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A GUIDE ON ETHNICITIES IN ROLEPLAY

I got a lot of anons today about how siblings in rps do not need to be of the same ethnicity. I got a similar amount of anons arguing that they should. So I decided to do this guide to explain how important it is that ethnicities are represented correctly in roleplays. In this guide I’ve gathered all the information I can find from both other roleplayers and my own mind in order to keep things as unbiased as possible. I also gathered other statistics and things to lend a hand. 

Disclaimer: I’ve decided to leave everyone as anonymous. I will answer any questions you have. I am not all-knowing; if I make mistakes let me know so I can fix them. There are a few images in here as well as a lot of text. 

So lets get started:

I’m sure everyone in the tumblr roleplay scene has seen at least one post complaining about the racism in tumblr roleplays. The sad fact is that this is because there are numerous racist roleplays in our tumblr world. Disney roleplays are notoriously famous for removing the ethnicities of our beloved Disney characters in order to use more popular FCs, etc. Thankfully this is starting to be resolved; many roleplayers have begun pointing this fact out to Disney rps and the Disney admins are beginning to listen. But they are not the only ones guilty of ‘white-washing’ or ‘erasure’. The truth is that many roleplayers remove the ethnic identity of celebrities. Some do this out of ignorance, but some do not. I’m not accusing anyone of doing this, nor am I forcing you to stop if that’s not what you want, I just want to raise awareness of this problem. After all, you are free to roleplay as you want to. However if you read this and change your mind, then just know that ethnicities are hard. It took me a year to get where I am now and I know I’m still miles from understanding them completely! But many rphs, myself included, will be willing to give ethnicity based FC advice to help you if you just ask. 

So I gathered all the arguments against and basically broke into them a little. I’ve provided statements and quotes. I’ve added statistics. I’ve added suggestions. I’ve done everything I can think of but if you think of something else then let me know: (x).

Nationality vs Ethnicity

Lottie has a really good post distinguishing between the two here (1). 

In context, you could look at real-life celebrity Troian Bellisario. She is American by nationality. Many people take this (and her appearance) to mean that she is white and so can be related to other celebrities of white origin. In actual fact Troian is half black and so this wouldn’t actually work. (2). This is a really easy mistake to make, don’t worry we all make it or have made it at some point, but the important thing now is that you learn from this mistake. Put simply, you can play Troian as French or German or Russian or Italian as that could relate to the country she lives in or where she was born. However you can’t play her as white as this would be considered white-washing, just as you can’t play her as native American. It’s disrespectful to Troian and her ethnic roots. 

The one exception to this rule is when it comes to Asian FCs. Asian FCs should be separated into their nationalities when it comes to finding relations as it’s much easier to avoid mistakes this way. What I mean by this is that a Chinese FC and a Japanese FC could not be full siblings despite the fact that they’re of the same race. Just as a Chinese FC and Filipino FC could not be full siblings. South Asian cannot be related to East Asian, etc. In fact some people mauy go as far to say that technically Asian is a group of races rather than a race made up of people stemming from a common ancestor. They share common features but they’re not quite the same. 

It’s easier

Yes, ethnicities are hard. I’m not going to deny that. Ethnicities can be complicated, but what isn’t? If you put all of your effort into building a sound character bio filled with an extensively-researched, descriptive background, would it not make more sense to give them a FC that matches them culturally rather than just descriptively? And, yes, some great siblings for popular celebrities may have little or no gifs. But this does not mean you shouldn’t use them! I realise that sometimes taking a diversion and choosing someone similar in appearance is much easier option to doing the research needed to build a strong, ethnicity-based family template. But if everyone takes this route, when is someone going to finally stop? 

Disney roleplays are well-known for utilising this excuse during the selection of their characters. I stumbled across one roleplay that chose Shay Mitchell to play Pocahontas on the basis that she “just fits her better”. 

