A side of hot tips: is everyone at the table?
Those who’ve been excluded from enacting a Spice Girls routine simply because they’re the sixth member of a friendship circle and there’s only one Ginger, Scary, Sporty, Baby and Posh spot to fill and they don’t resemble any of the original line-up, will understand why inclusivity is important.
Although you may have a target audience, people you’re not expecting to read your work can easily stumble across it. This is particularly true when it comes to advertising, editorial and marketing copy. That’s why it’s wildly important to make sure you’re not writing in a way that excludes any reader from your party. This isn’t because you’re trying to sell something – it’s because it’s the right thing to do. No one wants to be the sixth Spice Girl and no one wants to feel left out.
When speaking generally, choosing to use inclusive pronouns ‘they’ and ‘them,’ rather than ‘he’ or ‘him’ or ‘she’ and ‘her’ is a simple way to make sure all potential readers can relate to your words (and better yet, won’t feel marginalised). If you’re writing about a specific person, it’s a good idea to check which pronouns they prefer to use. Some language purists will suggest terms like ‘themselves’ are clunky or that ‘they’ is plural and cannot be used to refer to a single person. But these people were clearly cast as Posh Spice without question every time and are missing the point.
There are comprehensive essays, articles and tomes on these matters, but here are a few quick tips for getting started:
When it comes to gendered occupation names, use terms such as ‘person’, ‘people’ or ‘officer’ where each applies. For example, you can use ‘police officer’ instead of ‘policeman’ and ‘fire fighter’ rather than ‘fireman.’ In place of ‘tradesman’, you can write ‘tradesperson or ‘tradie,’ for instance. Get creative, if you fancy.
Where you can, trim away suffixes like ‘ess’. This way, ‘actress’ becomes ‘actor’ and ‘waitress’ becomes ‘waiter’. Many believe a suffix like ‘ess’ suggests the female counterpart is the lesser version of the original male-gendered label. Of course, there are exceptions. Some official titles, including ‘Princess’, ‘Lord’, ‘Lady’, ‘Sir’ and ‘Dame’ are still commonly used according to (rather stuffy) tradition. And you can ask Posh Spice for more on that.
It’s also a good idea to ensure your content (be it text, image, video or other) is accessible to as many people as possible. See the first comment on each of Spaghetti Head’s Instagram posts as a suggestion on how to label images for those who aren’t able to see them, for example.
The best thing you can do is to avoid making general assumptions about your readers and the way they might perceive your words (and this can be much trickier than you might think!). Check yourself.
As a writer it’s your duty to do your darnedest to consider the privilege, abilities, race, nationality, gender (or lack thereof), beliefs and culture of your audience. Okay, that’s not a rule, but Spaghetti Head is hereby declaring it one. You might not get it right every time. But, with whatever you write, give your work an inclusivity edit to ensure you’re not making wild generalisations and assuming your readers are just like you; consult when you’re unsure; and, above all, be willing to learn from your mistakes.
Remember, everyone deserves a seat at the table.
