To go to a place like that and be confronted with a well meaning but inadvertently racist story would I imagine be much worse than encountering it at random, and "helping white writers be less racist" is I assume something they support in principle but not very high on their list of priorities.
I think you make a good point here. Definitely the priority for communities centered around PoC/non-white characters and fans is creating a safe and anti-racist space, and so I think the priority needs to be placed their comfort rather than on the education of privileged authors. And so, I'd definitely agree that a privileged author should definitely only post in those place if they are reasonably sure that their work isn't problematic.
At the same time though, I'd wonder if fail on the community would be easier and safer to deal with compared to fics posted outside the community. Assuming that there's already the fact that the fics were written with a PoC audience in mind so there's some assurance that the fail will likely be somewhat minor, recognizable, and fixable, and that the community space itself is one where PoC feel like they can speak up if they find something problematic and will be supported by the rest of the community and the mods, even if the author hirself maybe doesn't get it 100%.
I imagine this is something that varies. I'd probably set a very high standard before I posted a fic there myself (certainly I wouldn't be requiring comm members to educate me if they find my fic problematic). But from the point of view of my own issues, both a relative lack of fail and the knowledge that I would be safe speaking out about a work I found problematic in a community matter.
I recently participated in the Racebending revenge challenge and being aware of how POC-centered the comm and challenge are did make me hold myself to a higher standard: but that also meant allowing myself the option of not posting my work as part of the challenge if I wasn't sure it wasn't going to hurt people. And if that had happened but it wasn't irredeemably bad I might plausibly have still put the comic online somewhere else with a "this is a bit problematic" disclaimer.
I think this is vital. It's the ability to set a higher standard and having the discernment to not post it if the work fails to meet it that matters. Or to post it with a caveat that something may be problematic, but for one reason or another could not be changed in the final version.
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Date: 2010-07-05 05:36 am (UTC)I think you make a good point here. Definitely the priority for communities centered around PoC/non-white characters and fans is creating a safe and anti-racist space, and so I think the priority needs to be placed their comfort rather than on the education of privileged authors. And so, I'd definitely agree that a privileged author should definitely only post in those place if they are reasonably sure that their work isn't problematic.
At the same time though, I'd wonder if fail on the community would be easier and safer to deal with compared to fics posted outside the community. Assuming that there's already the fact that the fics were written with a PoC audience in mind so there's some assurance that the fail will likely be somewhat minor, recognizable, and fixable, and that the community space itself is one where PoC feel like they can speak up if they find something problematic and will be supported by the rest of the community and the mods, even if the author hirself maybe doesn't get it 100%.
I imagine this is something that varies. I'd probably set a very high standard before I posted a fic there myself (certainly I wouldn't be requiring comm members to educate me if they find my fic problematic). But from the point of view of my own issues, both a relative lack of fail and the knowledge that I would be safe speaking out about a work I found problematic in a community matter.
I recently participated in the Racebending revenge challenge and being aware of how POC-centered the comm and challenge are did make me hold myself to a higher standard: but that also meant allowing myself the option of not posting my work as part of the challenge if I wasn't sure it wasn't going to hurt people. And if that had happened but it wasn't irredeemably bad I might plausibly have still put the comic online somewhere else with a "this is a bit problematic" disclaimer.
I think this is vital. It's the ability to set a higher standard and having the discernment to not post it if the work fails to meet it that matters. Or to post it with a caveat that something may be problematic, but for one reason or another could not be changed in the final version.