Tokenism
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- This article is about the practice of including racial minorities to show the producer as equal-opportunities friendly. For the South Park character, see Token Black
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Tokenism refers to a policy or practice of limited inclusion of members of a minority group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices, intentional or not. Typical examples in real life and fiction include purposely including a member of a minority race (such as a black character in a mainly white cast, or vice versa) into a group. Classically, token characters have some reduced capacity compared to the other characters, and may have bland or inoffensive personalities so as to not be accused of stereotyping negative traits. Instead, their difference may be overemphasized or made "exotic" and glamorous.
[edit] Tokenism in fiction
A token character is a character in a story, myth, or legend, who only exists to achieve the minimum compliance with assumed normality for the environment described in the story. For example, a token wife is a wife who has no depth of character, or identity of her own; she only exists because the character that she is married to is expected to have a wife.
A token character can also be used by writers to pay lip service to rules or standards, when they otherwise have no intention of doing so, such as by obeying anti-racism policies by including a token black character, who, despite being present often, nevertheless does nothing, and has no function in the plot, and often is even stereotyped.
In fiction, token characters may represent various groups, which vary from the norm (usually white/heterosexual/physically attractive, frequently male), and are otherwise excluded from the story. They can be based on ethnicity (black, as well as Hispanic, Asian or Jewish), or be overweight or otherwise conventionally unattractive, non-heterosexual or a (usually good looking) female character in a male-dominated cast. Token characters will usually be relegated to the background and generally refrain from exhibiting stereotypical behavior, usually to render them inoffensive to readers or viewers. Such a character may also be disposed of relatively early in the story (either by being killed or voted off in a reality TV show) in order to enhance the drama while "conserving" the normal characters.
