#sensitivity & representation

[cy-cyborg]

What able bodied authors think I, an amputee and a wheelchair user, would want in a scifi setting:

Tech that can regenerate my old meat legs.

Robot legs that work just like meat legs and are functionally just meat legs but robot

Literally anything that would mean I don't have to use a wheelchair.

If I do need to use a wheelchair, make it fly or able to "walk me" upstairs

What I actually want:

Prosthetic covers that can change colour because I'm too indecisive to pick one colour/pattern for the next 5+ years.

A leg that I can turn off (seriously, my above knee prosthetic has no off switch... just... why?)

A leg that won't have to get refitted every time I gain or loose weight.

A wheelchair that I can teleport to me and legs I can teleport away when I'm too tired to keep walking. And vice versa.

In that same vein, legs I can teleport on instead of having to fiddle around with the sockets for half an hour.

Prosthetic feet that don't require me to wear shoes. F*ck shoes.

Actually accessible architecture, which means when I do want to use my wheelchair, it's not an issue.

Prosthetic legs with dragon-claw feet instead of boring human feet or just digigrade prosthetics that are just as functional as normal human-shaped ones.

A manual wheelchair with the option to lift my seat up like those scissor-lift things so I'm not eye-level with everyone's butt on public transport/so I can reach the top shelf by myself.

A prosthetic foot that lights up when it hits the ground like those children's shoes.

A few additions I remember seeing in the comments on my old account:

holographic prosthetic covers

transformers-style mobility aids that can fold into the shapes of different aids (e.g. a wheelchair that can fold into a cane)

prosthetic covers with pockets/hidden compartments (kind of surprised this isn't a thing already).

find my leg (like find my iphone, but for your legs when you haven't worn them in a while lol)

TLDR: Stop assuming every disabled person would want to be as close to "normal" as possible in your works. Some absolutely would and having options for them if fine, but I rarely see any examples of media showing those of us who don't. start letting amputees in your scifi works have fun with our prosthetics, fix the problems real amputees are already talking about instead of what you think are the issues and make your settings as a whole accessible!

[ratfish-blues]

Actually, this deserves its own post because the way Abbott Elementary handled Melissa's character in this episode is genuinely some of the best dyslexia representation I have ever seen on TV.

She's not a little kid who overcomes her disability as an adult. Her dyslexia doesn't give her superpowers (weirdly common trope). She isn't portrayed as stupid by the show or the other characters because of it. She's a competent adult who has developed coping mechanisms to deal with her disability and is still shown to struggle sometimes despite that! Oh my god is that refreshing!

Also, Melissa being competitive about the reading challenge and Barbra's comment about how good she is at engaging kids in reading is totally recontextualized by the reveal that she has a learning disability and especially the reveal that she was probably teased for her LD as a kid (which I'm also so happy that they brought up - I don't think most people realize how competitive elementary schools tend to make reading, and how shitty and ostracizing that can be for kids who struggle with it). Winning the book challenge is important to her because it's something she used to really struggle with. She's good at getting kids to read because she can relate to their challenges in a personal way. They directly tie her LD to her strengths as a teacher without it being fantastical or over-emphasized and I can't even begin to tell you how much I love it!

The bit at the end where she says "you know how sometimes I have to read things a few times" to Janine, in the break room with no students present is also a great scene because it shows her LD in an adult, professional context. It's a conversation that I, and every dyslexic person I know, has had with their co-workers at some point. I just love that they make a point of normalizing her LD in an adult workplace setting that's separate from the classroom and away from the kids.

This season has done an awesome job talking about disability generally but the choice to give not just a student, but one of the teachers an LD was an absolutely perfect move. I really hope this gets brought up in later episodes and isn't just a one-off.

[7clubs]

PH Graphic Novel Sensitivity Readers.

EDIT: All found! This call for readers is closed.

Got the OK from my publisher, so uhm! This is going to be so specific and maybe a little unprecedented so I might as well ask everywhere. Hey. Help.

I am looking for sensitivity readers/beta readers for my YA graphic novel draft. Ideally based in the Philippines (ease of compensation reasons)

I am looking to address these perspectives:

Transfeminine Pinays

Kapampangan

Moro (specifically Tausug and/or Maranao)

Obviously this book is lesbian and trans as hell, so please be part of the community or an ally.