For some of the people reading this, this may confuse you so I’m going to quickly break it down. Pocahontas is Native American and so her character should be Native American to respect that. Shay’s ethnicity is European from her father’s side and Filipino from her mother’s side. Therefore she would not work for portraying Pocahontas. A simple way of showing this is the locations of Shay’s ethnicity in light blue (Ireland/Scotland + the Philippines) and the location of Pocahontas in red (Virginia). Shay Mitchell cannot play Pocahontas simply because she is not racially correct. Her ethnic roots are sourced from different parts of the world to Pocahontas and while she may bare some resemblance to the cartoon character and possess some exotic features, she is ethnically wrong for this character. Because of her ethnicity, Shay is Asian/White whereas Pocahontas is Native American. This means they cannot be linked; Shay cannot play Pocahontas and Pocahontas cannot be played by Shay. (3). A collection of alternative FCs for Pocahontas could be Q’orianka Kilcher or Julia Jones.  

This is similar to the argument presented for the lions from the Lion King. Naturally the Lion King is based in Africa, so choosing FCs that are racially White is not a good decision. I think it’s important to note here that skin tone does not define ethnicity. Claiming that because the lions have pale fur they must be white is not a valid argument. That’s like saying because someone has blonde hair they must be European. It is becoming widely understood now that the lions should be played by black actors/actresses in order to respect their race. The Lion King is set in Africa, using African Lions as proxies for the characters in Hamlet (on which the movie is based). They live in a Swahili culture and speak Swahili. Swahili Bantu people, whom the lions represent, are not white. So the lions should also not be white. Try using faces such as Keke Palmer or Nathan Stewaret-Jarrett instead. 

Another point brought up fairly regularly is the use of white actors/actresses to voice characters of practically every other ethnicity. The question remains, does this matter? Some people would say no it doesn’t matter - you can’t see their faces so it shouldn’t matter if they’re played by a white actors or the actor of the actual ethnicity. Other people insist that it’s vital that they’re played by the correct ethnicity for accents and vocal tones. That said, anyone who uses the fact that the character in their rp is voiced by a white actress so can be played by a white actress in the rp is missing the point. There are many FCs that are correctly represented such as Tiana from Disney’s Princess and the Frog played by Anika Noni Rose or Ming-Na Wen who played Mulan and to completely base an argument on the FCs cast incorrectly is biased. Naturally there are many Disney characters that have been cast wrong but the point of this is that they’re improving and so should we. We shouldn’t settle for continuing to make the same mistakes that they did, we should learn from them and fix them. They may have been limited in their choices but we are not. (3)

But they don’t have any resources!

There are many, many potential FCs that we can use in roleplays. Directors and Casting Agents may be limited by price or by their location or by the demand of celebrities of a certain ethnicity at one point in time but we are not. We can use models and actors/actresses, singers and youtubers and we can use any of them at ease. 

Roleplay is developing so rapidly to the point where gif chats aren’t the only methods of communicating. Text posts for mobile conversations or texts are becoming increasingly popular as are paras. A lot of people have also began using icons as a means of portraying their characters emotions rather than gifs. For all of the people who use the excuse that there aren’t enough gifs of a certain FC then just take a moment to consider alternatives. Many rphs would be willing to make gifs/icons/sidebars of poc fc or even just put together a gif hunt, myself included; it’s also easy to make icons to use instead of gifs and there’s many websites listed here as alternatives to photoshop that you can use to do this x. 

But she and he were siblings on TV..

Media is a large influence on our lives and this is one of the largest causes for the misinterpretation of ethnicities in both roleplay and modern life. Diversity is severely lacking in modern society and that can be shown through the statistical information that we usually just look over in real life. I have gathered some here: 

• No woman of colour has ever won an Emmy Award for Best Actress in a Drama Series
• In the last 20 years, only one man of color has ever won for Lead Actor in a Drama Series (Andre Braugher, 1998) (4)
• An African American woman has not been nominated for lead actress in a Comedy Series since The Cosby Show(1986) (4)
• Among the 50 YA authors on the PW list, there are only four authors of color as far as I know. That’s a regrettably low 7% (5)
• 88% of the books on the 2013 Publisher’s Weekly YA Bestsellers were about white protagonists (5)
• 93% of the authors on the 2013 Publisher’s Weekly YA Bestsellers were white authors (5)
• 85% of the books on the 2014 Young Adult Library Services Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults list were about white protagonists  (5)
• According to the 2012 Cooperative Children’s Book Center, only 3.3% of books were about African-American protagonists; only 2.1% were about Asian and Pacific Islander protagonists; only 1.5% were about Latinx protagonists; and only 0.6% were about Native American protagonists. That means over 90% of children’s books surveyed were about white protagonists. (6)
• (x) (7)
• (x) (8)

