...and then we read this. It is everything we were thinking and then some.
http://roxanegay.tumblr.com/post/41215637792/notes-toward-representing-difference
Highlights include:
1. It’s insulting to presume you cannot or should not represent difference in your creative work. This suggests that people who are different from you, people who are the Other, are SO different—so exotic, so mysterious, so unknowable, so beyond the norm—you cannot possibly conceive of their existence. Consider the implications of that belief. Consider the limits of your imagination if you cannot conceive of someone different than you.
and
6. So how do we represent difference? The simple answer is, “I don’t know,” and the complicated answer is, “I don’t know.” When writing characters who are different from me (and this would be every character I’m writing as it’s called fiction for a reason), I start with the experiences and emotions people have in common. I tend to believe we are more alike than we are different. We get so stuck on this question of difference as if we’re from different planets. Don’t believe the hype. We all love and lust and want and know joy and darkness. We are all imperfect.
Ditto, Roxane.
Ditto.