Hey so here's a super hot take from me, a person who has lots of hot takes about writing and writing-while-queer (best Olympic sport tbh): let queer ppl tell the stories they want to tell & don't demand everything they produce be about "representation"

I read a review of a book written by a queer man that said something along the lines of "why are there no queer women or nonbinary people???" in the book and to be completely honest? that review made me angry

A queer man, writing a queer story about queer men is not required to check off all the boxes. I mean first of all, he very well could have been uncomfortable writing outside his identity (this is utterly conjecture on my part btw)

And secondly, to demand that queer authors include the whole array of queer identities in their stories and then giving their books bad reviews when they don't is to demand the impossible. It's to place a burden on authors who are already burdened. It's deeply unfair

The reviewer then went on about how the queer men in the story weren't "good representation"

And like---they don't have to be!! A queer author should not have to create characters to be anything but what they want them to be!!

It's, again, unfair

A queer author ought to be able to create queer characters who are good people, bad people, ridiculous people, theatrically evil people, etc. Placing the burden of "positive representation" on a queer writer who wants to tell a queer story is just another form of marginalization

The concept of "representation" has diverged way too far from its original meaning. "Representation" in publishing SHOULD be about making sure marginalized authors are able to tell their stories in ways they choose.

It shouldn't be about how they choose to tell those stories

People are using "representation" to SILENCE marginalized authors. Because if authors are going to be policed for not creating perfect characters then they're not free to tell their stories.

If a cis straight author creates a pastiche of harmful queer stereotypes that's one thing.

If a queer author creates queer characters that are assholes that's another

Anyway of course you don't have to like a book just b/c it was written by a queer author. You can hate it! You can find fault with plot! Dialogue! Structure! Pacing!

You can also just not like a book because you don't! You can give it a bad review and say "this sucks!"

But to demand queer authors write stories that aren't REALLY stories but just platforms, backdrops, to characters that either are Good Rep or Bad Rep is wrong.

It's silencing marginalized writers. It's removing the idea of representation from it's context. It's gross

Anyway if you like my words please consider helping me take care of sick/injured/abandoned cats https://twitter.com/ellle_em/status/1378086422368882692?s=20