Cisgender authors writing over transgender lives

[Shana A]

Cisgender authors writing over transgender lives

http://serbianballerinasdancewithmachineguns.com/post/2769944816/cisgender-authors-writing-over-transgender-lives

Leslie Feinberg—transgender activist, writer, and anti-capitalist—recently wrote a statement addressing the young adult novel Jumpstart the World (Knopf). The book is about a transgender character and was written by Catherine Ryan Hyde, an estranged blood sibling of Leslie.

Leslie's statement can be read here. Catherine's response can be read here.

This specific situation brings many issues to mind regarding the politics of representation, particularly when cisgender people choose to represent transgender people in their writing. Even when the depiction of a trans person is supposed to be "sympathetic"—it frequently tends to pander to derogatory stereotypes about trans folk.

[LordKAT]

I think it is called writing without researching the subject. happens too often actually even for historical fiction.