I am being traditionally published in the US, so if you have the professional/academic credentials I will try to compensate based on suggested rates over there :]

That said, I know it might be hard to find people with specific experiences for this, so like. literally if you are within these groups at all and interested please just hit me up I will welcome it 😭 Just understand I might not compensate as much if you're not as versed in this kind of literary analysis/feedback.

I tried to research as much as I can on my own but I want to really make sure I'm not missing anything, or if I can add even more truth. Thanks! Spread the word!

(I'm still working on finishing the draft for the last act over the next 2-ish months, but it can't hurt to get started.)

Draft Format: Comic is somewhat cleanly sketched out, with text already in.

Est final word count: maybe 14k words?

Age Group: Young Adult/Teen

Genre: LGBT, Fantasy Action/Adventure

CWs can be provided upon request!

[mikenesmithmpreg]

insane that the monkees tv show was made in the 60s and it STILL has better autism representation than 99% of what’s out today. it might possibly be the best representation ever

[birchbow]

One of the worldbuilding facets I love in PoF is the trollish cultural aesthetic sense with respect to horns! Big horns are often described as handsome and Karkat’s little nubs are apparently pitiable-cute with a distinctly “soothing partner” pale flavor. Are there other horn shape/size connotations that trolls would generally have?

Oh man this made me think of troll actors: it would be so much easier to play a historical figure or a character adapted from a novel who is supposed to have a specific horn shape if you naturally have really small horns and use prosthetics!

I hesitate slightly to answer this ONLY because I have written so much at this point I feel like I'm likely to contradict my own writing by accident haha. But! Some horn rambling.

Horns that are perfectly intact would be an impressive achievement--"This person's incredibly dangerous and hasn't taken a scratch" vs "this person is a fucking loser pansy"

Conversely, horns that are chipped or scarred, especially in a good position for headbutting etc, would be a tough, badass look. Hot for pitch or ashen!

In my half-assed theory of horns as recievers/broadcasters of psionics, big horns would be considered a sign of more brute strength in whatever your power is, and small horns would be considered an indicator of more precision

...which is passed around as a hard and fast biological rule but is actually just moderate correlation + confirmation bias/word of mouth

I make note of Karkat's little horns in a pale context b/c of my headcanon that deep, firm pressure at the base of the horn's root nerve has an autonomic soothing effect. Small blunt horns that are mostly that darker red-orange base chitin would be very sensitive to pressure--but also, no good for challenges or threat displays. Very hot if you can get your hands on them but also not exactly grabbable. It's giving "You Can Look But You Can't Touch" lolol

Conversely I write the horn away from the base as sensitive to clicking/catching sensations (like another pair of horns locking and rattling against them) so for a black quadrant more of the hardened gold-to-orange would be hotter!

I've described Makara horns as "elegant"--horns that extend up or out from the body would come across as eye-catching and kind of impractical, but very striking. Personal preference varies whether that's attractive vs compact/spiralled, etc.

For that matter, I imagine it's hotly debated whether horns that are "mismatched"/asymmetrical are a turn-off or are preferable because they're more interesting/unique...

Similarly one horn, or more than two, would be increasingly noteworthy.

Trolls with NO visible horns would be just as startling as like. A person missing their eyes, or their hands; certainly possible, either from birth or from Alternia Life (TM) but seeing someone missing an entire body part/sensory system would give most people pause.

Horn jewelry was not a big trend on Beforus: the empress's love of shiny shit all over her body made it a big thing on Alternia. Horn "bracelets" fitted to the horn are expensive and most people who aren't seadwellers go for tied/woven decoration instead.

Some real tough customers drill piercings into the horns, but that's famously hideously painful especially near the root--plus it can make them dangerously fragile, especially for a larger-bore piercing.

Hornsssssss >8Ic Anyway this has been a lot I hope I answered your question in there somewhere lol

[a-little-revolution]

Hi Elliot! I'm wondering what your stance is on consulting for the creative projects of others? I have average height friends, for example, who would love to have a Little Person as a sensitivity reader for future scripts, and of course I thought of you.

