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writingwithcolor · 6 months

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What is Tokenism?

Tokenism refers to giving the empty appearance of inclusivity or diversity, often to avoid criticism. In writing, tokenism refers to adding minorities to an otherwise homogenous cast (think a cast of white male characters in the West) in name or appearance only, without putting in the effort to develop these characters.

The problem with tokenism is that token characters are forced to be the sole representation of their particular group. The consequence is twofold. First, undeveloped token characters often become platforms for stereotypes. Think the sassy Black friend, the smart Asian friend, etc.

Second, token characters often become creator mouthpieces. Many of us have heard someone excuse their racism by saying they have a POC friend. The token character, the proverbial Friend of Color, can be made to excuse or even promote biases about their race, ethnicity, or culture.

There is no inherent issue with having only one of a particular identity, or having a white protagonist and a POC best friend. The problem comes when you make the character a spokesperson for their identity and/or saddle them with stereotypes and cliches. To avoid tokenism, write the character from a place of empathy, make them three dimensional, do your research on their identity, and avoid stereotypes.

Further Reading:

Why We Need More Directors of Color

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This Q&A is an excerpt from our General FAQ for Newcomers, which can be found in our new Masterpost of rules and FAQs. Take a look to learn more about writing POC representation!

-Writing With Color

#writing with color #writeblr #representation #poc representation #writers on tumblr #tokenism #writing advice #writing tips #faq

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agentfascinateur · 3 months

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"Nothing anti-Semitic about opposing genocide"

- Lela Tolajian

To us, progressive Jews, it appears elected officials who proudly stood by Donald Trump after he refused to condemn neo-Nazis and dined with anti-Semites value our voices only when they can tokenise a select few to fulfil their political goals. Conflating anti-Semitism with criticism of a modern apartheid state is dangerous historical revisionism.

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prokopetz · 6 months

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Like, obviously representation in fictional settings is a good thing in principle, but it can also go down some very entertaining rabbit holes. I've noticed this recurring pattern with superhero-themed tabletop RPGs where the author wants the setting's lore to represent a wide range of identities, but most of the word count goes toward statting up supervillains because the player characters need someone to fight, and of course their identities need to be relevant with respect to their supervillainous activites, or else that's tokenism, so they end up with a rogue's gallery full of members of visible minorities whose minority status is somehow the reason they became supervillains, and now the author's like "oh no, I made all of my villains too sympathetic, I need to fix that" – except they overcorrect in the opposite direction, and now the setting's flagship supervillain is a guy named Captain Racism.

#gaming #tabletop roleplaying #tabletop rpgs #game design #representation #tokenism #violence mention #racism mention

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screamingfromuz · 6 months

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I finally figured out why the response from the global left made me so angry.

Jewish leftist, including myself, never hesitated to condemn the Israeli government and Israeli citizens for their treatment of Palestinians. for example- I know were I was in Huwara. I was calling out the brutality of the pogrom done by right wings extremeness, criticizing it, calling for punishment of the terrorists, warning that this escalation of violence would do nothing but continue the violence. we did not try and justify it as a neutral response for the murder of two people, no, I knew that this kind of behavior has no excuse.

and we did the same every single time. the Israeli left always knew where it was when the Palestinians were the victims of violence, we often stood right there next to them.

and the leftist of the world loved it. held us up to prove that they are right, "you see? even they agree! free Palestine!"

and we expected the same. we expected that if the horrors will come to us, the global left will support us. We knew that they struggle since Israeli missiles hit while Hamas/Hezbollah/Jihad missiles get intercepted by a system that costs millions to operate. but surely, they kept saying that they would have spoken out if the Jews are in danger, they will stand with us in our grief.

and then came October 7th.

and we were shown once again that we are nothing but a token.

people celebrated the attack, and even those who did notת hesitated to condemn it. It was people being butchered in their own homes, a fucking war crime! all while they were hurling hundreds of missiles at civilian targets! at homes, at playground, at hospitals!

and yet, if it was not celebrating, the global left was silent.

I read a colon by a Danna Frank she described how an Israeli women who study in Yell was shaken and crying the entire day, and no one asked for her well being. Frank herself received messages from friends abroad during that day, and one of them asked after the well being of Palestinian waiters in Ramallah and offered them prayers and not ask after her own fucking sake. Seeds for Peace, that always had what to say at the beginning of any Israeli operation, stayed quiet for days, when they did post something, it was to call against violence from both sides, not even mentioning the massacre. and there are so many more instances.

