Fanfics are still really kind of racist.
You might be like, "how are they racist? it's not like we're over here saying *insert various examples here*."
Fun fact: it's possible to be "racist" without being outright racist.
- THE PROBLEM WITH REPRESENTATION -
TWENTY FIVE PERCENT OF AMERICANS ARE AFRICAN AMERICAN. TWENTY FIVE ARE LATINO. MORE THAN FIVE PERCENT ARE ASIAN OR ANOTHER NON-WHITE RACE. OVERALL, THAT MAKES MORE THAN HALF OF AMERICA NON-WHITE. PEOPLE OF COLOR.
now look at fanfics, specifically danfics in this instance. In just the first ten, how many are black, hispanic, or asian? none. LITERALLY ZERO. And yeah, that's only ten, but generally with more than half of the US (just using the US as an example because those were the statistics I could find) being non-white, you'd think at least ONE fic would represent that. But no, because we're still in love with our idea of the "perfect cliche romance," a white man and white woman. Because that's what most of us see in the media.
Now I'm as white as the whiteboard behind me, but I do know a problem when I see one, especially if that involves the representation of whole parts of the world/nation.
- WHY IT'S HAPPENING -
Basically, there's this thing that I learned about a while back (and of course can't remember the name of). Imagine a couple eating in a restaurant.
Chances are you imagined a white boy and girl. And before you freak out, no, you're not racist. You've just been conditioned to imagine this false "norm" that society/the media/art creates. And, as great as it is, fanfic helps with that.
Basically, the thing I was talking about before is this idea that as a society we have been conditioned to imagine white people, because that's what we see on TV, in books, in movies, in FANFICTION.
- WHAT WE CAN DO -
The moral of the story is, if you're a person of color (or not honestly anyone can help don't be shy about writing about non-white characters. It adds more draw to the writing (because honestly I'm so sick of these cliche pale green eyed brown hair-ed girls like jfc), and helps represent groups that really aren't represented on wattpad.
- IF YOU DISAGREE OR OTHERWISE -
Also, if I've accidentally offended anyone or you have something to say (be it support or you disagreeing) feel free to comment. And, if you have any examples of a lesser-known fic that really shows diversity (in race or really anything else) comment it below. I'm thinking of making a list either here or on my profile with fics that really make me proud and have good examples of being a fanfic.
thanks!!! -the author