#it's bananas to me that this isn't a regular practice to pay your SRs

[witchern]

one thing i want to add to this PH conversation that i haven’t seen too many people talk about is: sensitivity readers should be paid. 

you’re asking a marginalized person to put in labor – the physical labor of reading your work as well as the emotional labor of looking for your missteps – and, as a result, they’re making themselves vulnerable for you. your work has the potential to hurt them, depending on how egregious your mistakes are. the least you can do is open your wallet and pay them for their time and energy. 

and if you don’t have the means to pay them? then maybe think twice about what you’re writing. if you’re writing something so far out of your own comfort zone that you feel the need to have multiple people read it for sensitive issues but not pay them, you need to reevaluate what it is you’re trying to accomplish here. are you trying to respectfully represent these people and pay it forward by financially helping them after they’ve opened themselves up to potential harm to help you out? or are you just trying to get the diversity brownie points and internet clout from their free labor? 

bottom line: this is work. pay your sensitivity readers. 

#*t #spn #i sensitivity read as a side hustle so i'm open to questions but like #it's bananas to me that this isn't a regular practice to pay your SRs