Sensitive Reading — What It Is And What It Is Not
In the public debate, there are many misunderstandings about what sensitive reading is and what sensitive readers do. With this article, I would like to contribute to the objective discussion of the subject.
I heard the term sensitive reading for the first time a few months ago. When I was working on it, I noticed that the debate on this subject was very controversial and sometimes quite aggressive.
The opponents scream “censorship,” the advocates insult the opponents as “old white men” or as racists/Sexists/gay-haters.
But if you take a closer look at what Sensitive Reading is about, it quickly becomes clear that the reflexive aggressions of both camps are entirely unnecessary.
Let’s have a look at it in a completely unbiased way.
What is sensitive reading, and who needs it?
Sensitive readers are people who have a connection to the literary scene (authors, publishers, editors, book bloggers) and belong to a marginalized group.
We speak of marginalized groups when parts of the population are perceived by the majority as a peripheral.
