The subject of heated debate, professionals reviewing manuscripts for stigma or stereotypes, otherwise known as “sensitive readers” are condemned by some authors, while others who want to keep up with the times appreciate their work.

The sensitive readers They have been part of the Anglo-Saxon publishing industry for many years, especially in children’s literature. But with movements against sexual violence, such as #MeToo, or against racism, such as Black Lives Matter, they are becoming prominent across all genres.

And not everyone is happy.

Sensitive reviewers have just been ridiculed following the announcement that books by Roald Dahl or Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond novels, have been or will be reissued to suit contemporary cultural perceptions. In Dahl’s work, the characters are no longer “fat” or “crazy”; in Fleming’s descriptions of black characters considered racist are removed.

It didn’t take long for them to arrive the accusations of censorship by those who say they fear an aseptic literature that sweetens the past and the present.

“People say that, but I don’t think they understand the process”, he told the AFP Patrice Williams Marks, a sensitive reader from Los Angeles.

Photo: — The fig

“If you’re writing about a population or community you don’t know and you want it to be authentic, you’re looking for a sensitive reader. to be part of that community and they are asked for their opinion,” he explains.

On the other hand, the authors They are not obliged to accept the proposed changes.specifies Lola Isabel González, another proofreader also based in Los Angeles.

“Ruining Our Books”

Who are these sensitive readers? Generally these are independent publishers, often paid per word or per number of pages, and with strict confidentiality clauses, by authors or publishers concerned about the accuracy of their texts.

Or, as critics claim, avoid at all costs the consequences of a possible storm on social networks in case of a wrong step.

The Manuscript Reviewers They offer different specialties depending on their origin, religion or experience: “son of immigrants”, “bisexual”, “autistic”, “hijab wearer”, “deaf”, “expert in mainland China and Hong Kong culture”.

For British author Kate Clanchy, “There are good reasons to regulate children’s reading: it is fundamental and formative”. Not so for adults, who can “leave a book behind if it bothers them,” argued this writer last year, who was at the center of a controversy when her memoir was accused of being racist and discriminatory.

the American Lionel Shriver, author of the award-winning novel We need to talk about Kevin (2003), is one of the most critical voices against sensitive readers, which he calls “sensitivity police”. “Constant anxiety at the thought of hurting other people’s feelings inhibits spontaneity and hinders literary creativity”, he criticized in the British newspaper Guardian in 2017.

Editors “they do a very good job of ruining our books and our enjoyment as readers”, Shriver lamented on the ultra-conservative British channel GB News last month.

In France, a country that is very reluctant to text revisions, the essayist Raphael Enthoven denounced them in 2020 “modern censors” as “the vanguard of the identity plague”.

Help ‘immense’

But in the name of authenticity and anti-racism, there are writers who prefer “sensitive readers.””. Among them is the American Adele Holmes, who used one for her first book, The reckoning of winter (2022).

It was the sensitivity reader that identified “white privilege issues” and, more prosaically, suggested using the word “kinky” for the character of a black woman described as having “silky” hair, Holmes explained to the AFP.

Holmes felt that the Sensitivity Reader helped her “extremely”.

According to her, the criticism comes from those who feel threatened by minority claims, in a publishing world known for being predominantly white. For González, the fact that sensitive readers are a growing figure in the publishing world reflects the evolution of a segment of society.

“I don’t think I could have done this job professionally in another decade.he affirmed, and was thankful that Generation Z (of those born in the late 1990s and early 2000s) is challenging social narratives.

“Younger generations understand the importance of sensitivity assessmentunlike their elders, who “might find it harder to see it as progress,” he opined.