What gives us the right to tell someone else’s story?

With so many of us telling our life stories and those of other’s through books, TV, film, and social media, a Goldsmiths, University of London researcher has been exploring what gives us the right. Can any of us truly consent to our stories being told?

Broadcasting on 19 October from Soho’s GOSH! Comics for BBC Radio 4’s Four Thought, Anna Derrig explained: “Our stories are our most precious possessions. They are our identity. Getting them wrong, misusing them, can cause real hurt and harm.”

As a storyteller highlighting injustices and raising awareness through work in the media, international development and social work among other fields, Anna explained that she has always tried to tell the stories of others with respect and empathy.

Now a PhD candidate in the Department of English and Comparative Literature at Goldsmiths, Anna also teaches research ethics for postgraduate researchers, creative writing for undergraduates and life writing. Her short courses on life writing at Goldsmiths will run on Saturdays, with one course in each term, in 2017.

She is working on a memoir about life with a family member, who she calls Liam, which made her think more deeply about the ethics of telling other people’s stories. Anna has also been commissioned to publish a life writing and ethics’ guide/text book.

Liam has a diagnosis, he does not accept, of Asperger’s. Anna explained to the audience at GOSH! Comics that she originally saw her book as a call for greater understanding of autism within the criminal justice system. Her relative does not want to tell his side of the story himself, but he has given Anna permission to do it for him.

Anna continued: “The potential exposure for Liam gave me pause. How would he be judged? Would he be bullied? How would it define his future? And me – how would I be seen? And above all that a bigger question came to loom ever larger. Can he, can any of us, truly consent to our story being told?

Aside from the intrinsic importance of that question, now is a particularly pertinent time to be asking it. The internet has allowed stories, often personal stories about or including other people, to be made and shared with unprecedented ease. In other words, there’s a lot more story writing, a lot more story reading, and the people about whom these stories are written can find out straight away.

“I work with stories in all their forms that mostly will be published and can be invented but this central question of how to treat other people’s stories, if writers owe an ethical duty to the people they write about, isn’t confined to memoir or to writing. It’s equally true of photography, reality TV, docudramas, and many other media, including radio.”

Anna argues that this development is wonderful and liberating. “Whether it’s a criminal act, a broken heart, skeletons languishing in cupboards or recovery and success against the odds, everyone has a tale to tell.”

But are such secrets and tales, even funny ones, there to be told? Is it a case of portrayal or betrayal? And who decides? “Because people do get hurt. Not every hurt is illegal but that doesn’t make it right. Vulnerable subjects, such as, Liam may need protecting from themselves,” Anna says.

When writing about Liam, Anna sometimes withholds the sorts of stories that other writers may see as, laughing “with” the subject rather than “at” them. She explains: “I’m not sure I’m as confident as [American comedian and author] David Sedaris is about the generosity of readers. For me this isn’t about squeamishness, it’s about fairness.

“So I want to argue that informed consent, even with some caveats, is a really necessary and moral consideration. I want those old editorial features, so often bypassed in an age of citizen journalism and user-generated content, to be a more present part of our conversation.”

In front of her audience, Anna dissected the meaning of the word consent, degrees of consent, and what it means in practice for anyone sharing stories of others. And she asked about the “other side of the story” – what obligation do writers or TV producers have, to tell their audience the truth?

Stream or download Anna’s full talk at GOSH! Comics on BBC iPlayer

Details of the 2017 Goldsmiths Short Course in life writing with Anna Derrig will be available shortly