Blind Spots and Privilege

[Steven Barnes]

We've been running an interesting conversation over on my blog about blacks in science fiction. The thrust of my argument is that you don't see more black or Asian SF writers because the field is dominated by white guys, and has been since the 1920s. The characters and covers are all white, and that cuts black readership--and when the covers have non-white characters, white readership drops. but privilege extends in other directions: heterosexual, male, Christian, American, lean-bodied, etc. etc.
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I wanted to open the floor here on the forum, where it might be easier for people to converse with each other: in what ways have they experienced privilege--either in a positive or negative fashion? I believe this discussion is valuable, as those who recieve it seem to have a blind spot for its effects on others. We're workignwith perception here, folks, and we have to bring this stuff up to consciousness!

Steve

[kwasi]

Hi Steve,
I'm in the middle of writing a fairly long reply covering a bunch of questions that came up while I was away (I was in Philly for the weekend to root for the eagles with my brother and some mutual friends)
Its too long to fit into your comment section so would you rather I email it to you when its done or just post it here?

[Steven Barnes]

Post it here, Kwasi--I'd like to get some of the more extended discussions going here, and more traffic between my blog and this board. This is a good start!

[Corinna]

Hi, Steve! (This is Corinna. My mom and I often attend and enjoy your tai chi classes when you're at Orycon and Norwescon.)

Interesting topic. I first started thinking in terms of privilege when I began taking a lot of black history and film classes. I'm not black, and learned so much from these classes. One major "privilege" of being white in mainstream America is not _having_ to think about this sort of thing. It seems to me that white males in particular, because they are the default, ("So somebody walks into a bar" is a white guy) are less likely to even start to think of things like this. Unwillingness plays a part in it, but lack of opportunity plays another. To think from the point of view of someone different is less likely to occur to someone who is already the default. The reason that black studies and women's studies are needed is that a regular history class will be taught from the traditional white male viewpoint unless the teacher brings a new perspective to it. When a subject doesn't have a modifier like "Black" or "Women's", it's going to be white men's.

I see certain advantages to being female. (Though granted, I sometimes wish I wasn't.) For me, one of the privileges of being female in this society is that others have fewer and less rigid expectations of me. I am free with very little social stigma to keep living with my parents even though I've graduated from college. It's practical and I like my family. Whereas men are expected to strike out and build their own lives, and living at home would be a sign of weakness. (Or so it seems to me from the outside.)

I'm an aspiring writer (er, a writer aspiring to publication), and my novel-in-revision includes this topic. A black man from our world finds himself in a(nother) society in which privilege is systematically created for some and denied to others, yet it's considered inherent. My protagonist sets out to prove them wrong. Incidentally, while I had the basic idea in mind, I decided that my main character was a black male when I went to a panel you were on at Norwescon about the dearth of black characters in SF/F, and it works tremendously well. Further thematic help came from all those black film classes and wanting to deliberately play with and turn inside-out the stereotypes and tendencies that Hollywood's been stuck on for so long. Writing about this has helped me explore the topic of privilege, but I'd like to see other points of view because I'm sure to be missing a lot of them. I've been guilty of complacency as regards my own blind spots. I'll have to keep an eye on myself to figure it out.#nosmileys

[Corinna]

I just realized how conceited "it works tremendously well" might sound. I don't know how well it would work for most readers. I meant as far as the writing went--it helped the pieces fit together so well that I feel like I couldn't have had anything to do with its creation. It helped the magic work.

[Steven Barnes]

Sounds like terrific thematic material, Corinna. I encourage you to continue your exploration. Also, I encourage you to follow the "One Year to being a published writer" program on my blog!

Steve

[Corinna]

Thank you!

Good ideas in your one year program. I'll keep up with your posts about that. I have written a few short stories (some I'm sending out, and some need more editing first), but I haven't gotten any short-story ideas in a long time. That is, plots that are strong enough that they can be expressed in so short a space. But I like your advice about reading more than one book at the same time--usually I only read one at once. So maybe reading all over the place at once will help with the ideas problem.

[Steven Barnes]

Corinna--if you don't have a plot strong enough for a short story, believe me, it is WAY too weak for a novel. A short story is just zooming on on one moment, one action, one small phrase of time within a larger arc, and capturing it with a couple of thousand words. This art form will help you develop everything you need as a writer. But it is focus and clarity you seek, not plots!

[Argent'horn]

I do not know how relevant this is here, but I shall share it and it can be ignored if appropriate. Back in the 1960's when I was in the left-wing anti war movement, there was a feeling among a number of us white men that we needed to consciously reject "white skin privilege." The most common way of doing this was to grow our hair long and grow beards, so that we did not look at all mainstream. I do not know whether it in any way made us less privileged, although there have been a few times when I think doors have been closed to me or I have been hassled by this grooming choice. I have grown accustomed to the look and feel of long hair and a beard, and it has long since become just that--a grooming preference. Most of my contemporaries have long since abandoned it. (Steve, you may recall my hair and beard from BaltiCon.) Sometimes I think this was a noble motivation 40 years ago; sometimes I think it was really silly.

If I have any follow-up thoughts on the matter, I shall certainly post them. Even if they are just ignored.

[Steven Barnes]

I don't think it's silly. I think it is an effort to find new ways to communicate with the culture, and to explore the perceptual "box" we all find ourselves in. Bully for you!