It hurt so much because it was a betrayal. a prof that we are only cared for when we are either a token or dead.

We stood up again and again and again for the rights of others, against our own deeds, and when it was our people left dead on the ground, the quiet was disturbed only by the sounds of celebration.

We should have known

The Israeli left and the Jewish left stand alone in the global stage.

We now know who are allies are.

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icedsodapop · 29 days

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Not a knock on interracial relationships, just on how some people react to them. One of my biggest pet peeves for reactions to an interracial couple, specifically when one half is White, is how some people tokenize the Black/Brown partner, viewing them as some sort of metric for the moral character of the White partner. Like believe it or not, a White person is not automatically "woke" for dating a person of colour.

#romance #relationship #interracial relationship #racism #tokenization #tokenism

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tiredandsleepyaf · 5 months

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Remember when leftists used to make fun of Trump when he pretended that more underprivileged people and minorities supported him than they actually did? Like when he brought the few black supporters he had to the front of his rallies to try and make himself seem like he wasn’t racist. And now leftist goyim are doing the same thing by amplifying the voices of the few Jews who say it’s ok to be antisemitic and clearly have a lot of internalized antisemitism that they direct at those around them. There are many Jewish people that oppose and condemn the actions of Israel’s government, but it’s funny how a lot of goyim will only give a microphone to the few Jews that are excusing antisemitism and mocking other Jews. No Jewish person who isn’t full of internalized antisemitism and hatred for those like them is going to call for the death of more Jews or give goyim a free pass to be as antisemitic as they want. Why are you only amplifying their voices?

#tokenism #tw antisemitism #antisemitism #tw trump mention #tw racism mention #jumblr #jewblr #Jewish

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nobrashfestivity · 1 year

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Guerrilla Girls

Hot Flashes newsletter, number 4 1994

#guerrilla girls #political art #feminism #conceptual art #female artists #tokenism

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odinsblog · 3 months

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endlessly bemused at self-hating, obviously non-white people desperate to curry favor with obviously racist white people. vivek and others like him are eager and willing “useful idiots”

no matter what they claim, ingratiating himself with racists will never make racists view him or people of color as equals, or even as human. what ass kissing tokens like vivek haven’t learned yet is, hating on black people + immigrants will only get them so far with republicans

know who told that woman they didn’t want to vote for someone with an dark skin? her reflection in the mirror. vivek’s wife could have explained hinduism until she was blue in the face. they dgaf about him, her or their religion.

and please do not get it twisted — their racism doesn’t magically stop at vivek, and it most definitely doesn’t stop at actual black people, not even if they’re self-hating black republicans

#politics #republicans #racism #islamophobia #vivek ramaswamy #babylon bee #white supremacy #useful idiots #self hate #internalized racism #c👀n #racism deniers #ass kissers #tokenism #iowa #iowa caucuses

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ravenoftheskyes · 16 days

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Hey, everyone! I’m doing a survey on diversity in media for a research paper! If you could take a few minutes to take it for me that would be really helpful!

#diversity #tokenism #media analysis #survey

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padawan-historian · 3 months

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When Auntie Zora said "not all my skinfolks are kinfolks," this is your reminder that some skinfolks would rather be pokemon tokens and extraordinary negroes than abandon their neoliberal privileges that destroy our people and planet. Also being LGBTQ+ doesn't equate to being antiracist (which this neoliberal flamingo clearly isn't).

Also, all those people continuing to go into the venue rather than standing in solidarity with these profiled MENA women and saying that they won't attend unless they are rightfully allowed to enter (if the Biden-Harris team is so concerned about bad press from kicking out folks calling for a ceasefire and end to genocide . . . then why not . . . y'know . . . call for a ceasefire?)

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🇵🇸 @thisiskayem This occurred on Saturday's "Get The Vote Out" event in Las Vegas for @kamalaharris @vp.

The two visibly Muslim women RSVP'd for the event, were given wristbands upon checking in, and were standing in line when the Harris campaign officials denied them entry.

They provided screenshots of the the invite, photos wearing the wristbands, and an email of arrival instructions on Twitter.

The masks are coming all the way off.

