The Problems #ownvoices Doesn't Solve

Whether use the word #ownvoices or not, we should pay attention to the problems that made it necessary - and the problems that are leading many to drop it again.

(This essay is an expanded version of this Twitter thread.)

I'm still chewing over the talk Book Twitter had this month about #ownvoices. A major review website, "We Need Diverse Books," decided to stop using the #ownvoices label to describe works of fiction about marginalized characters by authors who share that marginalization, because the label has go…