“Cultural Sensitivity in Fics” - A Reddit Post Response

I read an interesting little vent post on the r/Ao3 subreddit the other day, and it got the old gears up and grinding a bit early in the morning. Unlike a lot of posts on Reddit these days, I considered this vent post to be absolutely warranted, even as I raised a brow at the title: “Cultural sensitivity in fics” [sic]. I’m the first person to raise my brows at the demands that folks want to place on free fiction within the gift economy, but this one’s got me sitting down and sipping the ol’ tea because, well, they’ve got a point.

Reddit user HI-JK-lmfao explains that they’re from the beautiful African country of Mozambique. Located below the equator on the eastern coast of Africa just across the channel from Madagascar, Mozambique is host to stunning National Parks and archipelagos along with gorgeous cities such as Inhambane known for its prime diving, and the capital city of Maputo renowned for warm palm beaches and a vibrant nightlife. HI-JK-lmfao writes: “Lived there nearly my entire life. Now living in Europe tho. But it’s my home, my country, my entire life.” They go on to talk about how throughout their life, they’ve seen not just Mozambique but most of the complex and diverse African nations (in my experience mostly of sub-Saharan Africa) “reduced to ‘Africa’ and ‘Africans’ on TV and news.” This is a common experience simply due to the biases that are prevalent within a lot of “Western” media: Mexico is constantly a sepia tone, Africans all live in tribes with spears, and Australians are some combination of Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee. Some of the assumptions that Western media makes are more egregious than others and I think African countries get far more than their fair share of abuse with so many people getting all the way to college before they realize that most African nations have flourished in spite of European imperialism and resource stripping throughout the 1800s, 1900s, and even some happening right under our noses today.

While HI-JK-lmfao acknowledges that it’s probably too much to ask that Mozambique specifically is written about at all due to it’s unlikeliness to become a common setting in anime or other popular media, they wanted to draw attention to the possibilities when writing a fanwork that might be set there. Specifically, they had run across a fic recently and they were “flabbergasted then ecstatic to see [their] country be represented in the last form of media [they] ever thought it would pop up in.” I’m sure we would all have this response—if someone, for example, based a fanwork in Buffalo, New York, I would be over the moon about it, trying to pick up every little easter egg I possibly could hoping that there were little winks and nods to those of us who live here. It’s a special thing, after all, to have your home represented in a piece of art and shared among those who might get even just a kernel of joy from a story there. But…things didn’t go to plan for our friend, as they began reading only to discover that their country was grievously misrepresented again by those who’ve got no business writing about it.

“I felt like a little girl again, staring at the TV in confusion as I watched actors laugh and portray my homeland as some desert wasteland where nothing good ever happens.”

When commenters were disappointed with the handling of Mozambique’s rich cultural image and resilient people, the author “explained […] that it was the character’s tone—they’re a privileged white man.” When that explanation failed to provide expected results, they cited their own personal experiences as “a non-heterosexual in a red state.” Now, because I did not encounter this back-and-forth in the wild and I didn’t see how this played out, we can only guess what the hell that had to do with anything or why it was brought up to begin with. I can still comfortably say that it’s…a dubious response. After all, those things are not alike…at all…ever. HI-JK-lmfao described their emotions at this portrayal and interaction as “deflated,” and “like a kicked puppy,” while expressing a nervousness that people on reddit might make them feel dismissed rather than validated.

Well, I’m here to validate this sentiment. As a privileged white woman who grew up low-to-high middle class in America, I’m gonna start swinging for you, HI-JK-lmfao. Authors are gonna mess up sometimes. They’re gonna start somewhere and it’s gonna be awful and full of bias, and written horribly with the worst takes known to man. But what’s important here is your feedback and your criticisms which are, in my opinion, part of the art itself. No art is complete without acknowledging the sometimes valid and sometimes erroneous responses to it and these criticisms are quite valid indeed—Mozambique (along with every other African nation) and the people who live there or lived there deserve better than stories that reduce them to stereotypes or elements that serve only to prop up a narrative surrounding some ungrateful cracker who can’t appreciate culture beyond salt and pepper. Fortunately, we have our friend here to help with the work toward reading diverse and appreciative cultural fanworks, as HI-JK-lmfao has resolved to write their own fics based in the fun and funky city of Maputo, giving us the opportunity to read about characters “having a fucking blast” in a place with as much joy and richness as any other grand city on our wonderful planet.

The lesson here is obvious: that if you’re going to write a setting and it’s possible that someone from that real life setting will read it, you want to make sure you’re writing it from a place of respect. It’s important that you keep in mind that your settings, especially if they’re in (or based on) a real place, deserve to be treated with dignity, just as your characters deserve to be treated with dignity. Yes, even if they’re villains or if something bad is going to happen there. I know that I’ve probably fucked this up in the past. Nobody’s perfect. If I ever wrote something based in Detroit when I was a kid, I probably made it a hellhole (thanks Beverly Hills Cop). But let’s be honest, we can all learn and what’s really important is that people like our Reddit friend are willing to talk about these things in such a candid and openly vulnerable way so that we can learn and do better moving forward. While HI-JK-lmfao laments that the world is progressing so slowly, I think we’re doing alright now that we can have these conversations and bring this up in spaces where it might have previously gone unsaid. It’s an incredible honor to be given the opportunity to learn and to change from people who have these experiences and are willing to share them with us, and I beg my fellow writers not to squander these opportunities. You might mess up, but you can do better, and the first step is making sure that these moments still happen in your space—where folks can feel comfortable enough to tell you about their own discomforts.

We are going to mess up! That’s okay! But we can do better. I believe in us, and I hope this isn’t the last of these vents posts I see in r/Ao3, because this is a marker of a truly healthy and constructive community. Thank you HI-JK-lmfao for your contributions and criticisms. We’re going to try our best.