for example, writing a black character as a drug dealer because they are black, or because that’s who the person is. A world of difference exists between these two.
You don’t need the ability to write what you don’t know, you just need the ability to stop and take the time to research until you do know. Your work will be better for it.
The End
Hey, I was honest about mine – what about yours? Let’s talk.