What The Heck Is An Authenticity/Sensitivity Read?
Authenticity/Sensitivity Reading has become very popular in modern publishing. You’ll see it referenced in a lot of mainstream publishing, and you’ll also see its place in publishing debated and criticized.
But what the heck is it?
At its core, it is a type of editing that looks at the author's depiction of characters, subject matter, and themes throughout the novel that deal with specific lived experiences.
Typically, authors hire Authenticity Readers when writing about a lived experience they have not lived. For instance, if an author is writing a character who has a disability, but the author does not have that disability, they might consider hiring an authenticity reader with expertise in that disability to consult on their novel. This will ensure you are depicting a true experience and not just what your assumption of the experience is.
Authenticity Readers will have expertise in a specific subject matter and will use that expertise to guide the author and their writing. This means that there is not one catch-all sensitivity reader. When hiring a sensitivity reader, you would want to hire one who has expertise in the area you’re concerned about.
What’s the point?
The goal of the authenticity reader is not to judge you but rather to help ensure that you aren’t accidentally going to offend anyone with the way you’ve portrayed something. They will help you avoid harmful stereotypes, offensive language use, and the perpetuation of wrong information. It also ensures you’re not writing with any unconscious bias.
Why are you censoring me?!
Sensitivity reading is not censorship. Like any other form of editing, these are simply experts offering suggestions to help you improve your writing.
Returning to the disability example, maybe you used the term ‘wheelchair bound’ to describe your character. Most people who use wheelchairs prefer the term ‘wheelchair user’ as the word ‘bound’ has a negative connotation.
You might not know this, and it could inadvertently offend the audience that you were trying to reach when you wrote this character. Your disabled authenticity reader would be able to point this out, thus avoiding the faux pas.
There are lots of reasons you might consider hiring an authenticity reader. I would suggest consider it if you are writing about any lived experience you haven’t had.
This could include:
Characters who are a different race than you
Characters who belong to the LBGTQIA+ community and you don’t
Characters who have a disability you don’t have
Characters who experience mental health challenges that you haven’t experienced
Characters that are part of an ethnic community that you’re not part of
Characters have experienced trauma that you haven’t experienced
Hiring an authenticity reader is a great way to ensure you support the communities you represent in your writing.
