Lately, lots of posts have been popping up at me about the gender and racial representation in the media and in literature––this probably has something to do with the fact that 90% of the tumblr accounts I follow have to do with literature, the media, or feminism. Anyway, these posts made me realize that I have read very few books by authors that are not white, and this realization made me really embarrassed and upset. So naturally, my bag is currently stocked up with books by women and men from a whole slew of different cultures.
Reading is about connecting with characters and their stories, but it is also about connecting to the author. You get a little peak into the author's view of the world. There is no better way to foster understanding and acceptance between people of different ethnicities, genders, sexualities, etc. than to read stories written by a wide-variety of people.
Unfortunately, I am not the only one who is almost solely exposed white authors; many of us do not consciously think about it, but we all know that there is an extreme lack of representation of women in general (particularly of women of colour) and of men of colour in literature. I started thinking about the mandatory books studied at my high school and this is what I discovered:
64% of the books we read are written by WHITE MALES
29% are written by WHITE FEMALES
1% are written by MEN OF COLOUR
0% are written by WOMEN OF COLOUR
What's even worse is that I go to an all girls school, which means that the number of books by female authors studied is even lower at most other schools.
These statistics are a problem. Yes, I understand that a lot of the "classics" that are deemed "must reads" are written by white guys, but that does not excuse the fact that we do not read a single book by a woman of colour and that we only read one book by a person of colour. There are so many great books written by people who are not dead, white, straight males that it is absolutely ludicrous that these percentages exist in a school that considers itself multicultural and female-empowering.
Reading is about connecting with characters and their stories, but it is also about connecting to the author. You get a little peak into the author's view of the world. There is no better way to foster understanding and acceptance between people of different ethnicities, genders, sexualities, etc. than to read stories written by a wide-variety of people.
So the next time you go to the bookstore (or click on the amazon store on your Kindle), consider trying a book written by someone of a race, gender, religion, sexuality, etc. that differs from your own.
