The Curse of Good Representation
“Good representation” often puts pressure on the same marginalized creatives it claims to help
This is not an essay about creators making art depicting marginalizations they do not hold. That’s another essay. The focus of this essay is on what is often called “ownvoices”, a term created by YA author Corinne Duyvis to describe books featuring characters from underrepresented groups that the author is part of. In the spirit of that, as a Black queer woman, most of my examples will come from those specific experiences, though many of these examples can be applied to other marginalized groups.
The conversation of “good versus bad” representation is, admittedly, a slippery one, but its one I believe we should have as diversity becomes a point of interest in many industries, not only the publishing industry. However, I don’t want this article to be used as a “gotcha” moment for people who want to create art that literally causes harm. Instead, the purpose of this article is to offer grace to marginalized authors who already experience enough pressure, and to lower the expectations of perfection placed upon them (us? us.).
As a Black woman, I have a wealth of experience being the “spokesperson” for my race whether I wanted to or not. From a young age, I learned that what I did…