Hello! I'm actually working on a sensativity read on a fantasy novel in the works right now!

If anyone is looking for sensitivity reads, please reach out! I am happy to do them for a commission!!

[blackbackedjackal]

Hey Jackal sincere question, is the quad all black werewolf thing something you don't like others in general doing because of its black trauma symbolism, or is it mostly just in this context with this dog person? Just curious!

It was with Dog specifically since we were collaborating. June’s Gévaudan form in her narrative is a representation of Black trauma and is a concept I came up with for Strawberry Moon. With us collaborating, I wasn't comfortable with the narrative inconsistency of using the visuals outside of that. Essentially in that image you had a white woman in a sexy pose infront of a woc that was drawn with a narrative representation of Black trauma, and that was what I was taking issue with.

Not to mention, Lacey had already been compared to June multiple times at this point since Dog and Ependa copied her design and tried to deny it. This felt like she was testing my boundaries with how much copying she could get away with and in one of the worst ways.

[northern-passage]

i've been thinking a lot about the word "representation" and what it means and how it's changed over the last few years, particularly when it comes to the writing/publishing landscape but also in movies and tv shows… and i really don't like it anymore. to be clear, of course i think it's important to have diversity in your work, i'm not saying i hate the concept of representation. but i do really dislike the way it's used now, and i really just hate the word itself

in a broader sense it's just become a marketing tool. i'm not impressed by any publisher or author who just describes their book by listing all of the minorities/identities the characters represent as if that should be enough. it feels very gross, very exploitative and disingenuous. it also really bothers me because it's always marginalized identities- which i understand Why, but it feels very othering to me (and again. Very exploitative as an advertisement). you would never list out "cishet able-bodied white man" as a character description to pat yourself on the back over. so why do it to everyone else? why insinuate that one is the "default" and the other one is "special"? (and when i say this i'm mainly talking about advertisements/marketing. i understand why people would specify about characters in descriptions with the plot, but i don't like to see an ad that's just "this book has gay people!" with nothing else)

which then leads me to my other point, which is that a lot of people treat "representation" as if it's "too hard." like "oh i don't know enough to write about that, i don't have that experience, etc" which is a fair way to feel! however… it's weird that people only say this about writing trans characters or characters of color. i'm writing a story right now with a character who is really into motorcycles. i personally do not know that much about motorcycles, so i researched what parts are what & what different kinds of models there are & what basic bike care looks like. i guarantee Most people will have to google something at some point in their writing process. so what's the problem? it also, again, feels very othering when authors treat certain groups of people as "impossible" to write, "too hard" to understand. they are just.. people. you write them as a person. and then you figure out the rest later.

and i think part of the refusal or fear to write something outside of your experience is because of the way representation is treated as So Special. these characters are So Special that they aren't allowed to be anything other than "representation." they're Not allowed to be characters with complex emotions and interesting motivations, they have to just be Trans or Gay or Disabled or whatever. they're not allowed to be people. which means, at the end of the day, we loop right back around to where we were at the start….

there is bad representation. there are depictions of certain marginalized people that are harmful and that are damaging, i'm not trying to minimize that or argue against it at all, in fact we should all be mindful of that while writing and reading. but i also think it's possible to swing too far in the opposite direction as well and put certain groups of people on a pedestal and not allow them to do anything at all but be Perfect Representation, if that makes sense.

[communistkenobi]

conversations about representation have always felt so navel-gazing to me, in part because those conversations tend to remain at the level of individual characters. the focus is on representing individuals as meaningful examples of the groups they belong to - to have “good” representation is to see some component(s) of your social identity reflected back at you by a character without those being the only traits of those characters. To measure representation you first look to see if there are visual or descriptive markers of identity - skin colour, gender, sexual attraction, ability - and then, once that evidence is established, one looks at how characters interact with and contribute to the narrative. does this gay character have a romantic partner? does this black character have interiority not related to their relationship to white characters? is this woman character motivated by something other than a desire to impress men? The goal is to avoid stereotypes, to be an anti-stereotype.