#our world #ecosystem of white supremacy #america goddamn #ugly feminism #kamala harris #joe biden #this lovecraft country of ours #rage against imperialism #Blue MAGA #neoliberal nonsense #tokenism

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writingwithcolor · 3 months

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What Makes an Ethnic Villain "Ethnic" or "Villainous?" How Do You Offset it?

anonymous asked:

Hello WWC! I have a question about the antagonist of my story. She is (currently) Japanese, and I want to make sure I’m writing her in a way that doesn’t associates [sic] her being Asian with being villainous. The story is set in modern day USA, this character is effectively immortal. She was a samurai who lost loved ones due to failure in combat, and this becomes her character[sic] motivation (portrayed sympathetically to the audience). This story explores many different time periods and how women have shown valor throughout history. The age of the samurai (and the real and legendary female warriors from it) have interested me the most, which is why I want her to be from this period. The outfit she wears while fighting is based on samurai armor, and she wears modern and traditional Japanese fashion depending on the occasion. She acts pretty similar to modern day people, though more cynical and obsessed with her loss. She’s been able to adapt with the times but still highly values and cherishes her past. She is the only Asian main character, but I plan to make a supportive Japanese side character. She’s a history teacher who knows about the villain and gives the protagonists information to help them, but isn’t involved in the main plot otherwise. Are the way I’m writing this villain and the inclusion of a non-antagonist Japanese character enough to prevent a harmful reading of the story, or is there more I should do?

Why Does Your Villain Exist?

This makes me feel old because David Anders plays a villain with this kind of backstory in the series Heroes starring Masi Oka.

I think you want to think about what you mean when you say:

Villainous (In what way? To whom? To what end?)

Harmful (What tropes, narratives and implications are present?)

I’m relatively infamous in the mod circle for not caring too much about dimensions of “harm”. The concept is relative and varies widely between people and cultures. I don’t see much value in framing motivations around “What is less harmful?” I think for me, what matters more is:

“What is more true?”

“Are characteristics viewed as intrinsic to background, or the product of experiences and personal autonomy?”

“Will your portrayal resonate with a large audience?”

“What will resonate with the members of the audience who share the backgrounds your characters have?”

This post offers additional questions you could ask yourself instead of “is this okay/not okay/harmful.”

You could write a story where your antagonist is sly, sadistic, violent and cold-blooded. It may not be an interpretation that will make many Japanese from combat backgrounds feel seen or heard, but it’s not without precedent. These tropes have been weaponized against people of Japanese descent (Like Nikkei Japanese interned during World War II), but Japan also brutalized a good chunk of Asia during World War II. See Herge’s Tintin and The Blue Lotus for an example of a comic that accurately showcases the brutality of Japan’s colonization of Manchuria, but also is racist in terms of how Japanese characters are portrayed (CW: genocide, war, imperialism, racism).

You could also write a story where your character’s grief gives way to despair, and fuels their combat such that they are seen as calculating, frigid and deeply driven by revenge/ violence. This might make sense. It’s also been done to death for Japanese female warriors, though (See “Lady Snowblood” by Kazuo Koike and Kazuo Kamimura here, CW: sexual assault, violence, murder and a host of other dark things you’d expect in a revenge story).

You could further write a story where your antagonist is not necessarily villainous, but the perceived harm comes from fetishizing/ exoticizing elements in how her appearance is presented or how she is sexualized, which is a common problem for Japanese female characters.

My vote always goes to the most interesting story or character. I don’t see any benefit to writing from a defensive position. This is where I'll point out that, culturally, I can't picture a Japanese character viewing immortality as anything other than a curse. Many cultures in Japan are largely defined by transience and the understanding that many things naturally decay, die, and change form.

There are a lot of ways you could conceivably cause harm, but I’d rather hear about what the point of this character is given the dilemma of their position.

What is her purpose for the plot?

How is she designed to make the reader feel?

What literary devices are relevant to her portrayal?

(Arbitrarily, you can always add more than 1 extra Japanese character. I think you might put less pressure on yourself with this character’s portrayal if you have more Japanese characters to practice with in general.)

- Marika.

When Off-Setting: Aim for Average

Seconding the above with regards to this villainess’s story and your motivations for this character, but regardless of her story I think it’s also important to look specifically at how the Japanese teacher character provides contrast.

I agree with the choice to make her a regular person and not a superhero. Otherwise, your one Asian character is aggressively Asian-themed in a stereotypical Cool Japan way (particularly if her villain suit is samurai-themed & she wears wafu clothing every so often). Adding a chill person who happens to be Japanese and doesn’t have some kind of ninja or kitsune motif will be a breath of fresh air (well, more like a sigh of relief) for Japanese readers.

