Like many other writers, I was shocked and saddened by the brutality of the recent attack on famous author Salman Rushdie. As someone who turned to full-time writing a decade ago after nearly 15 years of working on social change, I admired Rushdie’s craft as much as his conscience. I am an unwavering defender of the rights of writers from his perspective as a writer who has faced the consequences of linking issues of religious oppression with the ever-present threat of the fatwas issued against him by the Ayatollah of Iran. I was impressed with the way you did it.his novel devil’s verse.
It’s tempting to see this horrific attack as an isolated incident caused by the specter that has followed Rushdie for decades. But we only need to look at the growing atmosphere of hostility and division in this country and other parts of the world to know that writers whose work includes social issues are at risk of harassment and harm. .
When I worked in the field of racial justice, I was inspired when writers and activists in our movement wrote powerful, thought-provoking works that demonstrated the urgent need for racial justice. Ta. But I also watched in horror as the same people I respected became targets of racists and xenophobes and faced harassment from online trolls and bullies. I did.
Once I became a full-time writer, I felt compelled to write about issues of inequality and misogyny. And given my experience, I should have been prepared for that reaction. It wasn’t. I was preparing for an argument. But when I was faced with hostility and hatred, I was stunned.
I took many writing classes and workshops with respected authors, but the focus was usually on either writing techniques or strategies for getting published. Manifestos such as “write the truth” and “speak truth to power” were thrown around as inspiration, but little attention was paid to preparing writers for the risks that could arise if their work were to be published. There wasn’t.
You cannot write responsibly about social issues unless your work is ethically grounded.
I was particularly concerned that marginalized writers would be further victimized when they wrote honestly and courageously about the difficult issues they face because of their identity. They view their writing as a violation rather than a search for truth, and risk alienation from family and friends. You risk losing a job or professional opportunity that reveals past and present personal conflicts. They also face hostility and harassment from those who disagree with their views or live their lives in vehement denial. And, as we learned painfully through the attack on Rushdie, there is a danger of fanaticism seeking to silence voices by any means necessary.
This was my motivation for discussing both the negative and positive implications of writing about social issues in my “Writing about Social Issues” class and my book. Technology and conscience: How to write about social issues. I believe that my responsibility as a writing instructor is to help writers think about how their work may provoke negative reactions, sometimes toward themselves and their subjects, in the world. I am. I don’t want to discourage students, but I want them to think about ways to reduce or prepare themselves (and their subjects) for this possibility. I want them to be more prepared than I am. The situation in which writers can learn the art of writing but cannot learn how to evaluate and confront the negative effects that may occur on their work needs to be improved.
Ethics are not incidental to creative writing; in fact, they are crucial to writing. He goes so far as to say that when writing about social issues, one cannot responsibly write about social issues unless the work is based on ethics. The sheer number of problematic essays that have been and continue to be published, sometimes to the regret of the writer and to the distress of many readers, are often accompanied by discussions of ethics and moral clarity within the work and during the editorial process. It may be possible to avoid this by bringing it to the forefront.
Motivation, perspective, opinion, and ethics are important drivers for writing about social issues, so we can recognize that our writing is motivated by the potential for impact. But what does “influential” mean? Often when we talk about what we want to impact in our work, we want to raise awareness and change the conversation, and if we’re really lucky, change hearts, minds, and culture and change policy. I’m talking about wanting to contribute to the. So when we talk about impact, we usually assume positive impact.
However, we need to be aware that our work can also have negative effects, such as provoking angry reactions towards the subject or ourselves as writers. Whether the overall impact is positive or negative, writing about social issues has an impact, and it can be felt far and wide, like ripples from the powerful waves we create. We need to consider and prepare for how these impacts will affect our own lives and the lives of others.
Be sure to consider the positive and negative implications for yourself as a writer, whether directly or indirectly related to the subject you are writing about.
It is especially important to consider the meaning of your work when writing about subjects outside of your own experience or communities outside of your identity. Here are some considerations.
If this article were published, how might the audience be affected, positively, negatively, or both? Even if an issue receives positive attention, if it imposes unwarranted surveillance on individuals’ lives and invades their privacy, it can have a negative impact on the individuals and communities affected by the issue. There is a gender.
Are you transparent with your subjects about the intentions of your research on this issue and their portrayal within it? what is their reaction? When possible, writers should be transparent with their subjects about the intentions of their work. This ensures that the depiction of the subject’s situation is fair and accurate, ultimately strengthening not only the work but also the relationship between writer and subject.
What can you do to prepare your subjects because your work may attract both positive and negative attention? It is important to inform the individuals and communities featured in your work of the possible positive and negative consequences of publishing your work, and to discuss how to deal with these potential situations.
Are the featured individuals addressing existing biases that make them even more vulnerable? How will this work affect their safety and well-being? It is important to consider how the safety and well-being of your vulnerable audience will be affected by your writing. Does your work make them more or less vulnerable? For example, if you write about people in the country illegally or people recovering from substance abuse, how does your work impact them? Or are they ready for this?
Does the published work responsibly and honestly reflect the identity and life of the subject? If not, are you willing and able to make changes or corrections if the writing or editing process mischaracterizes the subject matter? We hope you have a good understanding of the publisher’s approach to social issues. Be sure to ask your editor to get a clear understanding of what interventions you, as a writer, can make during and after the editing process to alleviate tone and accuracy issues.
Be sure to consider the positive and negative implications for yourself as a writer, whether directly or indirectly related to the subject you are writing about. First, evaluate how close you are to the subject. Here are some questions to help you assess that.
What is your relationship to the subject/story/issue?
Are you part of the community or outside of the community your work targets?
Are you directly or indirectly affected by this issue?
How much have you learned about this issue indirectly? How many levels of filters has the story passed through before reaching you?
How will you be affected by your coverage of this issue? Who will view your coverage of this issue favorably or negatively?
If you will be directly or indirectly affected by the publication of your story, you should consider the impact on yourself. Are you prepared for the possibility of positive or negative repercussions for yourself? If you tell the story of a social issue through your own lived experience or eyewitness testimony, that part of your life will be in the public eye. It is important that you feel comfortable being exposed to. You should be prepared for a variety of reactions from strangers as well as people you know, from those who are understanding and supportive to those who are judgmental and judgmental.
Above all, you need to take comfort in the idea that once your story is in the public domain, it is no longer just yours. Therefore, we encourage writers to carefully consider whether they are comfortable with the loss of privacy that comes with telling their life story.
If you are concerned about the personal repercussions for you if your family, friends, or colleagues found out this aspect of your life, ask if it is possible to publish the article anonymously or under a pseudonym. Please consider. Or consider fictionalizing it.
Keep in mind that different writers have different standards for what they’re comfortable revealing about themselves and their lives through their writing. So don’t feel pressured to share details that other writers have shared in their own work, unless you really feel comfortable revealing the details. public. That’s why between writing, submitting, and publishing difficult personal writing, I give myself the time and space to pause and reflect on what it means to get it out into the world. We believe that giving is valuable. Social issues are important, but so is your sense of comfort.
Encourage writers to consider both the positive and negative impacts of publishing writing on social issues, and to move forward with eyes open to how it affects others and themselves That is important. We write to be seen and heard, so we need to seriously evaluate with clear eyes how our work impacts the world so we can make progress as well. I hope you will join forces with the flow created by others who seek this. I am grateful for the opportunity to witness, connect, and guide others along their own journeys as we collectively create momentum for great change.
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Adapted from Technology and conscience: How to write about social issues Written by Kavita Das, available from Beacon Press.