As Lionel Shriver made light of identity, I had no choice but to walk out on her 

In my last post, I wrote about a speech about cultural appropriation and identity representation in fiction by Lionel Shriver. This post is about a response that was published in the Guardian. The author’s main point was that Shriver, as a ‘white, privileged woman’, dripped of ‘racial supremacy’ and supported the exploitation of culture so authors could do what they wanted. She went on to argue that there are marginalised groups who have less opportunity to share their stories so what gives more privileged folk the right to write on their behalf.

Personally, I can see where the author is coming from. It must be hard to hear things like that when as an individual you have been discriminated against or treated differently. I empathize because I understand that it may feel like an attack but I do not agree; because essentially, fiction is all about writing things which personally you don’t have experience with. That’s the beauty of it! Exploring and learning about different cultures and sometimes we get it wrong perhaps – as the author mentioned regarding a white British man writing about a teenage Nigerian girl. she is right that we should be questioning it. But we shouldn’t be censoring it or be banning it. How is that any less disrespectful? In a way, forcing your beliefs onto other people is exactly what this author is criticizing.