#inclusivity.tpe

[thepixelelf]

btw, would you ever consider writing something where the reader is hard of hearing and chooses not to wear hearing aids most of the time? as you can imagine the kpop community is very exclusive with regards to deafness, blindness, chronic illness, that sort of thing, but... there are people who can enjoy the music videos and variety content and even listen to the music if they're not profoundly deaf (which most deaf people are not! there are lots of people who are just very very hard of hearing and identify as Deaf because they don't want to explain everything to everyone, complete deafness is pretty rare) and people who can enjoy the music even if they're totally blind (again, much rarer than you would think!)... deaf, blind, and chronically ill people basically don't get representation here and it's really sad.

sorry for the block of text! i hope your day goes well, and i always enjoy your writing ☺️

I'm sorry to hear about that kind of exclusion anon :( yeah, unfortunately any depiction of "y/n" cannot be 100% inclusive, especially regarding stuff like deafness, blindness, and chronic illnesses... I wish I could say I had an answer to that :(

But aside from that, yes, I would be open to writing a hard of hearing character if requested! My requests aren't open all the time, but sometimes I post request games asking for certain prompts like colours, pictures, dialogue, etc. If you or anyone wanted a request with a character who has a generally excluded feature (like deafness), just let me know in that request!

I think my only hesitation comes from a fear of misrepresenting or offending anyone... I have no experience with any of the things you've listed, and I'd be a little scared to write something ignorant. I'd try to do research, yes, but I'm honestly not the smartest person you'll ever meet..... and now I sound like I'm making excuses. Anywho, I'm still open to trying my best!

If you ever want to DM me about the topic, please do!

Thanks so much for enjoying my work, and I hope in the future the community is more accepting towards all fans!! 💕💕

[thepixelelf]

hi ursa! i just have a quick question, specifically about your inclusivity post (note: i agree strongly with literally almost everything on the post; key phrase: very strongly)

i do kinda like reading the "swimming in idol's clothes" trope and i sorta like the idea of writing it, specifically because i have some memories with a past boyfriend of mine that i cherish with every atom of my existence which are similar to that trope. but as you mentioned, there is the point that the reader might not be a walking stick per se, they might be a little more thick or broad or just generally have a different body type than the idol in the fic. in fact, i specifically don't have that body type, but the conflict in question is that i kinda do want to write for this trope.

so i was wondering if you might have any tips as to how one could go about writing that trope more inclusively? i'm mainly just asking because again i kinda like this trope, but on the other hand, i didn't used to be the best at writing inclusively, and that's something i'm trying really hard to fix!

Hi Roan!

I think there's no shame in reading/enjoying the "swimming in a significant other's clothes" trope for yourself

Unfortunately, there's no real way to write this specific trope inclusively. Any indication of how someone else's clothes fit on a character will imply a body type. You can't write an inclusive reader-insert character that way

If one did want to write the trope -- not just of wearing a s/o's clothes but specifically looking cute and small in them -- they'd have to label and warn properly. I think this would work if the writing is a standalone thing; a small blurb specifically written just for that trope (like a reaction), or something similar. A label of "short/small reader" or a warning of "reader wears [idol's] clothes which are too big for them" may be apt in that scenario. At this point, it must be acknowledged that the writing is for a specific demographic

As for workarounds, there are other cute ways to convey endearment or infatuation or comfort. I have written a reader character falling asleep with an idol's hoodie draped over their legs like a blanket. Someone could bury their face in an idol's clothes while they hug and say it smells nice. One could write a character wearing someone else's clothes without indicating how they fit on them, though the choice of clothing type will matter

Hopefully this helps with your conflict. Let me know if you have any more questions

[thepixelelf]

A reminder to fully call me out when I've accidentally written a detail to make my MCs exclusive!! Inclusivity is important to me

[thepixelelf]

I wanna talk about inclusivity - updated 05/05/22

I wrote this post a long time ago, but I still stand by much of what I said back then. Some wording has been changed, and some things have been added, but nonetheless, the message is the same.

Reader insert fanfiction should be as inclusive as possible.

If not, it’s hard to call it reader insert in the first place.

I’m not talking about personality here. I’m not talking about whether “y/n” drinks coffee if you hate it. I’m not talking about if the reader-insert is shy when you’re not.

This is about physical appearance. This is about body type. This is about race.

Before I go any further, I want anyone reading this to know I am not claiming to be perfect. Of course I will also make mistakes. With those mistakes, I sincerely hope people call me out on them. I want to know when I’ve done wrong -- when I have offended anyone -- so that I can learn and grow. Please, if you have anything to say regarding this post or the topic in general, feel absolutely free to contact me.

