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faorism · 7 years

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#long post || been thinking about the “period-typical racism” tag on ao3. and tbh im growing mad incredulous at the necessity of adding “period-typical.” like, adding “period-typical” deeply affects how we process, understand, temporarily place, and (at our most extreme) normalize depictions of racism—and for having such an effect, it’s not something i see addressed enough, if ever.

for example, i see this tag almost exclusively used in historical fic, usually in conjunction with overt, sometimes extreme displays of racism, antiblackness, and colorism. i appreciate the warning of racism because sometimes i need pure escapism. and so for that day, not seeing beloved characters of color disrespected will win out over my appreciation for realism and my desire for stories that speak to poc’s entire lived experiences (good, bad, everything in between, and everything outside this spectrum). these are usually the same days i hazard against the risk of coming across insensitive, poorly conceived, near fetishistic attempts at depicting racism just to build up the whump.

but… there’s a strangeness i feel when i see the “period-typical” tag and the racism depicted are acts, slurs, conflicts, and examples of larger structural inequity that can and still does happen today.

like, i read a lot of fics with this tag in marvel featuring historical au sam wilson or canon-aligned howling commandos. this fandom is where i saw the most of the tag being used simply because of the quantity of fic produced, but since then ive noticed it more and more around fandom, from star wars to overwatch. and let me tell you, there’s been so many times ive had to just sit back and question the scene, myself as a consumer of fanfic and of this depiction of racism/antiblackness/colorism, and (perhaps unfairly) the writer. i ask: is “period-typical” used to acknowledge the important specificity of the historical moment depicted; or is it used to distance our current era and (by extension) ourselves from these racist acts?

like, hashtag slur time but honestly. there’s obviously many structural differences between this fictional character in a historical fic calling this other fictional character a spic, and someone calling one of my fam members a spic now… but in the end of the day, that shit is still burns something awful either way. like!!! “period-typical” is sometimes basically used as shorthand for “this fic operates through a world where segregation exists, and this has implications for the black characters in my story” in a lot of the fics ive read. and maybe that’s important use? but… idk, the whole situation feels off to me with how the specific depictions of racism, antiblackness, and colorism in the fic usually draw heavily upon examples of real life oppression from the present. you can just tag segregation, after all, instead of leaving it to the imprecise whims of the “period-typical racism” tag.

relatedly (and this might be heavily based in my own reading bias based on my fandoms and ships): i feel like writers are far more likely to research, explore, and write serious considerations around race, blackness, and color (the kind that would require a “period-typical racism” tag) in historical aus. yet again, allowing temporality (by which i mean, the relationship to time between writer, reader, characters, canon, and the fic) to dictate how comfortable we are with addressing these key issues. and like, saying racism in the past is “period-typical” feels like there’s a subtle recognition of racism working on a society scale; it outright recognizes the depiction in the fic represented as part of a larger moment and larger systems of oppression. but then where does this leave modern aus? does it imply that the racism depicted is not typical of our times? because i assure you: racism, antiblackness, and colorism are alive and well y'all. also, lmao, what in the world would “period-atypical racism” refer to…

tbh i don’t know the answers for the questions im posing, but i have obviously have suspicions. so. how do we address this, then? well, for a fic im writing rn, im challenging myself to confront the peculiarity of what “period-typical” racism means when applied to a modern setting and (in this fic’s case) the future. as i acknowledge in an a/n, tagging a story set in the future as having “period-typical racism” is glib, but i feel doing this is (as i said) a challenge to myself but also an invitation for folks to question how we understand depictions of racism in fiction through time.

just some food for thought (and revolution) for y'all.

note: i use “we/our” throughout to acknowledge that creators of color internalize-then-perpetuate our own oppressions, as well as the oppressions of those across difference, especially for nonblack folk of color against black folk. however, the impetus falls largely on white folks to step up and constantly question how your participation in fandom challenges or perpetuates racism. and, like, also note: this all assumes ppl are actually fucking writing enough fic for your faves of color that you could even have the chance to get into a deeper conversation about the subtle tides of the tags, and lmao we all know the absolute plenitudes of fanwork about poc out right, amiright??

#faorism ism #hot oil spit fic

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