Just mention the word “sensitivity reader” and you’re likely to raise someone’s hackle feathers. Why would you need a sensitivity reader?! We’ve never needed them before! And why should we care if some stupid little thing we say offends one small minority of people? It’s the rallying cry of those who do not want to change and those who feel entitled to use whatever words they want. And you know what? Legally speaking we can use whatever words we want. No one’s going to arrest me if I, as a white person, drop the N bomb in my writing – but if I did chose to do so I’d probably see the rightful social consequences. And that’s actually a good thing. Just because a word exists does not mean we should use it. Similarly context does make a difference. A sensitivity reader would likely not have any problem with a person of color using the N word in their writing to highlight societal prejudices. Context matters.
OK, so my example above might be kind of extreme but I wanted to make it clear. Sensitivity readers do not exist to make sure you never offend anyone, they exist to make sure you don’t cause further damage to an already targeted population. For instance if you are a male writer with a female protagonist your sensitivity reader probably doesn’t care so much about that but they will care you write your character in a believable and respectful manner. Go to Twitter any day and you will find women readers making fun of male writers who make bizarre statements for their female characters. Like their focus on boobs. Here’s a hint – women rarely think about their boobs. Even more important their boobs are not separate beings to ourselves. They do not “pull from side to side like two puppies on a leash.” Seriously I wonder if these men have ever even seen a boob with these friggin’ odd descriptions. Don’t get me started about when men try to write about their female characters peeing or having their period… first of all that’s pretty unnecessary, second of all please don’t. Unless you’re really
perceptive this is likely to backfire horribly.
But those are again obvious offenses. Sometimes we use words we don’t even realize how bad they sound to others, words that involve colonialist attitudes, misogynistic attitudes, or otherwise are too harsh for what we’re trying to say. Indigenous peoples for example don’t like white people to use words like “tribalism” to denote situations where shitty people are banding together for the greater bad. It cheapens their legitimate use of the word tribe to denote their family and social structures. It shows us at our worst – as looking down on them as a primitive people somehow lesser than ourselves or perhaps worse than ourselves in some other way. They have a point, a valid point. And whether or not you think anyone with this opinion will ever read your book would it hurt to just use a different word? Usually it doesn’t hurt at all to substitute it for something you actually mean.
This is how we stay on the right side of history. It’s not about trying to step on as few toes as possible it’s about giving people respect. And don’t you want your readers to feel respected? I do. Not everyone is perfect, we will all at some point say something that will be misconstrued, but wouldn’t you rather be on the side that acknowledges this and tries to be better?