The Unconscious Bias

I would suspect most of us have heard about or been trained to be self-aware regarding our unconscious bias. At my place of employment, I sit on an Equity Council, tackling hard and often difficult issues of diversity in both our professional and personal lives.  I am continually amazed just how deeply seated certain perspectives are when we encounter someone or something that challenges them. This mindset also ties into what I have learned regarding Cognitive Dissonance. As a vegan, atheist and one who is part of the LGBTQ community, I have had more than my share of interesting encounters with individuals who do not agree with me.

As writers, we should also anticipate not only how others may respond to our written words, but where our own minds go when creating content for others to enjoy. In previous blog posts, I have touched on knowing and respecting the audience by treating characters with veneration and remaining true to the genre we have chosen to write in. If we are not careful, our worlds may evolve myopically without us even knowing; hence, the unconscious in unconscious bias.

When I began blogging about The Sy’Arrian Legacy series in 2017, several of my initial posts mentioned how the story came to be, what it looked like prior to the present moment, and where my mind had gone to create the Sy’Arrian universe. What I did not realize until I began crafting my new vision of the story, the one currently published, was just how much it fell short of being truly diverse. 

In the beginning, I had been very intentional to ensure various ethnic and racial groups were represented not only in the Sy’Arrian race itself but also in its governing body, the Cri’lin Council. The lore of the story points to this council eventually being dubbed The Five. Those who read my story should be able to easily note, given I have practiced my craft competently, differences based on physical appearance, skin tone variations and cultural references. This is a race who initially evolved on Earth, so completely erasing cultural or racial diversity in favor of creating the Sy’Arrians would not only have been illogical but intellectually dishonest.

What about other elements such as sexuality, dietary, religion, or non-religion? Some of these can be associated with culture but not always, especially when you consider how those elements are playing out in present day. Once I began taking a more critical inventory of my universe, I immediately realized I had done quite well to ensure I created races with unique physical features, cultural norms, religious or non-religious foundations and how all of it fit into the vast openness of space. I fell short in an area I would never have expected – sexuality.

In the first version of book one copyrighted under the title, The Dark Traveler, I threw in a male character who is gay after I looked at my entire cast of characters and realized I had zero diversity in this area.

Now, before any of you ask if this was an act designed to merely tick off another diversity box to ensure my story is more relatable, rest assured, it went a lot deeper for me and here is why; including such an element had never entered my mind the entire time I was writing The Dark Traveler. When I retraced my cognitive steps, I began to recall how casually I dismissed the sexuality component by telling myself readers do not want to focus on it; they want to read about fantastical and technological wonders, not the sexuality of characters.

For the more experienced writers and avid readers out there, rate how silly my last statement sounds. We all know the sexuality of a character is one of many key components in proper background development, which serves to determine how a character will react to situations a writer throws them into.

My casual dismissal was not only a result of what society had told me about my own sexuality, it was a direct result of living in the closet during my informative years and the nine years I served in the military. This may not fall precisely into the definition of unconscious bias; however, I believe it comes close. Let me digress a smidgen to further illustrate.

In our efforts to demonstrate a broader acceptance of sexual diversity, especially here in America, content creators of all orientations have tossed in more and more instances of LGBTQ characters, which I have spoken to in this blog. Despite their good intentions, they often fall short by either killing off said characters for vacuous reasons or giving them very little screen time.  Another aspect is how they limit exposure by having no problems showing two women kiss on screen and carry on with an open relationship. In contrast, you will see next to nothing when it comes to two males unless you are watching something not on mainstream television channels, such as Netflix. Heck, look at how most of our commercials are still formulated; women are the only ones who can vacuum, do laundry, and take care of children. Our draconian ways are still very much alive albeit a bit more covert.

To course correct, I created Jarus Menai, who merely served as a supporting character, injured during a battle in the prologue of The Dark Traveler. My intent was to incorporate him into the story and see where my mind would take him. I felt much better about this decision; however, it completely blew up in my face when I decided to shelve The Dark Traveler in favor of creating what is now The Cradle of Destiny.

This creative explosion was a good thing. I now have sexuality spread across many spectrums and identities. Jarus has evolved to be one of several integral characters of not just The Cradle of Destiny, but in the entire series. His evolution, plus those of other characters I have incorporated, has happened organically given it is how I see them as complete individuals.

Lastly, I want to be clear on something because I know how some may construe this post. I do not create characters or content out of necessity to avoid trampling on an individual’s sensitivities. I believe my role as a writer is to challenge viewpoints and write well enough, so readers walk away with a different perspective.

My point? Always be mindful of how you focus your creative lens and never assume inclusivity.

The linked information I provide below are just a few examples of what it means to lean towards a favored view based on a host internal and external factors; it should not be considered exhaustive:

Forbes Article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/pragyaagarwaleurope/2018/12/03/unconscious-bias-how-it-affects-us-more-than-we-know/#414ccf646e13

The Guardian Article: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/dec/02/unconscious-bias-what-is-it-and-can-it-be-eliminated

Wikipedia on Bias: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bias

Wikipedia on Cognitive Dissonance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance