How to Edit for Bias Without Making People Mad
Photo by Rumman Amin on Unsplash
Some people are always going to be mad, so I’m not talking about them. But say you are editing work by your average well-meaning white person who is not terribly conscious of their own biases, blind spots, and how things might come across on the page. And they say something not-so-great.
Today’s fake example? Hot beverages. Your author might write, “In today’s cities there are coffee shops on every corner and only fussy old ladies drink tea.”
Ouch. That’s definitely biased against tea drinkers and also features some ageism. As editors, we can’t let that stand. (Let’s put aside for the moment how badly written this sentence is. Coming up with fake examples is hard.)
In some ways this is the same as editing any other mistake. You remove all agency from your query. No matter what you actually think, always write the query as if the author didn’t mean to say what they said.
If necessary, first complain to your editor friends about how offensive this author is. Air your feelings so you can be as polite and objective as possible.
There’s the old piece of advice: Tell someone a statement is racist. Do not tell them that they are racist. As editors, we take it one step further back. Tell someone that although they didn’t mean it to be so, their statement could be possibly be interpreted as racist.
Even if an author says “All hot chocolate drinkers are terrible people,” the editor has to hedge their bets. “AU: This statement is a little bit of a generalization,” and then gently suggest the author be more precise. “Joe drinks hot chocolate, and I saw him kick his dog.” Joe is a terrible person. We have removed the hot beverage bias.
An author quotes someone who makes an obscure slur about peppermint tea drinkers. When you bring up that maybe their book shouldn’t include a historical slur about peppermint tea drinkers, the author responds “I hope readers will understand that this reflects the prejudice of the time.”
A version of this happened in one of my editorial projects. I pushed back. “Yes, I know this reflects the prejudice of the time, but there is a lot of division among hot beverage drinkers, and I don’t think we need to add to that chorus. Is there another quote that would serve your point?”
And there was. I didn’t enter into an argument about historical disparagement of peppermint tea drinkers or whether the person the author was writing about had their own prejudices. I merely objectively stated that we didn’t need to perpetuate prejudice against peppermint tea drinkers to make a minor point.
Argue only what’s on the page. Argue for prospective readers. Do not argue with your author or their beliefs and opinions.
“The statement ‘Espresso drinkers are as bitter as their disgusting brew of choice’ has the potential to alienate those in your audience who drink espresso.”
It’s elementary, simplistic, and slightly disingenuous. But it also works. Your goal as an editor is not to be right, but to make the manuscript right. You can complain to your friends afterward.
And to the espresso drinkers in my current audience? I didn’t mean it at all. Espresso is the empress of hot beverages.