Other posts on inclusivity:

The problem with social media aus How to make your social media au inclusive

Continued under the cut.

Writing a female reader is one thing. I honestly have little to no problem with this, especially when it is explicitly mentioned somewhere in the description of the post. Especially in kpop fanfiction (and even more so with boy groups), the majority of readers are girls. We’re practically the target audience, and I acknowledge that. What I want most regarding gender is for people to properly label gender-specific works.

Problems arise within writing any gender of character, though, especially considering stereotypical body types. The most common is height. Not every reader will be shorter than the kpop boy. In almost every fic I’ve read, especially with female-insert, there is some sort of hinting that the reader is shorter than the boy. Although this is not too mentally damaging (from what I’ve heard), it can get tiresome/annoying when it’s the only thing you ever see. If you are shorter than most, imagine if almost all reader-inserts constantly talked about characters looking up at you, or you helping someone reach something from a tall shelf. You’d feel excluded, right?

You know why people have to specifically request tall reader fics? Because almost no one writes them.

It’s the same with -- and I’m paraphrasing here -- “chubby” reader requests.

I’ll put a trigger warning for fatphobia here, as I will be addressing it. If you do not want to read about this, skip to the next bold sentence.

I see a lot of chubby reader requests floating around, and while it’s great that people write them, it’s not so great that they need to be requested in the first place. I know that most of those are comfort fics, but still. The kpop community is already extremely fatphobic. I won’t go too into it since it is not my place, but it must be acknowledged. And don’t come at me with the whole “my fave is not fatphobic >:(((” bullshit because that’s not what I’m talking about. It’s ingrained deeply in many Asian cultures and societies, and South Korea is no exception. It’s why girl group members get death threats for having a stomach. It’s why boy group members call each other pigs just for not having abs. It’s there, and we shouldn’t deny it. We can’t deny it.

But furthermore bringing body-shaming into READER-INSERT of all places?? I just... I get disappointed. 

If you want to be inclusive, don’t write the classic “swimming in his clothes” trope. It’s so tired. I know it’s considered cute or domestic or whatever, but come on. What if the reader is broad? Or tall? Or fat? (Know that I do not intend to use the word “fat” in a derogatory way. I know how dismally society has treated the word.) Writing the “swimming in his clothes trope” is very very exclusive, and it sucks that more and more of it is still being written.

That’s just one thing. There are so many other instances in reader-insert writing that include discrete body-shaming, but I can’t cover it all. People should be more aware is what I’ll say.

This is the end of my addressing of fatphobia.

From here on, I’ll be addressing race. If, for whatever reason, you want to skip this because it makes you uncomfortable, you may want to sit down and reevaluate as to why this would make you uncomfortable. 

I want to start off by saying that while I am a person of colour, that does not mean I am incapable of racism. This applies to everyone.

The biggest exclusion that happens in reader-insert fanfiction is racial. I will not sugarcoat it.

The first glaring example I ever saw was the use of “Kim Y/n”. Fucking ridiculous. Kim or Park or Lee or whatever, why would you ever do this? Readers have their own last names. Only so many readers will be Korean at all, and even then only so many will have that specific fucking last name. What is the point of giving a last name like that? What is the point of forcing the reader to be Korean? Unless the reader-insert character is adopted or there’s some other extenuating circumstance, I never want to see something like that.

Much more comes from use of hair and literal description of skin colour.

Any description of hair types (straight, curly, thick, thin) is exclusive to those with any other hair types than the one described; it’s the same with hairstyles. I’ve seen many written moments of tucking hair behind the ear or running fingers through hair -- hell, I used to write the exact same thing -- but that’s exclusive to many many people. People with short or no hair, people with hair that isn’t the kind of texture that can be run through, people who wear head coverings, etc. It’s easier to just avoid descriptions of hair than try to find something that will include everyone.

As for skin colour... please, please just don’t write the reader blushing. At least. Other descriptions of skin colour I believe have been waning lately, but blush I still see as often as ever. Many poc don’t show blush. It really pulls you out of a fic when something happens that you can’t do because of your race. It’s extremely disheartening.

I know it’s because we write with ourselves in mind. What we can do is work harder to remind ourselves, as reader-insert writers, that we are writing for everyone.

If you read any of this and thought anything along the lines of “But I do [this thing that was mentioned] and I’m not racist/fatphobic/colourist!” please consider that many of us are raised with preconceived notions. We may not realize certain issues at first, but we can learn from others and grow from this.