In the last image, we are shown Michael B. Jordan who has been selected to play the role of Johnny Storm (the human torch) in the new Fantastic Four movie. Uproar occurred about how he wasn’t “ethnically correct” and how it was impossible for him to have a “white sister”, which is right. The problem is, as shown by the picture, that the people only responded to the media when they changed a white character to black. But when this is turned on it’s flipside, the protests are ignored. Many directors ignore the ethnic origins of characters and a lot of roleplayers are using this as an excuse when casting their own characters. 

Unfortunately, these statements are partly right. Yes actors actors get cast to play siblings in movies that do not match ethnically but this doesn’t make it right. You can ignore ethnicities and pretend they don’t exist but the truth is that they do and by ignoring them, you’re removing the identity of many celebrities. A FC isn’t just “a vessel”. A character isn’t just the background that you’ve created for them. Their ethnicity is part of their background. There is more to a character than just their story. Their colour matters. Their ethnicity matters. Both of these are part of their identity as well. 

More importantly, this is going to start changing soon, or at least in the British film industry. The British film indsutry is aware of the problem of industry and it has been recently announced that they are enforcing standards focusing on improving the  diversity both on screen and off screen. For a project to receive funding then they must meet certain industry guidelines to foster diversity and encourage the correct uses of ethnicity in film and media. If the media is making their changes and it was on them that you’re basing your argument against ethnicities, then perhaps it’s time to start thinking about making your own changes. (9).

But they look the same….

I didn’t understand the last bit of their argument but the first bit was really clear to me. You say that you’re taking their physical appearance and nothing else of them but their physical appearance defines their ethnicity just as much as their traditions and experiences! No one in the rp world would make a Chinese FC twins with a British FC because they look nothing alike. So why pair a Chinese and Japanese FC together? Or remove Troian’s African anchestry because she is white-passing (looks white).  

Or as the anon says, pairing Dylan and Tyler as siblings because they’re in a TV show together as best friends. Make them half-siblings or step siblings or foster siblings if you want to make them siblings but don’t remove their ethnicities just because they have gifs together. 

Look at Avan and Janina for example. If siblings “must look the same” then just look at these two. Avan is Indian and German while Janina is Indian and Dutch. They could play siblings ethnicity wise but their skin tone is different because they’ve inherited different characteristics from their parents. They don’t look as alike as many people claim siblings in rp need to but they work. Appearance isn’t everything when it comes to ethnicity but sometimes it is important to consider. Please don’t just base a family template on looks alone. 

Roleplays are for fun! 

If you asked everyone in the rp community, I’m sure all of them would say that they’re here for fun. Some might say they’re here to improve their writing. Some might say they’re here to make friends. All of this can relate to ethnicities. You could hurt people or offend people by removing ethnicities and if you do this you’re not likely to make friends. Diversifying characters is quickly becoming more popular in modern literature (Rue in The Hunger Games, the entire Game of Thrones cast pretty much) and so understanding ethnicities and using various ethnicities in your rp experience would improve your writing. And the final thing is that sometimes by disregarding ethnicity you’re taking away other people’s fun in the community. 

It doesn’t really affect us…

Also can I just point out that both people in the above images called me said I was taking this too “seriously” because I care about ethnic rights, as if this is something we shouldn’t have to worry about as teens. The thing is that we should think about this. It is a serious problem and call me serious if you want because I’m seriously invested in resolving this issue.  

Diversity is important and not just because of the statistics that I’ve listed but because of the result that the media has on people like you and me. Many think that diversification, or rather the lack of, has no affect. Many directors promote white-washing in favour of earning a higher gross profit because people are “more willing” to watch white actors and actresses because they’re “more relatable” than the correct ethnicities. But what about people of other ethnicities that view these films? What about the people of other ethnicities who also participate in rps? When discussing the ethnicities of characters, you have to consider the fact that you’re not the only person being affected by this because other people will see your decisions and be affected by them.

