At the end of the day, the difference between appropriation and exchange, as with the subject of "A man plays a woman" is respect.
These things aren't just "theories" and there's certainly a lot more written for the idea of Cultural Appropriation than against. You can talk to the lived experiences of groups heavily affected by appropriation - particularly Native Americans, Romani people. It hurts people - and I don't think that people not from those groups have a right to tell them that what they see and experience or feel somehow isn't real.
People who say cultural appropriation doesn't exist honestly just don't care about things like this, or haven't spent enough time at intersections to see it.
My disagreement with the concept of "cultural appropriation" isn't about denying that injustices have occurred through cultural and racial interactions throughout history. This is fact; I completely accept that.
What I completely disagree with is that someone being emotionally hurt by a representation of their culture is a valid, legally necessary reason to censor that speech.
There's a parallel here between this idea and the playing of opposite genders in an RPG. There are some in our hobby who would advocate that men shouldn't play women PCs (or vice-versa) because there's a potential to offend someone of the opposite gender. And in my mind, the risk of offending someone isn't generally a valid rationale for censorship.
Would I greatly wish for people to approach cultural representations (or with this thread in mind, gender representations) with care, respect, and an eye to positive engagement and enlightenment? Absolutely. Just because I support someone's right to say something abhorrent on a cultural topic doesn't mean I particularly respect or want to spend time with people who participate in those kinds of speech.
Thanks for the thoughtful, interesting, and well-written post.
Any creative work is a melting pot, but respect shows itself if you try to create something of value to a wide audience. That means you're not just playing to your own cultural group and its stereotypes, you're trying to make something that people from the cultures who inspired your work would also enjoy.
So if you're a man who wants to play a woman, you should first and foremost try to create a PC with personality, motivations, and quirks that are interesting in their own right, and that male and female players at the table can enjoy along with you.
Ben
Well, yeah, a bit like how you can put "Half-Elf" in the race field but play it like a Human or Elf aside from minor mechanical differences.Or you can just put F in the sex field on the sheet and play the PC like the rest of your dungeon bashing characters.
Well, yeah, a bit like how you can put "Half-Elf" in the race field but play it like a Human or Elf aside from minor mechanical differences.