And so you ‘solve’ representation through the adequate presence of these characters. But I think this is an inherently individualistic and anti-liberatory way to approach representation, because it views minorities as individuals who can be cut from the social fabric of real life and transported into different fictional universes while leaving their identities fully intact. The presence of a disabled character does not also require the inclusion of structural ableism in the narrative, their individual presence is enough to represent disability. And so their presence in the narrative seems to emerge from nowhere - you don’t judge representation by looking at how the narrative represents and thinks about historical structures of race, gender, ability, you judge it by the amount of characters who contain those social markers. It means social identity exists primarily within the individual. There is no historical perspective given to characters, no acknowledgement of the fact that identity is dialectic and socially mediated. to paraphrase Gramsci, history impresses upon you an infinity of traces without leaving an inventory, and I think when discussing representation, people judge the quality of representation by those traces - race, gender, ability, sexuality, religion, etc - but ignores the inventory, the origins of those things, the social processes that produce race, produce gender, constantly and everyday. And so you get these characters that feel dislocated, alien to themselves and other people, because they express an identity that appears to have no origin point in the fictional world, no social backing. They are essentialised to what they “are” deep down inside. Characters are not made racial, not made gendered, not made disabled by the universe they exist in, they simply “are” those things.

And if narratives do tackle those histories, they tend to represent them primarily through misery. You know a character is gay because they get called slurs. You see a black character experience racism. You recognise a character is a woman by the fact that she is sexually assaulted. The history of their identities is represented as individual acts of violence or trauma, as if misogyny or racism are narrative objects themselves that occasionally collide with the characters to remind the audience that the authors take history very seriously. If an author is especially serious, they will get individual sensitivity readers to confirm or deny the authenticity of the social identity being expressed on the page; much less often you will hear of authors who rigorously consult, for example, books like Orientalism to ensure the structure of their work is not reproducing Western (and ultimately racist) conclusions about the world they are creating. Representational politics begins (and frequently ends) at the level of the individual. And so you get queer characters who endure homophobia or transphobia, but whose ultimate wish is to enter into a monogamous marriage and reproduce the social unit of the nuclear family, or the black character who finally finds community in a group of all white people that aren’t racist to their face. That’s not tackling history, that’s just allowing these character to be momentarily exempt from it. the historical norms and hegemonies present in the narrative are disconnected from the characters themselves. this is why you can have “good representation” in stories that are fundamentally racist or misogynistic or heteronormative (see: ofmd). If representation is only housed in your characters, if you view representation as a discrete trait that you can add more or less of, you are not thinking about the social identities that you are representing in a systemic way - you are, in effect, producing tokens.

And I think that sense of dislocation is part of what motivates people to cringe away from stories primarily billed as having “a diverse cast” or filled with “queer characters” or whatever, even when they are otherwise desperate for those things (excluding from this discussion the people who dislike the mere appearance of characters who are not strong white men, a perspective that is not worth entertaining). I do not want to watch stories that smash characters and identities together like barbie dolls, that treat race or gender as something to “tackle” in a B plot or a “police brutality episode” like you get in a show like Brooklyn 99. I do not want a character creation screen. Identity should, ideally, be part of the structure of the narrative, not a thing you merely choose to “include.” Which is much more difficult, of course - it requires a robust political imagination, but it’s a problem that is possible to solve.

[bunnyinatree]

Can someone who is well-versed in Witcher lore confirm or deny whether Geralt has albinism? He is listed on the wiki page for characters with albinsim, but seeing as every character with albinism that I know of isnt included, I dont trust the list very much…

[beneathashadytree]

Gentle reminder that I write for a gender-neutral MC with zero physical descriptions! Only when pregnancy is involved do I write that they’re AFAB. Other than those cases, it’s as vague as possible to make sure that everyone in the fandom feels included!

