Could do with an Ethics Check

[davidgillon]

I've spent off-time while up at my folks' working on a short story I plan on submitting to Accessing the Future, the crowdfunded anthology of disability-themed SF.

They note in the submission guidelines that they're looking for intersectionality, I've definitely got that in that I have a disabled female engineer fighting for her job against a plot to unseat her by a patriarchal subordinate with a punishment for sin view of disability.

But.... I realised that just by changing three words I can imply she's non-Caucasian, which adds an additional layer of intersectionality, but not one actually related to the story. If I call her Larsen (x2) and describe her toddler as blonde, then everyone will assume Caucasian, but if I call her Ochoa (or Hernandez or whatever), and simply describe the toddler as gorgeous, then a lot of people will assume she's Hispanic.

Additional intersectionality is good, but this sort of feels like cheating. Thoughts?

(Just to complicate things, I was debating with myself on the train journey home, wondered if I could use the protagonist for any other stories, and realised that she fits a role I have mapped out for a novel concept, and her ethnicity might play a role there),

Comments

[alexseanchai]

It is possible that a Latina woman would behave differently from a white woman in that scenario. You may want to investigate that before deciding whether to imply she's Latina or white. (Not, I observe, mutually exclusive categories.) That said, do you need a story-related reason to make her a character of color instead of a white character? Do you really? I shouldn't think you do.

[kaberett]

^ this, with disclaimers about being whitey mcwhiterson

[davidgillon]

Two good points. Normally I'd say you don't shouldn't need a reason, but when intersectionality is a specific request, rejigging a character just to claim it seems a bit, well, mercenary!