Yet another layer of editorial control:
Before a book is published and released to the public, it’s passed through the hands (and eyes) of many people: an author’s friends and family, an agent and, of course, an editor.
These days, though, a book may get an additional check from an unusual source: a sensitivity reader, a person who, for a nominal fee, will scan the book for racist, sexist or otherwise offensive content. These readers give feedback based on self-ascribed areas of expertise such as “dealing with terminal illness,” “racial dynamics in Muslim communities within families” or “transgender issues.”
Sensitivity readers have emerged in a climate – fueled in part by social media – in which writers are under increased scrutiny for their portrayals of people from marginalized groups, especially when the author is not a part of that group.
The snowflakes are literally so weird that highly trained writers cannot possibly predict where they will melt down in the text. All you can do is give them a book, and wait to see where the explosions occur.
Imagine how maladapted to harshness they are. Now, not only can’t they face the world. They need all books pre-read by specialists, and specifically tailored to their neuroses, to shield them from even the smallest amount of vicarious amygdala-triggering. They can’t read fiction about an imaginary world where their amygdala would be triggered, without experiencing an intolerable amount of amygdala triggering.
The funniest thing is, this will only provoke even more amygdala atrophy, as we head into the Apocalypse. Where those amygdalae meet the Apocalypse, watch out.
Spread r/K Theory, because no Sensitivity Reader is required