RaceFail 09

RaceFail 09 is a term used to refer to an extended discussion of race and racism in science fiction books, culture, fandom, and criticism that began in January 2009. It has been called by many other names, including the Great Cultural Appropriation Debate of Doom 3 (or 2), and RaceFail 9000.

(Ed. note: A more positive name could highlight the community strength and backup shown... but so far it's mostly been described as "fail".)

Timeline

(There is a good outline of one on avalon's willow's blog -- also see discussion tab for notes on formatting and linking0)

January 8, 2009: Another shot at thinking about the Other by Jay Lake on LJ

This post came a few days before the main source of discussion in Elizabeth Bear's journal, and through it is not stated, may have contributed to her musings. Inspired by a discussion on The Edge of the American West about "speaking from cultural authority and presumed expertise." Lake expressed disdain for the idea that white writers don't have "standing" to use Aboriginal or First Nations material in their fiction. The comment thread, 78 responses long, was filled with fail. A lot of 101-level thinking.

January 12, 2009: whatever you're doing, you're probably wrong. by Elizabeth Bear on LJ.

Bear explains her thoughts on writing "The Other", and advises other writer on how to write diverse characters without tokenizing them. In the comments, many writers agree and thank her for bringing up the subject. Questioning and of Bear's positioning of her white privilege and her understanding of intersectionality begins in this comments thread by deepad, rydra_wong, shewhohashope, Avalon's Willow, and others.

January 13, 2009: I Didn't Dream of Dragons by deepad on LJ

Not a direct response to Bear's post, but triggered by it. "...this is more my commentary on the Western, White novels and blogs I have been reading recently, and my experience as an Indian reader."

January 13, 2009: Open Letter: To Elizabeth Bear by Avalon's Willow on Seeking Avalon

A response to a thread in whatever you're doing, you're probably wrong.

I'm not calling you a monster. I'm not calling you a racist. But I am calling you clueless and ill worded and more than a touch thoughtless. Your ability to think about things, sometimes, does not erase my pain or lack.

January 14, 2009: real magic can never be made by offering up someone else's liver. by Elizabeth Bear on LJ

A response to Open Letter: To Elizabeth Bear in which Bear acknowledges that Avalon's Willow's criticism is valid. Comments start out badly ("Over sensitivity to perceived racism tends to result in the nit picking of words and sentence structure.") and go downhill quickly.

January 14, 2009: The Magical Other, in which medievalist posts an explanation of phouka mythology in relation to Blood & Iron on her LJ. Post & discussion later flocked or made private, then unlocked again.

In a comment left on Jan 16 below that entry, medievalist attacks Avalon's Willow, saying among other things that "She's engaging in orcing, performance art and pretty much blog-whoring."

January 14, 2009: Untitled Post about Avalon's Willow's open letter to Bear by Sarah Monette on LJ

Acknowledges that intent and result do not always match up. Comments devolve into failfest, marked particularly by Macallister Stone, medievalist and Emma Bull invalidating criticism because it isn't academic enough and also because some readers aren't as smart as the writers they criticize.

mac_stone's post about child abuse, which gave a checklist of warning signs that a person is abusive, and compared the critiques of mac_stone in LJ comments to emotional abuse patterns, including attributing intentions of meaning to a person that they deny, ie false consciousness. (pnh may have commented on this post about people not being smart). (screencaps anyone?)

(some other stuff here)

January 19, 2009: copracat, assuming pnh's comment on mac_stone's post was made with knowledge of the context of discussion being held, posted about it in her LJ. The comments to this post appear to be pnh's only remaining public comments in RaceFail 09.

(including pnh and others commenting on copracat's LJ in discussion of mac_stone's statements) (Patrick Nielsen Hayden deletes his pnh LJ)

January 26, 2009: I'm taking this about as well as you'd expect. by Teresa Nielsen Hayden on LJ

Teresa's response to Patrick's emotional state after been called on his comments. Original post and comments full of fail and including several problematic uses of language.

January 26, 2009: My only statement on the cultural appropriation imbroglio by David Levine on LJ

In response to Levine finding out why Patrick Nielsen Hayden deleted his LJ. With comments disabled, Levine proceeds to chide the "anti-racist" side for scaring him and other white writers off of writing characters of color and ends with "Is this what you wanted?"

January 27, 2009: The last comment that went up before I flocked the previous post. by Teresa Nielsen Hayden on LJ

A post meant to explain why the previous post disappeared for so many readers. Some conversations and fights continued in the comments here and include failure by Teresa to shut down problem comments and language because the people using said language were on her side.

(Include some of the apologies made by Bear, Monette, Shetterly, and others)

Links and external references

• Rydra Wong's list of over two hundred posts constituting RaceFail '09

Dramatis personae

• Avalon's Willow / Seeking Avalon
• Elizabeth Bear (matociquala on LJ), a science fiction writer
• K. Tempest Bradford (ktempest on LJ), a science fiction & fantasy writer
• Emma Bull aka coffeem, a science fiction & fantasy writer
• chopchica
• ciderpress
• coffeeandink
• copracat "
• deepad aka "Deepa D."
• Mary Dell (marydell)
• delux_vivens
• Luke Jackson (participated pseudonymously as darkerblogistan and igorsanchez; unmasked by kynn)
• Roz Kaveney, (RozK on LJ), transwoman journalist and publisher's adviser.
• kynn aka Kynn Bartlett
• Jay Lake (jaylake), a science fiction writer
• David Levine (davidlevine), a science fiction writer
• mac_stone (identified as MacAllister Stone above)
• medievalist ( Lisa L. Spangenberg)
• Sarah Monette aka truepenny, a science fiction writer
• kate_nepveu (Kate Nepveu)
• Teresa Nielsen Hayden (tnh), a science fiction editor & BoingBoing's comment section moderator
• Patrick Nielsen Hayden (formerly pnh on LJ; deleted account), a science fiction editor
• nojojojo aka Nora Jemison who writes as N. K. Jemisin
• oyceter
• rydra_wong ,: compiled lists of links to posts on the subject, sometimes more than daily.
• Will Shetterly (willshetterly), a science fiction writer
• sparkymonster
• spiralsheep
• tacky_tramp
• vito_excalibur
• yeloson
• yonmei
• zvi_likes_tv aka zvi, a writer of fan fiction

Terminology

• orcing or orking
• white women's tears
• privilege
• flock (read as F-lock), locking a post to be friends-only (on LiveJournal)
• friending and defriending - terms in social media
• fail
• troll or trolling
• blog-whoring
• pseudonyms
• LiveJournal or LJ, an online blogging platform and social networking website
• pantslessness or "not wearing pants" or "showing one's ass"

See Also

• Cultural Appropriation (WisCon 30 Panel)‎
• Cultural Appropriation Revisited (WisCon 31 panel)‎
• cultural appropriation
• Harry Potter miscegenation prompt - racist fic prompt from a fanfic community