Assuming makes an ass out of you and me.
Last week, I got an email from someone who'd found my name through an SCBWI web page, and wanted to invite me to join a writing group, and stated that one of their requirements was: "We specifically want members who are interested in promoting a Christian world view via children's literature. The writing does NOT need to be explicitly religious or spiritual, but we want members who can commit to this purpose."
I have to admit that I was more than a little taken aback by this. Set aside, for a moment, the question of whether or not children's literature should espouse a particular religious world view, and consider the blind audacity of emailing someone of whom you know nothing about and inviting them to join your religious group.
She found my name on a list of children's writers; she knew absolutely nothing more about me. And yet, her first assumption was that I was Christian. It doesn't matter whether I am or I am not; what matters is that, as a member of the majority, she automatically assumed I was too. I can hardly imagine a Jewish person making the same assumption, let alone a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist.
I will tell you that I was sorely tempted to mess with her and write back that I couldn't join her group because I was Muslim or Hindu or something else, but I decided against it and just responded that I didn't think I would fit in with their group. (In so doing, I too was making assumptions, that they weren't "my" kind of Christians, that they'd be offended by the use of magic in my stories, or that they'd try to dissuade me from writing about sex or using swear words should the need arise.)
It got me thinking a lot about the assumptions we all make in daily life. As a white, middle class female, I know I make a lot of assumptions based on my own status and privilege, and it worries me. I would rather take an active role in educating myself and draw my own conclusions about my bias than have it pointed out to me by an unhappy reviewer many years down the line.
Ignorance is a frightening prospect, especially for those of us who like to consider ourselves well educated. But the first step is recognizing it, and the second is choosing to educate ourselves and move away from ignorance toward understanding.
I have to admit that I was more than a little taken aback by this. Set aside, for a moment, the question of whether or not children's literature should espouse a particular religious world view, and consider the blind audacity of emailing someone of whom you know nothing about and inviting them to join your religious group.
She found my name on a list of children's writers; she knew absolutely nothing more about me. And yet, her first assumption was that I was Christian. It doesn't matter whether I am or I am not; what matters is that, as a member of the majority, she automatically assumed I was too. I can hardly imagine a Jewish person making the same assumption, let alone a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist.
I will tell you that I was sorely tempted to mess with her and write back that I couldn't join her group because I was Muslim or Hindu or something else, but I decided against it and just responded that I didn't think I would fit in with their group. (In so doing, I too was making assumptions, that they weren't "my" kind of Christians, that they'd be offended by the use of magic in my stories, or that they'd try to dissuade me from writing about sex or using swear words should the need arise.)
It got me thinking a lot about the assumptions we all make in daily life. As a white, middle class female, I know I make a lot of assumptions based on my own status and privilege, and it worries me. I would rather take an active role in educating myself and draw my own conclusions about my bias than have it pointed out to me by an unhappy reviewer many years down the line.
Ignorance is a frightening prospect, especially for those of us who like to consider ourselves well educated. But the first step is recognizing it, and the second is choosing to educate ourselves and move away from ignorance toward understanding.
Labels: personlly speaking, thinky thoughts, writing life
posted by Lacy at
11:45 AM
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