[more ranting in the tags oops]

[the960writers]

A sensitivity reader is someone who reads a literary work, looking for perceived offensive content, accidental stereotypes and bias. They then create a report for a writer, publisher or another industry pro with suggested changes. No more, no less. FYI, I actually don’t like the term ‘sensitivity reader’. I feel it plays into (some) writers’ belief the job is ‘pandering’ to various communities or cultures. These writers focus on the word ‘sensitivity’ being about the READER or VIEWER, when in reality that word refers to US, the writer (ie. we’re the ones who should be ‘sensitive’, not the other way around!). I much prefer the term ‘authenticity checker’. It shows the value of the job, because as we all know: industry pros want AUTHENTIC STORIES right now! But maybe you’re on the fence about needing a sensitivity reader, or perhaps you’re thinking about becoming one yourself? No doubt you will have heard all the myths I list here … I know I have! I’m going to spotlight each one, with why they’re wrong. Ready? Let’s go … [...]

[thestargayzingetherian]

Sensitivity Reader Request

Hey guys, I need a sensitivity reader for a part of my sci fi AU. There's a story plot I want to incorporate into it revolving around the Magicats but I'm worried it could be seen as offensive. Would anyone be willing to help me out?

Preferably looking for any POC or Indigenous folks especially. I can discuss it in more detail in DMs.

[mikenesmithmpreg]

kidding. love is stored in the tork. its in the bible. please adhere or you will die and go to hell immediately where i’ll be there waiting for you

[mybendyplaces]

my doctor: do NSAIDs work for you?

me: no

him: have you tried them before?

me: yes

him: which ones?

me: naproxen, ibuprofen, aleeve, and tylenol.

him: and they didn’t work? they should work for young people like you

me: they don’t.

him: well. keep doing physical therapy. we don’t want to prescribe medication to young patients who can do things for preventative measures

sir. my joints already suck, nothing is being prevented anymore. just give me pain meds/management.

[unikittybigbrightworldau]

Requesting Advice For My AU!

Hello, everyone! I'm looking for someone who can offer me advice/critiques for Unikitty: Big Bright World, my AU fanfiction based on the show Unikitty.

Unikitty: Big Bright World follows Unikitty and her friends as they discover that their world is bigger than they know. There are other lands beyond the Unikingdom and Frowntown, but the people there aren’t like them or Frowntown’s citizens. Due to disagreements, dissonance, and people’s intolerance with how others were living, the lands went their separate ways, and have been living in isolation ever since. So, in the series, the lands learn to work together and get along while also being mindful of their differences.

The stories introduce six other lands beyond the Unikingdom and Frowntown:

Swan Lake, a land across the sea known for its dancing, fashion, art, traveling and athletics.

Ice Cream Land, a frosty land up north that, as its name suggests, is full of ice cream and dairy treats.

Elegancia, a kingdom created by my friend @/ButterflyRage410 from Wattpad; she let me use it in this series. It is known for its gemstone theming and elegance.

Charm Valley, a land in a deep, wide valley with a taiga climate. It is known for its citizens' specialties in magic.

Botania, a lush land that spans a forest, a tropical rainforest, an open grassland, a desert and a tundra. The people live in harmony with their world and the nature within it.

Marevi, a land under the sea that spans a bed of seagrass, a kelp forest, a coral reef, a golden yellow sand bed, and a rocky volcanic ridge. The people deeply respect the life and nature within their ocean.

None of these lands are meant to be based on any real life cultures. I wanted to use made-up places to reflect how different people from different places interact.

However, I've been having doubts.

Unikitty is set in a world populated by 2D-animated Lego beings. Some are animals, some are more humanoid creatures made of shapes, and some are anthropomorphic objects. There are non-anthropomorphic animals as well. There are no Lego minifigures or any actual humans in the show. There are two main locations: the Unikingdom and Frowntown, neither of which are meant to be based on any real countries or cultures.

However, there are still some connections to the real world in the show. In one episode, the characters order from a Thai food restaurant. Hawkodile practices martial arts and frequently mentions karate; in one episode, he acts as a sensei to a bunch of baby chipmunks. In some episodes, the characters are shown celebrating Christmas, Halloween, and Valentine’s Day. Languages other than English are confirmed to exist; the Unikingdom and Frowntown are treated as different countries from each other, but everyone speaks English in both places.

There are some connections to the real world in this AU as well. In Botania, there’s a J-rock band that was inspired by BABYMETAL, who performed the theme song for the show.

