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Why does pop culture have to acknowledge your existence? Who cares if you “feel understood”? Who cares what other’s think about you? You’re so Other Directed. Grow up and get a life because it’s really not all about you.

Some asshole anon on an article about “Girls”

Ladies and gentlemen, read this quote. You read it? Good. This was a response to women of color commenting on the show Girls lack of… well… WOC. Now I think it’s unfair that Girls is not given its dues. The writing is pretty fresh. But. But. Look at the setting. New York. Not Alaska, not Germany. New York. 

Now look at your calendar. Does it say 2012? It’s not 1960, right? Right. So tell me why there’s no black/Latino/Asian girls in the show. Don’t BS me and say “We couldn’t find any!” Don’t tell me these girls represent me, because they don’t. Sure we’re cisgendered, young adult females, and we may share some experiences, but would it have been so difficult to get some diversity up in that bitch? Don’t tell me it’s from a limited perspective, because then we have bigger issues (someone honestly sees New York City as totally white?).

This… genius in the quote, explains that pop culture doesn’t need to acknowledge our “existence”. Really? I’m assuming the anon is Caucasian, which means they wouldn’t know how being underrepresented or “suckishly” represented in the media feels like (FYI, it feels like SHIT). And yeah, I know there are crappy white characters that solidify white stereotypes, but I’d rather not get into an argument about white privilege.

I understand that a movie or show with an all white cast doesn’t necessarily mean the creator or actors or writers are racist. Sometimes the movie is set where having an all white cast is believable. Then we get to media set in somewhat modern times, where that window of an all white cast gets smaller and smaller. It’s getting to the point where the whitewashing is becoming status quo. Sometimes, I’m able to forget there are no POC in the work and shrug it off. 

Read that sentence again. I’m able to accept the fact that entire races of people are swiped clean from a movie or show or whatever and no longer be bothered by it. 

I also totally understand Girls wasn’t made to take on the racial issues of the world. But goddammit we can’t use that tired ass excuse for every damn show. 

I don’t know what’s worse: little to no well written minority female characters or the run of the mill, horribly overdone, incredibly stereotypical and common indicator of lazy ass writing “Best [Insert Race Here] Friend” whose only purpose is to be the white protagonist’s entertaining sidekick. We, racial minorities, and sexual/gender minorities as well… Hell, anybody who isn’t white/cisgendered/straight/Christian/The CW fall line-up, we must demand more from the art our society produces. Or, as I hope to accomplish one day, make art for ourselves.

Because when somebody says women of color need to “grow up” and stop complaining because we don’t need to be represented in media, that’s usually a sign that women of color need to be represented better in the media.

(via esmeraldanacho1776)

(via fatbodypolitics)