That’s all I have for now, but there is always more to be said. If you think I am in any way in the wrong, talk to me. Make your voice heard.

[thepixelelf]

How to make your social media au inclusive

So since I made a post earlier basically just complaining about exclusion in sm aus, I thought I’d actually do some work to help people make their content more inclusive.

Some questions will have two differing yet ultimately similar answers. One will be for female reader inserts and one will be for gender neutral. I am doing female reader answers as well because it is very common for sm aus to feature female readers, and I’m not trying to discourage that, really.

Question: How do I make the reader’s profile inclusive?

The main character’s profile sets them up for the entire story, so it’s probably the most important element regarding inclusivity right from the get go. The easy answer is this: don’t use pictures of people.

Take a look at these two images

Left: Example I made to emulate most smaus / Right: Via Spills, Thrills

What makes the one on the right more inclusive than the one on the left? The profile picture, first of all. By using a picture of a random object or doodle, you can completely eliminate the ethnic and body type exclusion that comes with using ulzzang photos.

(Don’t know what ulzzang photos are? They basically look like the examples below, and they’re often used in social media aus to represent the reader insert.

Screenshot via Pinterest

Although they do mostly hide the face, the use of these pictures is extremely exclusive, like I said in my other post)

 So what do you do?

For female reader inserts: I think you can do with just avoiding pictures of the reader altogether

For gender neutral inserts: again, do away with the character pictures. Try to avoid using “girl” or feminine pronouns/descriptors within the bio or username

Question: How do I create instagram posts or use pictures while still being inclusive?

Well... the easiest way to do so is to just not incorporate instagram in your au. The second easiest is to use pictures of anything but the reader.

Just like in the inclusive example of a profile I used earlier, a good way to keep your au “interesting” with pictures is to just have ones of parts of the story rather than the character.

e.g:

Via Hood

Here I used a picture of bread on a table rather than someone posing with it or holding it up. This keeps everything inclusive because there’s no indication of what the reader looks like, and it applies to both female and gender neutral inserts.

You can also do this:

Via First to Fall

The picture implies the reader (starsabove) is the one taking the photo, but they’re obviously not in it. This is a great way to create scenarios including the characters in the story while not being exclusive for the reader. (Also peep the reader’s profile picture, which is just a doodle rather than an ulzzang photo)

(By the way, it’s always more than just pictures of faces that are bad. Hands holding up objects or even clothes can be exclusive or race, gender, and body type. It’s best to keep any part of the human body out of pictures in your au.)

Question: What if I want my reader insert to have a sibling?

Personally, I love having sibling characters. They add a lot of fun banter depending on how they’re written, and I usually enjoy them. The problem is that having a kpop idol as a brother or sister character implies that the reader insert and brother are the same race. (It’s the same with children in single mom aus.)

There's a very easy answer to this!

Via Shoot Your Shot

Just make the characters adopted :) It’s an easy fix, and since it’s not that hard to imagine having an adopted brother (compared to imagining being a whole ass different race) I think this is definitely the way to go. You could also make the characters step-siblings, or put them in some other situation that would warrant a sibling-like relationship.

For gender neutral inserts: avoid words like “sister”, as this indicates gender. Sibling may sound awkward at first, but you get used to it eventually. Nicknames work wonders as well

Question: How can I be inclusive overall in my writing?

Try your best to avoid any descriptors of race, skin colour, height, weight, eye colour, hair colour, etc. Refer to my inclusivity post (although that is more of a callout than anything informational), then check out this guide to race inclusivity in fiction by @hhjs​ which is actually helpful.

I also have all of my inclusivity related posts under the tag #inclusivity.tpe

Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to contact me.

Question: My old social media au(s) and/or the one(s) I’m working on right now include ulzzang and/or exclusive pictures. What can I do?

Look. I get it dude. Screenshots are hard. I’m not gonna make you go and redo all those damn screenshots. I’m not gonna ask you to delete anything. I just want you to take what you’ve read here and learn from it. Grow.

Try to be as inclusive as possible from this point on. I believe in you.

If I figured out the answer to every little problem I’ve seen in social media aus, we might be here all day, so I’ll leave it here. Seriously though, if you want to make your stuff inclusive, you have to think. I know that sounds patronizing, but that’s really all there is to it.

