Sensitivity Reader

A sensitivity reader is someone who reads a literary work, looking for perceived offensive content, stereotypes and bias, creating a report for an author or publisher with suggested changes. The use of sensitivity readers has attracted controversy from authors and the public, particularly with respect to edits to re-editions of previously published works of literature.

Purpose

Proponents state "the literary quality of a work is substantially improved" when reviewed and copy-edited by others from "a specific Nation or community that the author is writing about". Helen Wicks, managing director for children's trade at Bonnier, defended the practice by stating that "we believe sensitivity reads can play an important role in inclusive, forward-thinking publishing."

Revisions of previously published works

In addition to new works, publishers have also used sensitivity readers to flag content perceived as offensive in previously published works, such as outdated attitudes towards race or gender. This has also affected prominent authors and their works, such as Ian Fleming, Roald Dahl, Agatha Christie and PG Wodehouse. At times, these revisions have given rise to controversy.

Ian Fleming

In 2023, it was reported that Ian Fleming's '' James Bond'' series was being re-published, with a number of racial slurs and references removed, along with some disparagements of women and homosexuality. A disclaimer was added at the beginning of each book, reading "This book was written at a time when terms and attitudes which might be considered offensive by modern readers were commonplace. A number of updates have been made in this edition, while keeping as close as possible to the original text and the period in which it is set."

Roald Dahl

New editions of Roald Dahl's children's novels published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Books, changed some of Dahl's language regarding weight, mental health, gender and race, as reported in February 2023. The aim, in the publisher's words, was to "ensure that it can continue to be enjoyed by all today." The alterations were recommended by sensitivity readers at the organization Inclusive Minds.

The decision was met with criticism from groups and public figures including the CEO of PEN America, Salman Rushdie, Brian Cox, Rishi Sunak, and Kemi Badenoch. Queen Camilla, also made remarks during a speech, which were widely interpreted as a condemnation of Puffin's announcement. In ''Matilda'', references to Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling were replaced by references to Jane Austen and John Steinbeck. In ''The Witches'', which features a group of witches who wear wigs, a new sentence was added in which the practice of wig-wearing among women is defended. Several days later, Puffin announced that after " isteningto the debate over the past week", it would also continue to sell the original, unaltered editions of Roald Dahl's children's novels, under the title ''The Roald Dahl Classic Collection''.

Criticism

Critics accuse sensitivity readers of being "new moral gatekeepers", offering a way to " cancel-proof your book".

Writers Anthony Horowitz and Kate Clanchy have both criticized the impact of sensitivity readers on their books, the latter ultimately breaking with publisher Picador after controversy surrounding her memoir. In 2021 Clanchy wrote an essay expressing her concerns that her sensitivity readers seemed 'to concur that the past should match an idealised present', and to imply that writing, 'should represent the world as it ought to be, not as it is.' Further, Clanchy stated that the readers did not recognise irony and satire and wished 'to eliminate journeys of thought across chapters, ambiguity from paragraphs, and nuance from sentences'. Clanchy's essay together with others has continued to be discussed internationally in the following years.

See also

* Cultural diversity
* Expurgation (also known as bowdlerization)

References

Types of editors
Censorship

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