My mind keeps telling me that I need to include elements from real-world cultures in my AU and code my characters as real-world races; otherwise, my message about people from different places working together won’t go through right.

Writing this AU means the world to me, and I want to have fun writing it, but I also don't want to offend anyone.

I’ve been told that, as long as I’m being respectful about it, I’ll be fine. But sometimes, you don’t even know when you’re not being respectful.

Maybe I'm just overthinking this. Maybe it's all coming from rejection sensitivity. I get frustrated, stressed out and offended very easily, and mean-spirited criticism hurts my feelings. But, I would feel a lot better if someone gave me their two cents on my AU.

Here is a video documenting the history of Big Bright World:

Here is a post documenting the history of my characters:

Here are some differences this AU has from the show:

Several episodes from the show itself didn’t happen in this AU, including its finale, The Birthday to End All Birthdays.

This AU is set in the future of the show; to be more precise, it takes place about 3 years after the show.

It is much less episodic and over-the-top silly than the original show.

Unikitty and Puppycorn’s parents are introduced, but they’re usually away because they work for a cruise liner. They also don’t live in the castle with the gang. Unikitty and Puppycorn are still being cared for by Richard, and Unikitty is still ruling the Unikingdom in her own right. Their parents are still around, but they’re not often seen.

Legendary figures like Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Sandman appear in the canon show, but in this AU, none of them exist.

And here are things I’d like you to look at:

The first story in the series, Broken and Frozen.

Fanmade citizens of the Unikingdom in this AU.

Fanmade citizens of Frowntown in this AU.

Citizens of Ice Cream Land that appear.

Citizens of Swan Lake that appear.

Citizens of Marevi that appear.

Citizens of Botania that appear.

Citizens of Elegancia that appear.

Citizens of Charm Valley that appear.

Schools that I made up for the Unikingdom and Frowntown.

The Seagang in their Land Forms.

How far space exploration has gone in each land.

A plant that is symbolic in Marevi.

How fashion has influenced weapons and armor in Ice Cream Land.

How the climate has influenced fashion in Ice Cream Land.

A fact about Botania’s performing arts.

How performing arts are taught in each land.

The Unikingdom and Frowntown’s Wizard Scouts system in this AU.

A headcanon about Legos’ lifespans.

Shelltop and Waterlily’s hair.

What kinds of beings live in each land.

Me explaining how I want there to be things that the Unigang and the other lands can find common ground on.

References I made for a Poe-themed musical that Spike was in.

What it means to be wealthy in each land.

Dr. Fox’s family tree in this AU.

The characters’ relationships with one another.

The characters’ confirmed sexualities and gender identities.

The characters’ confirmed disabilities.

A comparison I made with this AU’s lore.

The difference between adoptive and biological children in this AU.

A disclaimer about my characters and their headcanon voices.

What my characters’ rooms look like.

Birthdays that hold a special significance to the people in this AU.

A historical event that changed traditions in Swan Lake.

My characters’ backstories.

How isolated the different parts of the world are.

Ten facts about Marcella and Germafrost.

Maps depicting the regions of Marevi and Botania.

More facts about the lands’ performing arts.

A fact about having black spiky hair in the Unikingdom vs. Marevi.

A fact about table etiquette in the Unikingdom vs. Ice Cream Land.

The characters in formal wear.

More in Ice Cream Land’s history.

The Unikingdom’s equivalent of Broadway/West End.

Which generation of Imogen’s family moved to Frowntown?

More about Piano’s life.

More about Germafrost’s brother Neapolitan.

I’m considering bringing back Deepa, a yak who lived in Ice Cream Land.

More about Swan Lakers and their dancing customs.

How the lands as they are now came to be.

An idea for Waterlily’s moon jelly bell.

More on Needle.

I’m considering changing characters’ names so they match where their animal species is from in real life.

Fake wiki pages for my characters:

Swanna and Lee

Imogen

Sgt. Wolf

Germafrost

Piano

Master Cupid

Pepper

Mabel

Shelltop

Waterlily

Spike

Marcella/“Butterpearl”

Cream

Kira

Allegra

Bia

Zora

Trey

Thank you for your consideration!