Hundreds Are Urging For Diversity In The Media With This Bold, New Twitter Trend

By Cake Staff:

Calls for diverse media representation have exploded on Twitter with the hashtag #IStandForDiversity. It started on Sep. 5, 2016, as novelist A. C. Thomas tweeted out her frustration with  multiple processes – from drafting, to scripting, to casting, to publishing – that have deliberately or negligently failed to include people of diverse race, ethnicity, body type, sexuality and more.

This came in response to a video by Bre Faucheux – one of Thomas’ peers in the industry. Faucheux, a fantasy and sci-fi author, had uploaded an anti-diversity “rant” to her YouTube channel on Sep. 2. In it, she expressed her discomfort with a [envoke_twitter_link]growing pressure on authors to make their novels more “diverse,”[/envoke_twitter_link] suggesting that it simply hinders the writing process. As a white woman, her “rant” simply came off as resistance towards addressing media’s lack of representation of certain identities. And honestly, it sounded a lot like when the MRAs claim that their lives have become difficult ever since women got rights. It also sounded a lot like a counterproductive reaction to one’s own white-guilt. All of this is possibly what ticked off Thomas in the first place, but she had no idea that hundreds would rally in her support:

https://twitter.com/acthomaswrites/status/772831205041459200

Twitter users had plenty to say about the media:

https://twitter.com/TristinaWright/status/772840209645993985

https://twitter.com/clairelegrand/status/772831028448784384

And the the argument took on other dimensions as well, such as diversity within LGBTQ spaces, that have often marginalized ‘lesser known’ queer identities:

In fact, Thomas even tweeted a request to change the tag to #ISupportDiversity, when she realized the “stand” in the original was ableist. This further pushed the conversation to explore disability.

Then Came The Hijackers:

https://twitter.com/JSBTC/status/772843933533671424

But Also Some Valid Criticism Of “Diversity” As A Concept:

The point being made here is that paying lip service is easy. In an earlier instance (though not quite related to Thomas’ hashtag), Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay insisted on favouring the principle of ‘inclusion’ over diversity,’ and clearly there is scope for this conversation to evolve further.

But as a result of all of these discussions, [envoke_twitter_link]it is hoped that media, academics, workplaces and more will become just that – much more diverse[/envoke_twitter_link].