A (Non-Exhaustive) List of (Red-ish) Flags In Writing
Particularly when writing people with a marginalized identity that you don't hold, it can be hard to tell what is an issue if you're not familiar with it. Research should be your main reference point, but sometimes you need to go with your instincts.
Here is a very non-exhaustive list of things that should flag to you that you need to take another look at it and do some more research:
- Is a person/culture/group presented as "backwards", irrational, un-modern, or uniformly aggressive?
- Am I using coded language (e.g. thug, slut, slow) to describe a character?
- Am I associating sexual habits or preferences with a certain race, religion, gender, or class?
- Am I dismissing or making light of devestating historical events that appear or are referenced in the story?
- Am I prioritizing the rehabilitation of individuals or groups who commited violence, particularly at the expense of those who experienced that violence?
- Are my characters, particularly my marginalized characters, embodying stereotypes with no other characteristics?
- Do my marginalized characters exist simply so I can say I have included marginalized characters?
- Am I applying every marginalization to one character so that I don't have to "deal with it" in other characters?
- Do marginalizations, particularly disabilities, only appear when convenient?
- Do marginalized characters, particularly Characters of Color, exist only to guide or care for white characters?
