Who gets to tell the story?
I feel that it depends on the intent; the intent of the writer as well as the readers.
We live in a progressive society where people are constantly being called out for being racist, sexist, unaccepting of new ideas. This has resulted in people reading with negative intent rather than positive intent to pick out certain things that may be offending to groups or individuals.
I also find that when writers narrate from characters that aren’t their gender, race or their culture, they are criticised with statements similar to these: “you are reinforcing stereotypes” or “You have no right to represent us in this sort of way”, when they may have written the text with positive intent. Examples of the writers’ positive intents could be that they were attempting to explore the perspectives of another or trying to shed light on a group of people, because they have the ability and power to do so.
I believe that writing is a form of art, and that art should not have any boundaries to it. It should be something that prompts conversations, which may ultimately lead to further social progression.
