CW: allusion to racism and homophobia, mention of suicidal thoughts.

The media we consume shape the way we see the world. Since we’re children we absorbe information and form biases that keep influencing our perception throughout our whole lives. This happens not only for people different than us, we internalize prejudices for ourselves too.

Many Asian Americans and other people of color often struggle with their racial and ethnic identity development—with many citing how a lack of media representation negatively impacts their self-esteem and overall views of their racial or cultural groups. 

(Nadal, 2021)

The lack of representation of women in STEM careers, of indigenous people as heroes, of gay men as more than the “best friend”, send a mesage of mantaining the status quo and that if you are not in a privileged position is because you don’t deserve it.

There’s also such thing as “bad representation”. Inclusion shouldn’t stop at existence. Including characters of marginalized groups sometimes is counterproductive when they serve to reinforce harmful stereotypes.

“Parents and caregivers agree that the media their kids are watching still largely contains stereotypes of people of color. Most feel that White people are often portrayed in a positive light in the media their children are exposed to; one in four believe that portrayals of Black, Hispanic, and LGBTQIA+ people are more likely to be negative.”

(Rogers, 2021)

Seeing characters like you in a positive light and for society to see them portrayed as people beyond their labels help normalize it and reduce preconceptions.

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Leave no one behind

There are many underrepresented groups and the intersectionality of these must be aknowledged. Last week I was talking about the labels that conform our identities, and that individuals can fall in more than one misrepresented category. This makes someone’s experience unique, and it’s necessary to include characters whose traits don’t revolve around just one part of their identity.

There’s been pushback for ads and TV shows being more inclusive, which in reality hurt no one. Still, some people complain that they don’t see themselves represented as much anymore. (Ain’t that funny?) No one is trying to erase cis-het White men, no one deems dangerous to teach their existence to children, and there’s nothing wrong with being one. The problem lies with considering anyone who doesn’t fall into this accepted norm as unworthy of the same treatment.

Since it’s still Pride Month, and I love talking about it…

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LGBTQ+ representation

“More young people identify as LGBTQ than ever before, including 16% of Generation Z adults (those ages 18-23 in 2020). These same LGBTQ youth and young adults are experiencing a mental health crisis; 42% seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, showing the toll that the inability to be your authentic self can take.”

(Lathan, 2021)

With the alarming rate of anti LGBTQ+ legislation around the world, today, more than ever, is necessary to have queer representation.

“1 out of every 2 LGBTQ+ consumers say they would stop using a product or service that they deem non-inclusive.”

(Ellis & Zafar, 2022)

I’ve noticed that more and more people (even when they don’t self-identify as queer) are recurring to LGBTQ+ literature. More often than not, books that are queer-inclusive don’t stop there, they are usually diverse in their representation of disabled or mixed-raced people. Of course, this is not universal. Queer books can still be transphobic, fatphobic, and sexist, I’m just highlighting a trend.

“An unprecedented number of anti-LGBTQ bills continue to be proposed in state legislatures across the US. Elsewhere, nearly 70 countries continue to criminalize being LGBTQ, according to the Council for Foreign Relations.“

(Ellis & Zafar, 2022)

Books should reflect the diversity of the world we live in, and failing to represent that in stories shows a lack of awareness of our surroundings, and possibly a lack of regard of the lives of those different than us.

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If you wish to contribute to the series, contact me via email at tinyelfarcanist@gmail.com.

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