Offensive content and words are to be removed from the new versions of Roald Dahl's children's books. Some talk about censorship, others find it appropriate. DW spoke to Sensitivity Reader Helen Gould.
Helen Gould has been working as a sensitivity reader for a number of years
Last week, Britain's The Telegraph reported that Penguin-owned publisher Puffin Books had made hundreds of changes to the characters and language in British author Roald Dahl's famous children's books. This includes the now gender-neutral labeling of the little Oompa Loompas in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and the characterization of Augustus Gloop as “huge” instead of “fat”. These changes affect the English editions of the children's books, after Sensitivity Readers were asked to read the books and point out possible offensive content.
A spokesman for the Roald Dahl publishing house said the changes were “small and well-considered”. Nonetheless, the announcement sparked an outcry from a number of writers, as well as Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who through a spokesman said that “fictional works should be preserved, not embellished.” Author Salman Rushdie spoke of “absurd censorship” in a tweet.
Whether or not one agrees with how Dahl's books have been revised in English, the debate offers an opportunity to learn about a new profession: the sensitivity reader. The English word “sensitivity” means sensitivity or sensibility in German. Sensitivity readers are hired by publishers to screen books for offensive content, stereotypes, prejudice and a lack of understanding of marginalized groups.
“I think a lot of people hear about the job in the context of 'Oh, the woke mob is coming to take your favorite literature and they're spoiling the best books'. But that's, honestly, a bunch of nonsense,” says Helen Gould, a UK professional writer who has worked as a sensitivity reader since 2017.
Is Roald Dahl's language still appropriate today? Check out the Sensitivity Reader
A different kind of editing
“A sensitivity reader is a different kind of editor, and we're looking for things that might not come across the way the author intended intended,” explains Gould.
Her first job in this capacity was when she checked a friend's game for potentially offensive content. Since then, she has proofread a wide variety of content, including fiction books. “I've even reviewed some non-fiction books that deal with people of color history but weren't written by people of color themselves. So they may want to make a joke in the text, and it's my job to telling them, 'Oh, I don't think that's going to go down well.'”
Gould's approach to proofreading sensitive topics is to read a text with two questions in mind: “Will this text possibly harm And if so, how can we make sure it doesn't do any damage?”
She also emphasizes that, contrary to what some people think, Sensitivity Readers don't go through texts with a red pencil and say, “You can't say that.” Instead, she pays attention to nuance and complexity. For example, she refers to characters who appear more two-dimensional and serve stereotypes. “I could say, 'Oh, that's a black character who's almost always angry. Have you ever thought about taking your personality to another level?'
Gould then emails her suggestions to the publisher, who then passes it on to the author. In most cases, Gould said they were open-minded and took their suggestions into account.
A multitude of changes have been made to Roald Dahl's children's books
Experts on every subject< /h2>
Each Sensibility Reader has different areas of specialization. Gould, for example, specializes in racism and politics. On the day she spoke to DW, she was working on a project in which the writers were concerned with the reproduction of colonial thought. Other areas of expertise are, for example, dealing with non-binary identities, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety or depression.
“Some are most familiar with issues such as transgender people, others are best able to examine issues involving Jewish people It all depends on the lived experience and expertise of the individual,” explains Gould. She often refers authors to editors with other specializations when she feels that person can best help them.
Rewrite Shakespeare?
Gould gets frustrated when asked to read something that has already been published: “Personally, I don't think sensitivity reading makes sense when something has already been published – when the kid has already fallen in the well, so to speak”. Instead, Gould thinks the Disney media company's approach is the best: A warning is put in front of older cartoons that contain racist elements. This indicates that the content is insensitive. Gould thinks a similar approach could be used with books.
“If you want to go really far back, I wouldn't say you should change Shakespeare's 'Othello' because it portrays a black man giving in to anger and being stereotypically violent,” says Gould.
“But I would say that one should keep those stereotypes in mind when reading the text – one should keep in mind the context of the time, the racism of the time and the fact that the author was white, because that will help you better understand the text and understand what it's trying to say,” says Gould.
However, it is unclear whether her profession will establish itself in the industry or be forgotten over time. Gould thinks both are possible.” On the one hand, 99 percent of the publishers and editors I've worked with are very concerned that they portray marginalized groups and figures in the right way (.. .) But lately we've seen a massive backlash from the right to the various advances we've made since the 1990s.”
Lack of diversity
A 2022 study by the UK Publishers Association examining diversity and inclusion in the UK publishing industry found that only 17 percent were people of color and that there was a lack of diversity.
In one In an article published on online platform The Conversation, author Sarah Jilani, Lecturer in English at City University London, points out that collaboration is key in the publishing scene and that sensitivity readers are a necessary part of the process to create a getting the manuscript to print – especially given the lack of diversity in the industry.
Gould is important to clarify that sensitivity readers are there to help the author rather than to to censor them. In the age of social media, it can be “scary” for writers to publish their work because it will be immediately scrutinized earth, she says: “We can give the author the confidence to have dealt with the subject correctly.”
Adaptation from English: Maria John Sánchez and Bettina Baumann.