Again, if you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them

[thepixelelf]

hi there, i've read your inclusivity post and wanted to ask your opinion. Sorry if this might sound random but what are your thoughts on fan fiction that use certain things that not all fans globally can relate?

for example like when the writer uses establishments like target or tj maxx in their stories when it probably doesn't exist in other countries aside from the states maybe?

I feel like it's a bit of a turn off or bothersome when I read a good story but they suddenly have certain niche things that I have to google first to get it then read back the story. Do you think this should be a part of inclusivity as well? Sorry again for the long ask, have a nice day :)

Hello!

Personally, I try to make my settings largely vague, unless I've established a specific place already. (e.g. a blurb in Canada because the weather is relevant, or Shitty Fanfiction, which is established to be in Seoul). I think it's better to use vague place descriptors like "grocery store" rather than something like "Safeway". However, I don't believe settings are as important to keep ambiguous as everything else I mentioned in the main inclusivity post. This isn't to say I don't think places should mostly be kept vague! I just think it isn't to the same level.

As much as I can imagine I'm in these written situations with an idol in an alternate universe, I can also imagine I'm in a store they only have in South Korea or some other country I don't live in. That suspended belief ends when the race/body type/gender of the reader excludes a person from the narrative because black, darkskinned, male, gender neutral, and fat readers have been excluded from so many fanfictions already, and still are being excluded now.

I think it's harder with setting because it is often so heavily related to the plot. The reason I'm so dead set on getting writers to be inclusive body-wise is because going out of your way to include everyone should not impact the the story (unless of course the plot is literally about sexism, racism, stereotypes, fatshaming, etc. But at that point, generally writers will/should put a disclaimer saying that the reader is this trait for this reason. I think that giving readers certain aspects is fine most of the time as long as you label it properly.)

I do think you have a point, and I'm sorry that I don't prioritize this above other aspects of inclusivity, but I hope this answer made sense

[thepixelelf]

The (glaringly obvious) problem with social media aus

Aight I know I talk shit about smaus vs inclusivity a LOT but obviously it hasn't made much of a difference. I'm not sure this post will do much either, but I thought I'd throw in my two cents anyways.

Here we go

First off: yes, I also make social media aus. So no, I don't think they need to be completely deleted or for people to stop making them. I just want people to know that social media aus CAN and SHOULD BE made inclusive because seriously, it's not that hard.

Take a look at this profile.

Clearly, by the looks of the name "y/n", this is supposed to be you, right? But, oh wait, that person in the profile picture.... that doesn't look like me at all. Now I don't know if you look like that picture, but I sure don't. That's someone else entirely.

This picture alone excludes readers with:

Different hair colour

Different hair length

Different hair type (curly, etc)

Different skin tone or ethnicity

Different body type

Different gender (male readers, they/them identifying)

I see this kind of profile in a lot of social media aus. In fact, almost all of them.

Now I understand people who want to make the au have a female reader. Sometimes it's just what they're comfortable with or maybe they simply want to write that, which is fine, I guess. As long as there's a label (which I find there often is), I don't have that big a problem with female reader inserts.

But the addition of ulzzang photos is unnecessary. Pictures featuring random skinny east asian girls create a character who is not reader insert. It doesn't matter if this person has the label of "y/n". She's her own character. As soon as you give her a body, regardless if you show her face or not, she's no longer someone most readers can imagine themselves as.

And that's just not the point of reader insert, is it?

Even photos like this

which do not feature a face or body, you can still tell that's not you, right? The hand alone can be indicative of race and gender.

Pictures like this:

(of which this particular photo I've actually seen in an au) are just another version of the profile picture I talked about earlier. This is a girl who is definitely not me and probably not you either.

The problem, I think, is that the use of these pictures and nuances is so common within smaus that people subconsciously feel like they have to use them.

But don't. Just don't.

•

(if any mutuals who do the things I've listed see this, I'm not excluding you from accusation. I know who you are, and even though we are friends, I still disapprove these choices)

IF YOU WANT TO MAKE YOUR SM AUS INCLUSIVE I MADE A SMALL GUIDE

[thepixelelf]

Okay wait I want to see something

Reblog if you're a reader insert writer and want to be told when you're not being inclusive

[thepixelelf]

simple as that.

[thepixelelf]

just so reader insert writers know, describing hair is not only exclusive when you write anything done with it (often affecting those with hair textures/lengths different to the author's). writing it in at all could be exclusive to those with no hair and/or those who wear head coverings (hijabs, shaylas, etc)

[thepixelelf]

You know what would actually help push for inclusivity in social media aus? If people stop supporting exclusive fics.

