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Musings: Racism in Genre Fiction Is Everyone’s Problem

Courtney Milan

Recently, romance author Courtney Milan was censured by romance writers’ professional organization, the Romance Writers of America (RWA). Milan, who is half-Chinese, called out racist stereotypes of half-Chinese women in a romance novel by Kathryn Davis on Twitter. In return, Davis filed an ethics complaint that the criticism was unfair and caused her to lose a three-book deal. Suzan Tisdale, Davis’ employer, also filed an ethics complaint that Milan asked her how many authors of color she had published and was critical of Tisdale’s answer, and that she had called Davis a racist. Milan called Davis’ book a “racist mess,” but there’s a difference between personally attacking an author and criticizing her book (if honest reviews are important to you, I hope you can tell the difference). None of this was a violation of the RWA’s ethics code, but the board suspended her for a year and banned her from holding leadership positions. Milan has worked to increase diversity and inclusion in the romance community, which is majority white, cis, and heteronormative, and that appeared to have had a positive effect on the RWA. The lack of transparency in making this decision led to outrage from many in the romance community, and many officers, committee members, and paid members of the organization resigned. If you subscribe to any major newspaper, there has probably been a mention of this controversy in it this week (here’s the Washington Post’s take, and the New York Times).

Beyond the individual support for Milan, a larger problem has come to light, and that is institutional and systemic racism in the RWA and the romance community. Bestselling authors, such as Nora Roberts, have condemned the racism and homophobia that have come to light while all of this has been unfolding. For those people who don’t follow romance or know who Nora Roberts is, she’s close to being the romance genre’s equivalent to Stephen King.

I am writing about the out-of-control events in the romance writing community because racist, bigoted, and homophobic behavior and writing is not limited to one genre writing community. It’s everywhere. The horror genre and the people who participate in it do not get to wash our hands and say “well, what does racism there have to do with us?” Like it or not, one of the greats of the horror genre is well-known for racist, xenophobic vitriol. That is not opinion, it’s fact. Just because he wrote a century ago doesn’t mean we can’t criticize Lovecraft’s work. It’s even productive to do so. Some really great horror fiction has been published that critique his racism and xenophobia, like Victor Lavalle’s The Ballad of Black Tom, Matt Ruff’s Lovecraft Country, and Ruthanna Emrys’ Winter Tide.

Let’s not pretend, either, that those are things of the past and we’re too enlightened to have them appear in the horror community, or horror fiction, today. It doesn’t have to be related to your personal politics, any of us can trip over a stereotype or a dog whistle (I certainly can’t claim to know them all).  I’m pretty sure we’re all writers, reviewers, educators, librarians, or at least readers here, and that means we all know that words matter. It’s not a personal attack to point that out, it’s not being “too sensitive,” it’s an opportunity to do better for the horror genre and for ourselves.

 

Posted on December 30, 2019 by , Reply

Musings: Read What You Want: The Genre Reader’s Bill of Rights

I’ve always disagreed with romance readers that their genre gets the least respect of any, because look at the way horror readers and writers get treated.  There’s this perception that horror writers must be terrible people to come up with the kinds of stories they do (so many are surprised to find how kind and generous many are, and also how many are teachers), and that the readers are mostly loser teenage boys. Women and girls who like horror get incredulous looks, like, why would they read stuff in a violent genre that frequently portrays them as victims? If you live entirely inside the horror fan community maybe you don’t get these baffled looks and prejudiced opinions about your reading and writing, but maybe, like me, you have to interact with people who don’t get why you would read or write or review this stuff.

I am not solely a horror reader, though. I read a lot of different types of books. I could give you a list of all the genres and topics and styles that I read in but it would be really distracting and isn’t really my point.   There is no shame in reading what I want to read. And so when I come across a group of readers and writers in a genre I read mocking another genre (like romance) I’m pretty done with it. I have been reading romance since I was a teenager, long before I was a mother, and I object to having it described as “mommy porn”.  Nor am I a fan of the extremely outdated perception of romance being read only by clueless housewives. The horror fiction genre should be so lucky as to get the number of authors published and create the kind of money and level of fandom that romance fiction does.

One reason for the existence of this website was that my husband, Dylan, saw a gap in what libraries offered to readers, and in what librarians knew about horror fiction, and he knew that horror could attract kids and teens to reading who had never shown any interest in picking up a book. Horror can kickstart reluctant readers, and librarians and libraries needed to know that (they still do). Romance can also kickstart readers, though, and just like a love of horror can create a bridge between generations (something you can see in my son even though Dylan is now dead) discovering romance can, too. It’s been a year and a half since my daughter would sit down with me to read aloud, but every night since I introduced her to Marion Chesney, she has begged for me to read “just one more chapter”.  Luckily, Chesney wrote around 40 books before switching to writing mysteries as M.C. Beaton.

