there's a few takes about racism in fantasy and let

let me tell you there was a time a dm refused to let me have a brown skinned elf of any degree because 'that made them drow and therefore hated because the rules say so'.

i've had very long talks with my roommates about it

that i literally HATED elves and the culture around fantasy elves because 'they have to be white, and therefore they're ethereal and beautiful, and there are no fat/brown/black elves that are good so play something else'.

racism has been so heavily rooted in a majority of

high fantasy that i studied, which is why i always turned to low fantasy, urban fantasy, because at least then i could be a character who had my skin colour and WASNT hated. racism in fantasy is there, it's been there for decades, subtle or not.

it needs to change.

mind you it's not JUST about skin colour. it goes in so much deeper, it ties into so many stereotypes that dissuaded people out of it. i'm not the Best person to talk about it, but know as someone who is a VISIBLE minority, the racism and stereotypes fed into fantasy deterred me.

the world CONSTANTLY told me i had to be WHITE to be beautiful. handsome. worthy. valued. i had to be a certain 'race' to actually be smart. charming. even CLEAN.

fantasy told me the same thing at the start, just a different way. it was just coded different.

anyway, that's my two cents.

love, a latino trans man.