Exploitation Versus Representation
Exploitative content can even creep into the work of progressive writers. Here's a primer on how to identify potential exploitation in your writing and what to do about it.
Annie Mydla, Managing Editor
Trigger warning: Racism, sexism, ableism, stereotypes, suicide, abuse
When we think of book critiques, we often think about narrative features like structure, character, plot, and theme. But as a contest judge and critique writer, I am also concerned with identifying exploitative depictions of disadvantaged and marginalized groups.
"Exploitation" can sound like a scary, moralistic word. It can spark arguments about who is "allowed" to imagine their way into characters different from themselves. In the Winning Writers North Street Book Prize, we're looking at how these depictions function within the story itself. And as a developmental critiquer, I also consider how exploitative scenarios might appear to agents, publishers, and a book's intended audience.
Exploitation means that a character from a marginalized group is given a narrative function that does not benefit people from that group, but instead benefits members of a more privileged group.
A quarter of the manuscripts I receive from authors—yes, even progressive authors—contain exploitative premises and themes. Such manuscripts are significantly weaker in three areas:
Ethical—The manuscript is reinforcing assumptions that have no basis in reality and harm the kinds of people it is claiming to represent.
Literary—The vitality and immersivity of the work is harmed through the use of tired tropes and dated concepts. The true potential of the work is missed.
Commercial—Agents and publishers are looking for work that engages with the world we live in today. The use of stereotypes makes a book feel inherently dated, less relevant, and alienating to readers of modern commercial fiction.
Some examples from past manuscripts include:
Native American culture being used as a backdrop for a white character to find themselves or have an adventure.
Man Friday English being used to show that a character is speaking English as a foreign language without any consideration for the realities of the cultural and linguistic conditions.
A character's disability being used primarily to create humor, pity, or disgust in the reader rather than functioning in a deeper role touching characterization, plot, or theme.
Who are these exploitative authors?
Exploitation in one in four manuscripts sounds like a lot. Who are the authors using these exploitative elements?
Believe it or not, nearly all of the authors whose work includes this kind of issue self-identify as progressive. Occasionally, the author I'm working with has included an exploitative element in their work with a genuinely exploitative goal, but it's extremely rare. Only twice in the nearly 400 manuscripts I've evaluated did that turn out to be the case. The other examples were all by authors who were already progressive.
So how can this happen? How do sincerely progressive writers end up including exploitative material in their writing?
Representation, then and now
We live in a time when ideas have been able to change very quickly due to increased connectivity. One of the better ways in which society is changing is that marginalized voices have more reach. Thankfully, it's more possible than ever before to find, and to produce, "own voices" narratives that describe marginalized lives from the inside.
As a result, the way publishing sees "representation" has also changed for the better within the past 10-20 years. "Inclusion" is no longer a sufficient condition to be considered "representation". When marginalized characters appear in a story, other important questions are being asked by agents, publishers, and readers:
- Who benefits from the way this character or situation is being portrayed?
- What is the real structural function of this character or situation?
- Does the portrayal of this character or situation have deeper connections to underlying themes or world-building elements? If not, why is it there?
If the answers to these questions show that the marginalized character is there only to benefit those who are already privileged, it might be time to reexamine whether the characterization is exploitative.
Examples of exploitative content from real-life manuscripts
Below are 16 examples of exploitative scenarios I've encountered in books and manuscripts. Again—in nearly every case, the author didn't realize that they were using a trope, or that the trope was exploitative.
A marginalized character is placed in the narrative only to help the more privileged character realize their goal.
An older black woman who is a nurse is only seen in the story when she is providing folksy wisdom and encouragement to a younger, white nurse. The older nurse has no problems or needs of her own.
A white boy and girl find a magical Native American arrowhead, and its powers bring a feeling of mystery, seriousness, and significance to their romance arc. There are no living Native American characters or discussion of why Native Americans no longer live on that land.
A wealthy white woman travels to a Pacific island where she sleeps with a native of the island. His "primitive" wisdom and love give her a new perspective on life and she goes home again renewed and empowered. The Black male character has no interiority and the book provides no context about the power dynamics in the relationship.
A female supporting character is included in the story exclusively to help the male protagonist become the man he was meant to be. The female character is physically beautiful and has no interiority or life of her own. She may be a Manic Pixie Dream Girl.