I’m not defending romance because it doesn’t need defending. The evidence of its success is right out there for the world to see.  I don’t defend my choice to read horror because it doesn’t need defending. I can read what I want and it doesn’t matter to me what you think about me reading it. But maybe think about why readers of a genre might think their genre needs defending. It’s because somebody, or a lot of somebodies, tried to shame them or tell them their choices weren’t good enough, or were evidence of a personality flaw, as if what they’re reading makes it okay to mock them.  It doesn’t.

You have the right to read the genre book of your choice. And, whether that genre book is horror, mystery, thriller, romance, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, dystopian, non-fiction, poetry, or something else,  everyone else has the right to read the genre book of their choice as well.

And so as a reminder,  I’m sharing again The Genre Reader’s Bill of Rights, which can also be found elsewhere on this site.

 

The Genre Readers Bill of Rights

  • You have the right never to apologize for your reading tastes.
  • You have the right to read anything you want.
  • You have the right to read anywhere you want… in the bathtub, in the car, in the grocery store, under the porch, or while walking the dog.
  • You have the right to read in bed. Under the covers. With a flashlight.
  • You have the right to carry books in your baggage at all times.
  • You have the right to read in exotic settings.
  • You have the right to move your lips when you read.
  • You have the right to read the good parts out loud to your nearest and dearest.
  • You have the right to refuse to read the good parts out loud to your nearest and dearest.
  • You have the right to read and eat at the same time. (This right, however, does not include the right to use food as a bookmark when you are reading library books. Even if it’s the very best potato salad.)
  • You have the right to read and make love at the same time. (But– depending on local ordinances and regulations– you may or may not have the right to ask your librarian for suggested books.)
  • You have the right to read as many books as you want at the same time.
  • You have the right to throw any book on the floor and jump up and down on it (provided that you paid for it first).
  • You have the right to ignore the critics at the New York Review of Books.
  • More importantly, you have the right to ignore the critics in your immediate family.
  • You have the right to stop reading a book whenever you decide it’s not worth the effort, or that you simply don’t like it.
  • You have the right to refuse to read any book anyone else picks out for you. Even if it’s a birthday present. (This is associated with your right to refuse to wear any necktie or perfume you receive as a gift.)
  • You have the right to skip all the boring parts.
  • You have the right to read the last chapter first.
  • You have the right to read the last chapter first and then put the book back on the shelf.
  • You have the right to refuse to read any book where you don’t like the picture of the author. FINALLY, the Genre Reader’s Miranda Right:
  • If you do not have a genre book of your own, a genre book will be provided for you by your public library.

(–The Genre Reader’s Bill of Rights first came to my attention in library school, on the library listserv LM_NET. I printed it, cut it out, and posted it on my dorm room wall. I do not have the name or names of the person who shared it then. While I was not aware of it at the time, after we started the site, it came to my attention that it shares some elements with Daniel Pennac’s Reader’s Bill of Rights.) 

Posted on November 24, 2019 by , Reply

The Hugo Awards and Collection Development

I am a reader and a librarian, and I read all kinds of things, including a lot of science fiction and fantasy. I am not a fannish type, I just really love to read.  I am not a professional genre writer, so I watch genre writers’ organizations like SFWA and HWA from the sidelines, and I haven’t been to a convention in years. The politics of how awards like the Hugo and the Stoker are chosen haven’t been something I have been very focused on. For two years here we reviewed as many of the Stokers as we could, focusing on the quality of the writing. I have to trust that the writers with the opportunity to nominate and vote do that, too.

I haven’t seen much said about the current controversy over the Hugos in the library community, with the exception of a short article in Library Journal, with commentary from their regular columnist describing it (I’m paraphrasing) as a backlash against diversity in winning works. I would say that in the fan and author community a great many people view it this way– as a step back from representing the variety there really can be in genre fiction. If I’m wrong and there’s lots of fabulous writing out there on the effects this has on librarians and readers, tell me, please.

I can’t see how an award like the Hugo could be completely nonpolitical. Most people would like an award, and it’s reasonable for people to promote their own work or books they really like (George R.R. Martin promoted Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel, for instance) However, nominating people to make a point, whatever that point is, does a disservice to librarians and readers, because most librarians choose books for their collections choose popular works already, but they also spend their limited dollars on books that have won prominent literary awards, believing that the awards are legitimate representations of the best of the best in their particular genre. See, here’s the collection development website EarlyWord. Scroll down and look along the right side column. There, under Best Books and Best Sellers is a list of awards. Oh, my goodness, there are so many. Do you think a busy collection development librarian is going to follow the politics of every single award? I think it’s reasonable to say that librarians and readers who DON’T attend WorldCon and DON’T follow the shenanigans of every writerly organization should be able to look at these titles and authors, knowing that they have been awarded because they are legitimately the best representations of the genre, given the criteria for receiving the award. That’s what people think they’re getting, and if they’re going to spend their money and time on a book, then they deserve respect, even if they didn’t shell out $40 to vote.

It makes me happy to learn about an author who has risen to the top because of the excellence of his or her work. But it frustrates me to no end to find that the choices were the result of an ideological battle. A controversy like this destroys a tool that all SF/F writers have available to them to promote their genre and their work.

Posted on April 10, 2015 by , Reply
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