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Sadly, anything that we may see as acceptable today may not be considered acceptable to people in 100 years' time. This is unavoidable. But below are some examples of how to avoid UnfortunateImplications that we ''are'' aware of.
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Sadly, anything that we may see as acceptable today may not be considered acceptable to people in 100 years' time. This is unavoidable. But below are some examples of how to avoid UnfortunateImplications that we ''are'' aware of.
of... at least, ways that don't just boil down to [[{{Dismotivation}} "just don't write at all".]]
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** The idea of "Curing" a disability can be very appealing, but it easily can be viewed as "Erasure" or even genocide by others. For some people who are disabled, having something that is inherently tied to who they are treated as a "condition to be cured" or compared to a "Disease" can be seen as insensitive. Many of them want to be treated as a person--not for their condition. At the bare minimum, if you have a character express any desire for a cure, try to emphasize specific quality-of-life concerns rather than a desire to be normal for the sake of being normal.
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** The idea of "Curing" a disability can be very appealing, but it easily can be viewed as "Erasure" or even genocide by others. For some people who are disabled, having something that is inherently tied to who they are treated as a "condition to be cured" or compared to a "Disease" can be seen as insensitive. Many of them want to be treated as a person--not for their condition. At the bare minimum, if you have a character express any desire for seek out a cure, try to emphasize specific quality-of-life concerns rather than a desire to be normal for the sake of being normal.
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** The idea of "Curing" a disability can be very appealing, but it easily can be viewed as "Erasure" or even genocide by others. For some people who are disabled, having something that is inherently tied to who they are treated as a "condition to be cured" or compared to a "Disease" can be seen as insensitive. Many of them want to be treated as a person--not for their condition.
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** The idea of "Curing" a disability can be very appealing, but it easily can be viewed as "Erasure" or even genocide by others. For some people who are disabled, having something that is inherently tied to who they are treated as a "condition to be cured" or compared to a "Disease" can be seen as insensitive. Many of them want to be treated as a person--not for their condition. At the bare minimum, if you have a character express any desire for a cure, try to emphasize specific quality-of-life concerns rather than a desire to be normal for the sake of being normal.
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* If a villain's motivation is related to matters of social justice (such as a victim of wanton discrimination who wants more out of life than their oppressors think they deserve), don't just have the heroes shut them down and call it a happy ending. Even if said villain doesn't care one bit about harming innocent bystanders, the audience is going to pick up on the fact that there is a legitimate injustice underneath their villainy. Insinuating that they're [[InformedWrongness in the wrong for wanting to correct said injustice]] is going to leave a bad taste in many people's mouths (and likely have them RootingForTheEmpire), especially if the audience doesn't see anyone other than the villain doing anything about it, or if the circumstances are such that a peaceful resolution to the injustice in question seems unlikely. Consider having the heroes take up the cause themselves, or guide the villain to an alternate strategy with less risk of collateral damage.
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*** Even if the disability is something that causes suffering by its very nature, and that many people really would rather be rid of (depression, chronic pain etc), this still often comes across as disheartening to audience members with those conditions because they don't have the option of a miracle cure, which the narrative tells them is the only way to have a decently worthwhile life or contribute anything to the world.
*** If your world has advanced technology or magic that can be used to get around some disabilities, and your character is the type who wouldn't turn it down (eg. they're a soldier who loses an arm but still wants to fight for their cause, so they get a high-tech prosthesis), be careful not to have it essentially erase the disability. Think of the issues they'll probably still have - the soldier may have an awesome cybernetic limb, but they'll also have to learn to use it, frequently maintain, clean and possibly charge it, and it's likely they'll sometimes have it break on them during fights. They may experience discomfort from using it too long, and/or have to deal with a phantom limb sensation/lingering mental trauma from the incident. In short, don't make fantastic assistance devices or treatments [[ResetButton reset buttons]].
*** If your world has advanced technology or magic that can be used to get around some disabilities, and your character is the type who wouldn't turn it down (eg. they're a soldier who loses an arm but still wants to fight for their cause, so they get a high-tech prosthesis), be careful not to have it essentially erase the disability. Think of the issues they'll probably still have - the soldier may have an awesome cybernetic limb, but they'll also have to learn to use it, frequently maintain, clean and possibly charge it, and it's likely they'll sometimes have it break on them during fights. They may experience discomfort from using it too long, and/or have to deal with a phantom limb sensation/lingering mental trauma from the incident. In short, don't make fantastic assistance devices or treatments [[ResetButton reset buttons]].
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** Trying to justify TheMasquerade with "there's no way the different groups would get along", while presenting it as a good/necessary thing to uphold at all costs, ''will'' have racial segregationist undertones and validate the beliefs of real life bigots. If you must have a masquerade, either give it another explanation, or [[DeconstructedTrope explore the problems with this reasoning]].
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* AcceptableTargets won't be seen as such by everyone. No matter how acceptable you believe the target is, you should not be surprised if some of your audience disagrees. At the ''very'' least, expect members of that acceptable target group to be offended.
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* AcceptableTargets Acceptable targets won't be seen as such by everyone. No matter how acceptable you believe the target is, you should not be surprised if some of your audience disagrees. At the ''very'' least, expect members of that acceptable target group to be offended.
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** When attempting to avoid idealising disability and disabled people, it can be all too easy to accidentally demonise them instead by going overboard with tropes like DisabilityAsAnExcuseForJerkassery and EvilCripple. While it's true that disabled people aren't inherently sweet and innocent, being as diverse in terms of personality and morality as anyone else, using these tropes clumsily increases stigma by equating disability with moral inferiority. Autistics, for example, are often stereotyped as [[LackOfEmpathy cold and callous]]. And the "faking it for special treatment" version can be particularly problematic, because many people with legitimate disabilities get accused of this.