A stereotype is used as shorthand in the book without any deeper relation to the content or structure.
The villains in the book are portrayed with Cold-War-era Slavic stereotypes, not because it has anything to do with the universe or plot (it's a fantasy novel), but because it's the book's shorthand for greed, criminality, and brutality.
A character is depicted as fat, not because it has any bearing on the way they experience the world of the story or on the story's themes, but as shorthand for greed, corruption, slovenliness, or bossiness.
An Algerian character speaks with Man Friday English, not because that's a realistic depiction of an Algerian speaking English as a Foreign Language, but because it's the book's shorthand for "foreigner".
A character has schizophrenia, not because schizophrenia relates to the deeper themes of the book, but because the character's function in the book is to be "weird", "funny", "unpredictable", or "mentally sick".
A non-Western setting is used as shorthand for "exotic", "inspiring", or "dangerous" and includes no other context to provide depth.
A memoir about Saigon in the 1980s portrays Vietnam as the "Wild East"—a lawless and wild place where the white main character can truly find himself. No context is given about the colonialism or other conditions that led to the Saigon that existed at the time of the story.
A white middle-class character is shown as wanting to go to Benin because it is dangerous and he wants to test himself. (But an internet search by the critiquer reveals that the crime statistics in Benin are similar to Ontario, Canada.)
The suffering of a disadvantaged or marginalized group is used for the sake of entertainment (also known as trauma porn).
The abuse and subsequent suicide attempt of a teenage girl is described in great physical detail, despite the book being mostly about the main character, a teenage boy. No interiority or POV writing is provided for the teenage girl character.
A book opens with the slaughter of a tribe of indigenous people. No member of the tribe is a character beyond that first scene. The structural function is to grab the attention of the middle-class, white American readership and to give the white main characters an inciting incident.
A gay man is tortured and killed, and these passages go into detail about the violence and suffering. The context within the book reinforces the idea that gay people are outsiders and that their lot is tragic whether they are killed or not. There is no further discussion of gayness and no other gay characters.
A female character is raped, not because rape is related to the story's essential themes, but to create a sense of peril and titillation.
The antagonist in a book is depicted as having become a crazed villain due to past trauma. The presentation implies that their extreme reaction to trauma was the result of not having enough fortitude (moral, psychological) to stand up to it.
Trauma being used as a device in "origin stories" for villains and heroes.
The protagonist in a book is depicted as having undergone trauma, but completely bounced back from it (e.g., a female hero is raped but has no PTSD). The presentation implies that their resiliance is due to higher-than-normal fortitude (moral, psychological) to bounce back.
In both the villain and the hero examples, the real experience of traumatized peoples is distorted. Trauma often leaves lasting effects with no relation whatsoever to the sufferer's "fortitude", and without turning those who undergo trauma into either heroes or villains.
What should I do if my book contains exploitation without me meaning it to?
If you're reading this with a sinking feeling that your manuscript might include exploitative elements, take heart. There's plenty of time to reconsider, rework, and move on from exploitative narrative strategies. Following the ideas below will make your work more marketable and give the stories you tell new depth.
Try to find another angle.
I remember reading a well-written manuscript about a transwoman transitioning not only into a woman but into a vampire at the same time. It seemed like a good idea in itself, but unfortunately, the execution of the story at that time tended to equate transness with monstrousness (disgust, horror, ugliness), which wasn't the intention of the author.
My critique outlined the dynamic and suggested different ways to come at the scenario. For example, what if the plot focused on comparing and contrasting the two transition processes, with a more sympathetic interiority for the main character? That way, people in that marginalized group (transwomen) might benefit by increased discussion about, and artistic expression of, the nature of trans experience.
Reconsider if you need to be writing about that particular subject or character.
I once worked with a white poet who had included a Magical POC stereotype in one of his poems. I asked him what the structural and thematic function was, and after consideration, he found that there was no constructive function. He ended up removing the character and diving more deeply into the themes that really were at the heart of his poem.
Reconsider your premise.
Rarely, I'll come across a draft where the exploitation is woven into the very premise. One manuscript I read was about a young white Canadian man who on a whim decided to travel to Benin to find a Black man whose name he had discovered by accident. The goal of the young Canadian was to test himself on this "dangerous" journey, a "hunt" for the Beninese character.
