I find myself extremely conflicted with similar situations more than I'd like lately. I have many feelings and thoughts about all of this, and my own feelings conflict from day to day at times. Someday I'll write my thoughts about it down. It can get very twisty at times, and I know it affects my reading. So, I'd love to chat more about this.
Sorry I didn't reply sooner! I don't know how I missed this comment. :S
I also have many conflicting feelings about this. I'm white, aware of my privilege, and fumbling my way toward a fuller understanding of racism and bigotry, how it affects marginalized people, and the part publishing plays in all of that. As a kid, I never had trouble finding myself in the characters I was reading about, and it didn't occur to me that that was a problem for people who didn't fit into my same white, straight, abled, Christian mold. Now that I know, and I'm listening to marginalized authors and reviewers and learning about the staggering lack of diversity in publishing and the equally staggering amount of harmful rep in fiction, I am feeling all kinds of things. And it absolutely affects my reading.
I also have many conflicting feelings about this. I'm white, aware of my privilege, and fumbling my way toward a fuller understanding of racism and bigotry, how it affects marginalized people, and the part publishing plays in all of that. As a kid, I never had trouble finding myself in the characters I was reading about, and it didn't occur to me that that was a problem for people who didn't fit into my same white, straight, abled, Christian mold. Now that I know, and I'm listening to marginalized authors and reviewers and learning about the staggering lack of diversity in publishing and the equally staggering amount of harmful rep in fiction, I am feeling all kinds of things. And it absolutely affects my reading.