Thought-provoking and well written.
I’ve speculated before about a difference between stories where the characters mainly act upon the world and stories where the world mainly acts on the characters being, in part, about how much agency the authors and readers perceive themselves as having.
I think there’s a great need for non-female teenagers to read fiction about non-female protagonists being acted upon rather than acting, too.
When I was young, I wanted – as most teenagers do – to be in a relationship, and would happily have been asked out if it meant not having to do the seeking. But that wasn’t an option that the world had been trained to accept: boys asked; girls were asked. So, I faced the stress of being more purely active than my natural inclination. In hindsight, both the stress and the underlying pressure toward aggression made some of my attempts less respectful than they might have been.
So, if we have more fiction where protagonists are sometimes passive, then it might do more than provide a voice to non-white male writers: it might provide a more nuanced voice to white males as well; one they will use to talk into being a world where they aren’t pressured into being oppressors.
I think there’s a great need for non-female teenagers to read fiction about non-female protagonists being acted upon rather than acting, too.
When I was young, I wanted – as most teenagers do – to be in a relationship, and would happily have been asked out if it meant not having to do the seeking. But that wasn’t an option that the world had been trained to accept: boys asked; girls were asked. So, I faced the stress of being more purely active than my natural inclination. In hindsight, both the stress and the underlying pressure toward aggression made some of my attempts less respectful than they might have been.
So, if we have more fiction where protagonists are sometimes passive, then it might do more than provide a voice to non-white male writers: it might provide a more nuanced voice to white males as well; one they will use to talk into being a world where they aren’t pressured into being oppressors.
I place a high value on reading about experiences different than my own. Reading in that way is an act of empathy, helping you understand what it’s like to be someone else, even if for only a few hundred pages.
A fair number of readers, however, seem to be looking only for an echo chamber. They want stories that validate and reinforce their own experience.
Add to this our cultural weirdness that says that taking an interest in anything “feminine” is anti-masculine and you’ve got men who think reading about women makes them feminine.
I don’t know how to make echo-chamber readers curious about other people’s experience. Past a certain point, it gets even harder (like teaching an old dog new tricks).
I place a high value on reading about experiences different than my own. Reading in that way is an act of empathy, helping you understand what it’s like to be someone else, even if for only a few hundred pages.
A fair number of readers, however, seem to be looking only for an echo chamber. They want stories that validate and reinforce their own experience.
Add to this our cultural weirdness that says that taking an interest in anything “feminine” is anti-masculine and you’ve got men who think reading about women makes them feminine.
I don’t know how to make echo-chamber readers curious about other people’s experience. Past a certain point, it gets even harder (like teaching an old dog new tricks).
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