My first PRINT piece in @BitchMedia was about #OwnVoices romance novels. I dove into a bunch to get a sense of its breadth, to gauge if Indian authors have control over the narrative, or if they’re being treated as marionettes: https://twitter.com/BitchMedia/status/1310987984754405380

I found that for many diaspora writers, success is predicated on a hefty down payment of writing through the white gaze. We’re expected to make our customs, our love, our characters, and our relationships as “relatable” (read: white-adjacent) as possible.

I also found that romance novels written by Brown authors are considered culturally specific and “traditional.” Brownness is a cage from which the Brown-skinned woman seeks liberation, while proximity to whiteness is treated as modernity and freedom.

To emancipate herself, then, the Brown protagonist rejects her culture to perform some semblance of whiteness. This is unsurprising, given that the billion-dollar romance industry is still whiter than a field of daisies in a blizzard.

To be truly representative and successful, the industry and the movement must emphasize intersectionality. With respect to South Asians, this means realizing the power dynamics that operate within Brownness, like the pervasiveness of the caste system.

Furthermore, tokenizing Indian writers as “South Asian” successes comes at the expense of a multitude of marginalized folks—like Dalit, Nepali, Muslim, and Bangladeshi writers.

WE NEED POC EDITORS!! POC SENSITIVITY READERS. We need to radically redistribute power!

CC: @agentsaba i think you might be into it :) @jennybhatt i spoke of this recently to you <3