I'm not saying to fucking doxx anyone or send hate or any of that shit to authors who make exclusive social media aus. It's just... if ones with ulzzang photos weren't so popular, there wouldn't be such an abundance of them in the first place, right? A lot of authors already ignore poc or turn a blind eye to people bringing up this issue, so now dependence relies on the groups not excluded and/or the ones still supporting the exclusive works. I'm sorry to ask this of people but please, even if the story is good, consider the many people who are completely excluded when it comes to social media aus. If an smau claims to be "x reader", then we shouldn't sit and watch as it is anything but. Not anymore.

[thepixelelf]

casey i'm very sorry and this is gonna be the whitest ask you'll ever receive but what do you define "blushing" as bc i always thought it was the action of blood rushing to the cheeks so "cheeks turn red" was to be avoided bc not everyone's skin has the look and consistency of a piece of printer paper and turns a visible pink but i thought the blood-rush hot-cheek blush was universal so "blush" would be ok to use sparingly but now i'm hearing it's not? am i being dumb?? i'm sorry it feels so stupid to ask

It's okay Vic!! Blush coming from "blood rush" is actually a common misconception. In actuality, it stems from Old English blysċan (“to be red; shine”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *blaskijaną, from *blasǭ (“burning candle; torch”) or alternatively from Proto-Germanic *bluskijaną, from *blusjǭ (“torch”). It does imply skin turning red/pink. I think if you wanna use that indicator of embarrassment/being flustered, I'd suggest describing heat in the face or head rather than blush

Also, just as a personal thing, reading "blush" has always in my mind meant red/pink cheeks, so even if an author writing blush didn't mean that, I'd still read it that way. Others might as well, we can't be sure

[thepixelelf]

hi! I have been wanting to write my own fluff shots n all but haven't published any because I don't know how to write a gender neutral reader but I really want to! Could you please help me with it? Seeing your post made me think you're the right person to ask so I hope you can help me out here!

Hello! I would absolutely love to help you write gender neutral, but it may help if you give me specific examples of where you struggle and with what aspects of gender neutral reader insert you struggle with. You can always DM me or just send in more asks — I'm very eager to help make reader insert writing as inclusive as possible!

That being said, I'll try to put some basic tips here

Use they/them pronouns (ex. "I just spoke to them." / "They told me so."

Avoid descriptions of the reader's looks (this also applies to the rest of inclusivity, but in terms of writing gender neutral, you'll want to completely avoid describing female body parts, size, makeup, etc.)

An extension on height: it's already hard for male readers to find gn fics, and even harder to find ones that are inclusive with height as well. It's quite likely that a male reader could be as tall or taller than the idol in the fic, so try not to describe reader's height in relationship to others.

An extension on the extension on height: it's not only in the description of the body that height is referenced to. Ex. "He leaned down to kiss you." / "You looked up at him." These examples imply that the reader is shorter than the idol and are very common in reader insert ff.

Try to find a beta reader willing to help you catch things like gendered pronouns! I don't have one myself, but I know it really helps to have a second perspective

[thepixelelf]

I just wanted to thank you for your post about inclusivity in x reader ff, and especially for including the height of y/n. I’m around average in my country but I guess I’m taller than most women world wide and nothing has made my insecurities about this skyrocket as much as x reader ff. I can ignore comments that call taller female idols “mountains” or “towers” (although they definitely do affect me, but more in the way that I question why someone felt the need to say this), but it feels different in ff, especially because I see it over and over again. There are so many writers who I adore and are so talented, but I just had to stop because all these little mentions about y/n being as small as possible made me feel so ugly and unlovable. I also feel like some writers tend to connect height to personality? And that’s just not how that works lol. Thank you again for that post, I hope more people will see it and think about inclusivity in their own works

I'm glad to hear that my post has made you feel included, and I hope inclusivity awareness continues to spread within the reader insert fanfic community so that you can feel included everywhere 💕

[thepixelelf]

Lately I've been seeing more inclusive smaus around and I just gotta say that fucks 😌

BUT! I really encourage continuing to spread the word on inclusivity in reader insert fanfiction especially in social media aus!!! If you see an exclusive fic, don't be afraid to let a writer know, or even if you don't feel up to confrontation (totally understandable), then you can even reach out to me and I can figure it out from there :))

Again, here are links to my posts on inclusivity in reader insert fanfiction:

I wanna talk about inclusivity

The problem with social media aus

How to make your social media au inclusive

[thepixelelf]

Smut is easily the most exclusive genre of reader-insert fics. It almost feels redundant to explain because it's so obvious when you see it.