Hey @RPers 
I’m going to talk about cultural sensitivity and respect in RPing and why you need it.
What is it?
Cultural Sensitivity:
a. Being aware that cultural differences and similarities between people exist without assigning them a value – positive or negative, better or worse, right or wrong.
b. Being aware that cultural differences and similarities between people exist and have an effect on values, learning and behavior.
c. A set of skills that allows you to understand and learn about people whose cultural background is not the same as your own
Cultural Respect: Recognition, protection and continued advancement of the inherent rights, cultures and traditions of others, specifically those underminded by colorism and racism: POC .
What are examples of being culturally insensitive?
Cultural insensitivitvy is being unaware of your depiction of cultures (mainly, bipoc) which in turn gives to depicting certain cultures in a different way and assigning cultures values – such as giving the European culture the ‘right’ value and Bipoc the ‘wrong’ which unfortunately has been common in historical and sometimes modern fiction & writing.
- Painting a culture as wrong because of their beliefs and painting another right because of the same thing.
- Painting a culture as better than another culture(s) because of various things you yourself believe
How do I prevent this?
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Recall that different cultures are 100% fine and valid, and it exists and neither side should be shown as better/more right/more positive than the other.
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When writing your character, research on their culture and background, take notes and store them somewhere. Being educated on the culture you will depict will help combat this as this can stem from misinformation thanks to the demonization of other cultures.
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Get sensitivity readers! As Shannii wrote here, on her blog “… they focus on the way minorities are portrayed. They look for stereotypes and slurs. They give you suggestions on how you can improve the language to make it friendlier to minorities, such as giving you alternatives to gendered and ableist language.” Don’t know anyone to ask? That’s why we have the RPers Gen chat, you can check there.
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When researching make sure your primary sources of people on their own culture! That’s the best way to make sure the information to recieve is 100%. If you get find people of that culture, look into reputable sites and papers on the culture’s history. Wikipedia’s not going to caught it – although you may be able to use the sources on the bottom to aid your research, as Shannii talked about here: Wikipedia, and can you use it for essays?
- Unfortunately thanks to colonization, it’s not uncommon for people within their own cultures to have lost key information/not have access to it in addition to be culturally insensitive to their own culture (which stems from internalized racism) which is why I recommend having multiple sources from people of the culture to make sure you’re depicting it correctly.
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Be aware of the negative stereotypes in their culture a MASTERLIST which can be found here and how to avoid them. Knowing these stereotypes and tropes and working actively against them benefits yourself and the culture you’re writing.
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A Russian character and a French character have a differing values in forms, and therefore will affect their personalities and experiences differently. If you’re looking for modern values, customs, etc. take a look at this amazing site, https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/ !! Remember different cultures give to different things which is perfectly fine and should be included in character creation when able!
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Accept criticism, no amount of research and effort will save you from criticism (actually it might but point is – you will receive criticism regardless) which you will have to take with grace and an open mind. It you are our criticizers (raise your hand
) please provide your criticism constructively, while I realize seeing people inaccurately representing your culture can hurt and be a drag, just remember one kind correction = less misrepresentation.
What are examples of being culturally respectful?
- Taking the time to research, ask questions and learn about differing and other cultures without any preconceived notions or ideas about them
- Depicting cultures as they are with no undertones of them being right or wrong, negative or positive, and better or worse.
How do I encourage this?
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Take the time to explore cultures and study them, take the time to invest in your characters and their cultural background which includes adding in the cultural details, finding them a FC that would match people of that culture/ethnicity your depicting.
- Voodoo or Vodun is depicted negatively and hollwood-ized simply because it is an African traditional religion. Media has demonized and bastardized it to the point it’s equated with demons (which is inaccurate). It’s an example of racist colonizers demonizing African religions or cultures to paint themselves as ‘better’. Don’t be like them.
- I.E. A Korean character shouldn’t have a Filipino FC.)
- Looking at the cultural atlas and making sure to add those details such as customs and values.
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Don’t undermine cultures, especially bipoc ones which are already underminded by taking from their culture and changing it for your ‘creative license.’
- I.E. The w-ndigo is a purely evil creature of the Great Lakes indigenous peoples, it’s central to their culture and spiritual practice. Do research and creatures like these that are stolen, heavily changed from their source and romanticized (which is culture appropriation). When depicting a creature taken from a culture do the due diligence to depict it accurately, sensitively and correctly.
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If you are apart of a culture and wiling, become a sensitive reader and make it clear you’re wiling to help someone struggling on your culture. This makes it a more safe atmosphere where people can ask questions instead of just doing it on their own and misrepresenting.
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Promote the idea that religion is not equal to culture. Niether is race or ethnicity nor color. There are white latinos, and white-passing latinos. There are Afro-latinas (Africans who grew up in Latin America) and other cultural mixes. These all should be reserched in order to be depicted and respected all the same.
extra; black culture.
Thanks to the ethnic based slave trade that many countries participated in the past, the inhumane way the slaves were treated we have realizing some thing called ‘black culture.’ And in case you didn’t know, it is a culture.
Since the slave owners would not allow slaves to speak their native language, practice their culture, or pass it down to their family many black (which resulted in integrated spiritual practices as hoodoo, santería and more) have no clue where their ancestors hail from. DNA tests are done but they’re not always 100% and they can’t always trace the ancestors.
This created a unique experience for black men and women… for example, two people of african warring tribes could meet one day – but they would have no idea their tribes or warred or that they were even from the tribes. All they know is their current, American experience is similar and that they are both prejudiced on the fact of their skin color. In retrospect, that has not happened to other cultures such as Chinese, Irish, Scottish – a Scottish person would know their history and would know if they met an English person that their ancestors probably fought or warred.
This created unique experience has created’black culture’ and quite frankly, it is the only race-based culture since no other race has gone through the same generational trauma and race-based slavery for as long or as hard. So ‘white culture’ is non-existent actully. And black culture is often confused with being another word for ‘african culture’.
So yes your RP character could not know where in Africa their ancestors came from thanks to enslavement. Which gives black culture a valid use. HOWEVER, black culture is the culture that is most highly stereotyped, troped and misinformation given on … so research, and be culturally sensitive!!
So yeah there you go :DD cultural sensitivity, respect and some info on black culture. Hope this helps <33
Thank youu ~
