Read on Twitter
This will be a personal thread about queerness and writing a near future story from a violently homophobic country. Buckle in.
I hate how Poland and Eastern Europe in general are portrayed in Anglophone media, SFF and other. It's always a mix of Cold War propaganda, washed-out blue hues signifying poverty, and stereotypes like the drunk and the gay priest suffering from his internalized homophobia.
I hate this. It's not my Poland. I don't see myself, my life or my community reflected in this. It's offensive and lazy and it makes me feel Othered as hell.
But I'm a writer, am I not? Surely I can write my own representation? An accurate one - not erasing the ugliness, the poverty, the substance abuse and the homophobia, but a nuanced one?
I've been thinking about the near future in my novel. It's set in 2043. I could cross homophobia out if I wanted. But I don't think I should. My current reality is so steeped in it, waving away the violence against queer people in Poland would be disingenuous.
The book might take place in 2043, but it's being written in 2020. It's being written in midst of fight for equal rights, us protecting ourselves from the violence mandated by right wing politicians. For my protagonist, it will be her community's history.
I'm hoping with my whole queer heart that in 2043, our current struggle will be a closed chapter. I wish for queer kids in 2043 to never feel afraid when wearing a rainbow pin in public. But the kyriarchy is relentless, and twenty-three years isn't much at all.
It's more likely that some of this homophobia will still hurt my protagonist, or even that it influenced her decision to emigrate. But how do I give her background the depth it deserves? How do I acknowledge the hard work done by generations of activists and allies?
How do I write this near future so that my readers remember not the homophobia, but the push against it? Can I write it in a way that, instead of reinforcing the stereotype, will focus on people living this political reality, navigating it, finding ways to be happy despite it?
In every system of oppression that you're handwaving as an uniform bigoted blob there are the oppressed ones living it. Those unwilling or unable to leave. Those changing it from the inside. Stereotypes erase them & their strength, creativity, persistence.
Writing my book, I'm doing my best to show the Poland I know and live in: the activism, the support within local communities, the struggle to reconcile our identities. But it will be the readers' job to see it. To choose to see it, even when stereotypes are easier.
Alright, we reached our destination. It's called Write Your Complex Ugly Truths. Read With An Open Heart is just around the corner.