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** It also means that you need to be well aware of the setting for your LGBT characters. EternalSexualFreedom ''does not exist'', and for this reason certain times and places can be problematic as settings. For example, setting your yaoi fic in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany without it being either a BlackComedy parody or without your seriously considering the implications[[note]]e.g. those LGBT people were put in concentration camps and otherwise murdered unless they were ArmoredClosetGay and in an important position[[/note]] is going to upset a lot of people. Even if you are writing in a far more tolerant subset of an intolerant time or culture[[note]]e.g. the LGBT culture of a CapitalCity in general past the 1960s, GlamRock in the 1970s or VisualKei in the 1980s[[/note]], you need to recognize that once the characters stepped out of that bubble, they couldn't even have as much as a public display of affection that wasn't "justified" as something else, until AT LEAST the late 1990s or early 2000s.
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** It also means that you need to be well aware of the setting for your LGBT characters. EternalSexualFreedom ''does not exist'', and for this reason certain times and places can be problematic as settings. For example, setting your yaoi fic in UsefulNotes/NaziGermany without it being either a BlackComedy parody or without your seriously considering the implications[[note]]e.g. those LGBT people were put in concentration camps and otherwise murdered unless they were ArmoredClosetGay and in an important position[[/note]] is going to upset a lot of people. Even if you are writing in a far more tolerant subset of an intolerant time or culture[[note]]e.g. the LGBT culture of a CapitalCity in general past the 1960s, GlamRock in the 1970s or VisualKei in the 1980s[[/note]], 1980s or UsefulNotes/FurryFandom in the 1990s.[[/note]], you need to recognize that once the characters stepped out of that bubble, they couldn't even have as much as a public display of affection that wasn't "justified" as something else, until AT LEAST the late 1990s or early 2000s.
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* Deconstructing a genre typically aimed at an underprivileged group as a power fantasy? Be ''extremely'' careful - many [[MagicalGirlGenreDeconstruction magical girl genre deconstructions]], for example, get accused of sexism for taking something that empowers girls and tearing it down. Yes you can explore the struggles and trauma your AmazonBrigade or [[IdolSinger idol singers]] would realistically face, but don't reduce them to downtrodden victims - show how they cope with their issues and maintain as much agency as possible in a harsh world. And whatever you do, don't go DarkerAndEdgier just for the sake of it, because this can come across as exploiting suffering minorities for torture porn. Alternately, if you want to explore such a genre in depth, try doing a {{Reconstruction}} as this would keep the WishFulfillment aspect.
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** Some editors and consultants specialize in checking works for problematic content that mainstream readers might miss. If you're planning on getting something published professionally or even semi-professionally, it's absolutely worth the fee to hire a sensitivity reader, preferably someone from any demographic in your work that you're not from yourself.
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** Some editors and consultants specialize in checking works for problematic content that mainstream readers might miss. If you're planning on getting something published professionally or even semi-professionally, it's absolutely worth the fee to hire a sensitivity reader, preferably someone from any demographic in your work that you're not from yourself. [[note]]Large enough publishing houses often have such readers on retainer, or they can be booked directly the same as you'd hire any other consultant.[[/note]]
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** Some editors and consultants specialize in checking works for problematic content that mainstream readers might miss. If you're planning on getting something published professionally or even semi-professionally, it's absolutely worth the fee to hire a sensitivity reader, preferably someone from any demographic in your work that you're not from yourself.
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** Women can also be pedophiles targeting boys or girls - female pedophiles are far more rare than male, but they exist and are also more easily disguised, since a female pedophile will generally target her own children or be a teacher targeting students rather than roaming playgrounds or the internet. The TeacherStudentRomance trope actually ''feeds into'' justifying these pedophiles' RealLife behavior and should be used with ''extreme'' caution if at all unless one wants to deal with trying to prevent the UnfortunateImplications almost inherent in both. Similarly, be very careful around the OedipusComplex as that, in RealLife, is often the result of a pedophile female carer (or at least one with improper boundaries) engaging in grooming then victim blaming.
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** Women can also be pedophiles targeting boys or girls - female pedophiles are far more rare than male, but they exist and are also more easily disguised, since a female pedophile will generally target her own children or be a teacher targeting students rather than roaming playgrounds or the internet. The TeacherStudentRomance trope actually ''feeds into'' justifying these pedophiles' RealLife behavior and should be used with ''extreme'' caution if at all unless one wants to deal with trying to prevent the UnfortunateImplications almost inherent in both. Similarly, be very careful around the OedipusComplex UsefulNotes/OedipusComplex as that, in RealLife, is often the result of a pedophile female carer (or at least one with improper boundaries) engaging in grooming then victim blaming.
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* And finally, the most important of all: '''''LISTEN AND ADMIT WHEN YOU MAKE MISTAKES AND TRY TO DO BETTER.''''' We aren't perfect and have our own biases, whether or not we are willing to admit it at the time or even recognize that bias. When hearing criticism it is tempting to either lash back at the critics or ignore it. But ignoring legitimate criticism is a good way to ensure that the Unfortunate Implication will repeat in your other works. Not only is this hurtful, it would prevent you from growing as a creator.
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* And finally, the most important of all: '''''LISTEN AND ADMIT WHEN YOU MAKE MISTAKES AND TRY TO DO BETTER.''''' We aren't perfect and have our own biases, whether or not we are willing to admit it at the time or even recognize that bias. When hearing criticism it is tempting to either lash back at the critics or ignore it. But ignoring legitimate criticism is a good way to ensure that the Unfortunate Implication will repeat in your other works. Not only is this hurtful, it would prevent prevents you from growing as a creator.
