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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37156
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

## Implicit support

> how can I write a male-dominated culture without implicitly supporting it?

This is tricky, but here are two simple things you can do that will help

- Include fully developed female characters that are important to the plot. 
- Meet the [Bechdel test](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bechdel_test). 

If you think you can't do this while writing within the setting of a male dominated society, than you're not going to meet your objective.

The crux of **implicit** support of cultures of oppression in fiction is the absence of personhood and humanity in the representation of the oppressed, or the use of the oppressed exclusively as a narrative tool for exposition or character development of characters that are members of some other group.

## Explicit support

The answer to this question is different:

> How can I write a culture that oppresses some group without **explicitly** supporting it

Don't glorify oppression, control, and violence against members of that group. @Jay's example, "The Birth of A Nation", **explicitly** supports oppression.

## Does this mean my story has to be about the oppression?

If it's part of the world, it's _one_ of the things your story is about. The only way for it not to be is to have it not be part of the world your describing. But it doesn't have to be the main thing your story is about.

**A story that includes fully developed characters that are members of an oppressed group (whether they are slaves, women, individuals with a disability, or anything else) is no more about that oppression than a story that doesn't fully develop those characters.**

Original score: 5