6% of internet users use tumblr and of that 74% are White (non-Hispanic), 10% are Black (non-Hispanic), 9% are Hispanic and 7% are of another ethnicity. (10). Only 31% of all visitors to tumblr are located in the U.S. (11). Simply put, there are many tumblr users that aren’t white. I’m not saying this just because white people are assumed to be more racially unaware, I’m not saying that. What I am saying is that there are many people of other ethnicities using this site and when they see posts saying that their ethnicities don’t matter and see admins replacing people of the more underused ethnicities with white FCs because it’s “easier”, it can be incredibly demoralising. A lot of people can be hurt by posts like this. It can cause depression. You could make them feel excluded, or under-appreciated. A lot of people come to this website to escape, rp is a place to escape, and we’re honoured to have people from so many different places actively participating in rps, but their experience of the site can be ruined when they see their ethnicities being disregarded in favour of popular white FCs. Yes rp is for fun and yes FCs are hard but to spend a few extra minutes finding a FC that works ethnically can put so many minds at ease. Is it not worth it?  

• Quote taken from a tumblr discussion: ”That’s the thing, though - it’s not a matter of personal choice as much as it is a matter of being respectful to people’s ethnicities and the very real impact it has on their lives. When you lump people of different ethnicities all together saying that “they look related so they can pass as a different ethnicity” is an act of erasure and racism, because it come across as if white is the norm and everything else goes into the same bag. I’m also not telling you those things because I think “my way” is the best way - you’re obviously free to operate however you choose to, but while some things are a matter of preference, this is one of the instances where the things you are doing are hurting real people. Several people have spoken about how harmful it is to have their identities erased, to see themselves misrepresented and to see absolute no respect for their ethnicities because they are not white It’s not a matter of preference: it’s a matter of educating yourself so you can stop contributing to a system that actively oppreses people.” 
• Four out of every five children of colour agreed it was important for kids to see their race portrayed on TV. (12)
• “#WeNeedDiverseBooks because some readers thought my smart, professionally successful Muslim women characters were “not realistic.””(13)
• “#WeNeedDiverseBooks so my daughter can see there’s more to being Jewish than the Holocaust." (14)
• “#WeNeedDiverseBooks because our children need to read and dream about heroes and heroines - in technicolor." (14) 
• “#WeNeedDiverseBooks because this shouldn’t even be a hashtag. This should just exist as a reality already.” (14)
• “#WeNeedDiverseBooks because… when I was 13 a white girl told me it was selfish that all of the protagonists in my stories were Latina because she “just can’t relate to nonwhite characters.” She made me feel guilty for writing about people like me.” (15)

• Me
• rphelper
• fchelpers
• thatfrenchhelper 
• astridrps
• heroicfictions
• lazyresources
• dormiveglianrps
• bamhelps (only available on Fridays)

• Whitewashing Defenders’ Greatest Hits
• Rant: Disney Whitewashing?
• Study shows watching TV boosts self esteem of White male children, decreases self esteem of Black male and all female children.
• Description: The Great Ethnicity Debate
• RESOURCES FOR REPRESENTATION
• Why representation matters? 

1. thatfrenchhelper (Nationality ≠ Ethnicity)
2. fchelpers (FCs you thought were white but actually aren’t - Troian Bellisario)
3. racistroleplay (Shay Mitchell as pocahontas)
4. shashalaperf
5. huffingtonpost (The Diversity Gap At The Emmy Awards Is Staggering)
6. diversityinya (Diversity in Publishers Weekly’s 2013 Young Adult Bestsellers)
7. CCBC (Children’s Books by and about People of Color Published in the United States)
8. feministing (Infographic: Diversity in Hollywood)
9. themarysue (British Film Institute Enforcing Diversity Standards)
10. stefanmarquelle
11. wallblog (A demographic portrait of Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook users)
12. searchenginejournal (50 Things You Should Know About Tumblr)
13. archive.today (Statistics on Minority Representation (1994-1998))
14. Jennifer Jazobair 
15. bustle (#WENEEDDIVERSEBOOKS: THE TWITTERSPHERE RALLIES FOR DIVERSITY IN LITERATURE)
16. reverseracism

Under the cut you'll find #125 HQ, small/medium gifs of Taylor Marie Hill. They're all textless. Most of these gifs are mine, but all credit goes to the owners of those who don't actually belong to me. Please like/reblog if this helped you.