Hello!
Just to answer some of the questions I've seen in this thread and the one that spawned it:
I've done sensitivity reading for a few products at this point, all TTRPGs. Insofar as the idea that there is a contingent of Twitter mobs that will revolt any time your book contains a word on some list of no-nos, that's not really how it works, from really any direction. I can't speak much for the whole field, but I don't really believe that there are verboten topics in TTRPGs; in some ways they can be the safest medium for us to explore really challenging concepts and ideas. For me, the things I'm looking for are not "you can't say this", but it's more:
- Does this representation contain any stereotypes, and are those stereotypes mis-representative?
- Are these descriptions unintentionally loaded with unfortunate real-world aspersions? (This is the Hadozee issue)
- How diverse is the artwork in your product?
- Is this difficult topic suitably sign-posted? Is it appropriate for your target audience?
- Are you comfortable with losing an audience who would be turned off by addressing this topic at all? And is it worth keeping that material in or not?
- Are you addressing this topic with an appropriate level of care and seriousness?
There are a lot of littler things to look out for as well, but those are the main ones.
As far as qualifications, I have a graduate degree in Sociology as well as a large amount of DEI training; I assume most sensitivity consultants come from similar fields.