A note on characterization—while our standard advice for “offset” characters is to give your offset character the opposite of the personality trait you’re trying to balance, in this case you might want to avoid opposites. You have a villainess who is a cold, tough “don’t need no man” type. Making the teacher mild-mannered, helpful, and accomodating would balance out the villainess’s traits, but you’ll end up swinging to the other side of the pendulum towards the Submissive Asian stereotype depending on execution. If avoiding stereotypes is a concern, I suggest picking something outside of that spectrum of gentleness to violence and making her really boring or really weird or really nerdy or a jock gym teacher or…something. You’re the author.

Similarly, while the villainess is very traditionally Japanese in her motifs and backstory, don’t make the teacher go aggressively in either direction—give her a nice balance of modern vs. traditional, Japanese vs. Western sensibilities as far as her looks, dress, interests, values, etc. Because at the end of the day, that’s most modern Japanese people.

Sometimes, the most difficult representation of a character of color is making a character who is really average, typical, modern, and boring.

- Rina

#writeblr #Japanese #Japanese women #Villain #antagonist #tokenism #characterization #representation #stereotypes #immortality #superheroes #supervillains #asks

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bakastandotsukai · 6 months

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I might just be cynical but it just feels so off-putting to me seeing the Walt Disney Company celebrate their 100th anniversary after all the shit they've pulled from undermining animation in favor of live-action, the way they handled the SAG-WGA strike, monopolizing IPs, tokenizing under the guise of "social justice" (then backing out when it risks box office numbers), etc.

#the walt disney company #animation #sag wga strike #disney 100th anniversary #once upon a studio #tokenization #tokenism #disney #disney+#disney 100

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makiruz · 6 months

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Honestly shouldn't be a surprise that South Park can do a good critique of forced diversity in media, their only black character is called "Token"

#South Park #south park panderverse #my post #tokenism

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screamingfromuz · 5 months

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Can you finally forget about ever being allies with the racist and fascist leftist progressives?

It’s obvious they just hate you as Jews and will support anyone who goes against you.

You should’ve listened to Ben Shapiro’s wisdom.

First of all, I'm a fucking leftist so watch you mouth!

Second do you think the right is any fucking better? the only difference is that the right usually don't hide behind pretty words when they say they want us dead.

Ben Shapiro is not wise, he is a little angry toy Jew for the American right, and the fact that right now he is not spewing complete fucking nonsense does not means I'm gonna align myself to that fucker without him rewriting his political beliefs. Not to mention he still spews bullshit!

He is literally the American Extreme right pet Jew! And I take anything a "pet minority" say with a grain of fucking salt! no matter from where on the political they are presented!

If two of my enemies are my enemies, they are still both my enemies! I am going to yell at the leftist for being terrible and hypocrites, just like I'm gonna yell at the right for being terrible and hypocrites. In this blog we do not discriminate and treat all stupidity equally. I am yelling at the global left because they are just higher on my shit list right now.

P.S

"pet minority" is any person from a minority that a bunch of bigots prop up to say "look! even ____ agree with us", when we know they are bigots and don't give a fuck about the minority in question, or wish harm on the minority group in question.

#i/p #israel #jumblr #antisemitism #leftist antisemitism #right wing antisemitism #ben shapiro #leftist hypocrisy #right wing hypocrisy #tokenism #even a broken clock can be right every once in a while #ben shapiro is still an asshole

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icedsodapop · 5 days

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The way so many of yall will tokenize societal issues primarily affecting Black and Brown pple to prove how progressive your White faves are...

#pls die #yes this is about the Joe Alwyn stans. and no im not a swiftie i hate her white feminist ass #tokenism #racism #fandom racism

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fandomshatepeopleofcolor · 8 months

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part of the problem with hotd is that sure, the cast is visibly diverse but they didn't do the work on the characters while adapting to not make every single person around them batshit racist

and that's really the problem with a lot of "diverse media" nowadays (see: rings of power which uses throwaway characters as tokens but like didn't bother racebending legacy characters and kills off/tortures characters of color for white characters alot).

OHHHH I thought of another more blatant example: (RNM)

mod ali

#fhpoc asks #hotd #tokenism #diverse media

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