Popular Culture Review 30.2
Luke seems to be describing a motivation to demonstrate a “ wokeness ” in his participation ; a desire to show other white men that they can acknowledge their privilege and help create more opportunity for diverse stories . While Becky , a white woman who has a podcast about geek news , was motivated by the idea “ that in our community there are a lot of people who are marginalized who are not represented and I have a very unique opportunity because I have this built in audience that I can speak to those things and people will listen to me , generally ” ( Personal interview . 18 March 2016 ). Both Becky and Luke describe their participation as a type of modeling for other white people ; a hope that , through their speaking on panels , white audience members will think critically about media and be inspired to consider what such a lack of representation in media means to those who are marginalized . As Leia , a woman of Asian descent put it , “ It ’ s important for others to hear my message of the importance of what it feels like to not see yourself in books and not feel like your story is important ” ( Personal interview , 17 March 2016 ).
The meaningfulness of story was the second theme identified . Respondents often described the idea that sharing stories on panels would help audience members understand their own experiences . Cindy spoke of being motivated to participate because of her 15 year-old daughter , who is on the autism spectrum . She described bringing her daughter to panels and seeing someone she could relate to . “ Even if there isn ’ t someone that ’ s exactly like her , there ’ s probably somebody who also feels marginalized and that the feeling of being marginalized is not unique . And THAT is more broad spectrum than maybe she supposed and that actually really does help her mental health ” ( Personal interview , 17 March 2016 ). Cindy continued , explaining that this phenomenon was what motivated her to participate as a panelist :
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