My critique pointed out the power imbalance of a white, relatively wealthy Canadian man seeking out and potentially disrupting the life of a stranger halfway across the planet, and how strange and uncomfortable the situation might feel from the Beninese character's point of view. The author's use of the word "hunt" also seemed threatening, especially in the white-Black context given the histories of colonialism and slavery. The author had not considered these factors and decided to drastically revise their premise.
Do your research.
I've found that in many cases where exploitative characterizations are being used, it's because the author relied on their existing memories of older books, films, and social contexts as their main source of information. If you suspect your book may be venturing into the exploitative, the best course of action might be to do some research into the characters and subjects you are writing about in order to bring more realism into the depiction.
As Winning Writers editor Jendi Reiter pointed out to me recently, "Writers do research on all kinds of things. Cars, the moon, animals, philosophies, anything. Why not research the people you're writing about?"
Get a sensitivity read.
Generally, if you are going to include minority characters whose identities are not the same as yours, it's a good idea to hire one or more sensitivity readers who share those identities with the characters. Firefly Creative Writing, Writing Diversely, and the Editors of Color database are excellent places to find sensitivity readers of diverse genders, ethnicities, disabilities, and cultural, class, and religious backgrounds.
Address your own privilege.
I often mention the word "privilege" to authors and it occasionally raises hackles. But when a writer gets real about the role of privilege in their writing process and how they handle their content, their work tends to become more timely, realistic, relatable, and immersive: all qualities that are highly attractive to agents and readers alike.
Below are some articles about privilege and writing. Some of them discuss the idea of privilege as an "invisible knapsack" that contains tools that help us complete what we'd think of as very basic tasks during the day. The less privilege a person has, the fewer tools they have, until these "basic" tasks (for example, interacting with the electric company, shopping for groceries) become much more difficult or simply not possible.
Negotiating Social Privilege as a Writer
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
Equity360: Gender, Race, and Ethnicity—What's in Your Knapsack?
Become familiar with dead horse tropes and avoid them in the future.
One of the best ways to avoid exploitative and plumb-tired-out tropes is to learn what they are. TVTropes.org is a fantastic directory for tropes in all genres of art, not just television. Wikipedia is also a good place to find information about tropes.
Some of the tropes I encounter in manuscripts most often are:
Disability tropes
Mental Handicap, Moral Deficiency
Tragically Disabled or Magically Disabled
Hollywood Autism
Obsessively Organized and Neat Freak (OCD stereotypes)
Funny SchizophreniaBlack/POC tropes
Black Dude Dies First
Magical Black Person
"Mammy" Figure
Closer to EarthIndigenous tropes
The Noble Savage
The Nubile Savage and The Chief's Daughter
"Good" Indigenous vs. "Bad" Indigenous
Man Friday English and Tonto TalkMore racial tropes
Acceptable Ethnic Targets
Tokenism
Africa Is a Country
Dirty Communists (evil Slavs)
Husky Russkie (Slavic thugs)
The Evil Brit
Magical Romani
Inscrutable OrientalWhite savior tropes
Mighty Whitey
Raised by NativesSexuality and gender tropes
Bury Your Gays
Trans Tribulations
Dead Lesbian SyndromeTropes about women
Defiled Forever
Disposable Woman
Not Like the Other Girls
"She Just Needs to Smile!"
My Girl is Not a Slut
Makeup is Evil
Manic Pixie Dream GirlTropes about men
Writing as a process of breaking down barriers
The activity of writing is defined by constant exploration and breaking through personal barriers—especially emotional barriers. One could argue that a writer is a person who provides value to readers by doing grueling emotional, psychological, and intellectual legwork.
This process can be terribly uncomfortable for the writer. But the more processing the writer can do, and the more they can work through that discomfort, the better the writing will be—and the more the readers will keep coming back.
Facing up to assumptions, stereotypes, and exploitative scenarios in writing is an essential part of that fundamental process of exploration and breaking through barriers. Any writer who ignores that part of composition is avoiding an opportunity for significant growth in their craft.
Meanwhile, the authors who do address problematic assumptions through their writing stand out head and shoulders above their competition in the eyes of agents, publishers, contest judges, and readers.
As a critiquer, contest judge, reader, and human being, I stand up and cheer for all writers who pledge themselves to breaking down barriers like those described in this post.
Categories: Advice for Writers, Essays on Writing
