#straight women writing those Mando reader fic

[absurdthirst]

To the Mando anon about white ships: I do get it and you’re valid. The only thing I’d disagree with you is that I thought Boba/Din was more popular than Luke/Din? And Boba isn’t white. But I haven’t checked the tags for either or so I don’t know which is more popular, but I didn’t want to discount Boba in that discussion as a POC ❤️

As a white passing mixed person myself, I get it completely about reader inserts. I think for a lot of writers they write what they know and don’t realize how it discludes other people and I never try to assume it’s to keep POC out of fics. It’s why whenever I read a fic and I can tell the writer is trying to be as inclusive as possible I’ll kindly mention how they can be more inclusive because they probably didn’t realize that writing a character quickly putting her hair into a bun or braiding it easily is more geared towards women with straight or fine hair. Because if someone doesn’t have super curly or kinky hair, they don’t know that doing something like that isn’t realistic for people with that hair type.

I notice it more with hair and sometimes depictions of skin like pale vs ashen, it’s why I encourage fanfic writers to mention in the beginning of their fic if the reader has a set look to them so that a black or Asian reader reading it isn’t taken out of the story because the character suddenly “pulls up her long red hair into a bun” and go “oh, that story isn’t for me.” It’s hard getting invested in a story only to find out it wasn’t for you to begin with.

I wouldn’t take it personally and if a writer is open to critiques it’s okay to mention how they can be more inclusive in the future. Never hurts. I’d like to see more fic recommendations for readers who are POC or the reader’s character is a blank slate to create a safe space for those who aren’t white but deserve a spot at the fanfic reader insert table like everyone else.

But it’s not fair to take it out on writer’s who are clearly not racist and just want to enjoy the fandom as much as we want to be included more. We don’t get allies by making things personal with fellow fandom writers and artists who are clearly not racists and not our enemies.

This is all geared to that anon and not you or your blog, just to make things clear ❤️

Absolutely. 💜

And if I ever have something in my works that is non-inclusive, please let me know so I can work on it! None of us are infallible and hopefully most writers are open to respectful critiques.