Do Better: SFF without Sexual Violence discussion
note: This topic has been closed to new comments.
Welcome New Members
>
START HERE - Group Guidelines & FAQ
date
newest »
newest »
Mod
1) What Types of Books Should I Recommend & How?
Suggest books that you've recently read and believe meet our group recommendation guidelines listed above. Include details of why you think it fits.
You have two options for participating:
1) Join our monthly chat where we share everything we've recently read, both suitable and unsuitable for the group. The latest chat can be found HERE
2) Post your recommendations anytime on our general recommendation thread HERE.
Once a month, the moderators research and validate all member's recommendations and post an update. Once a month, all of the books that meet our group guidelines are added to the bookshelf-database. We are thankful for all recommendations, whether they end up meeting our guidelines or not 🤗
2) Why Does a Moderator Validate My Recommendation?
Our mission is to provide a reliable bookshelf-database without SV. Together, the moderators and group members created the group guidelines listed above. It is the moderator's role to ensure each book added to our bookshelf database meets the guidelines. We err on the side of the sensitive reader, which may or may not be you. Mods research Goodreads reviews to identify any differences of opinion, books we're unsure of are moved to "pending" and invite active member's to read in the future and provide a third opinion.
We aim to provide a safe space for polite and nuanced discussion. We never judge a member for their honest recommendations, we are always grateful they took the time to participate.
3) What Qualifies as Sexual Violence?
An uncomfortable question no doubt, but one we needed to answer in order to provide you with guidelines. Many of us felt that sexual harrassment is a form of violence, however we agreed not to exclude it from this group. We used the RAINN support site as reference.
And as we are an SFF focused group, we will exclude SV against any lifeforms that are characters in the book:
(view spoiler)
4) What Qualifies as Unacknowledged Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Transphobia etc?
We EXCLUDE books with outdated stereotypes deemed sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic and contain other harmful views that are NOT acknowledged/condemned within the book. This means many older fantasy and SciFi will be excluded.
**Please don't be offended if your recommendation is declined based on these reasons. In return, you will not be judged by us. We're here to educate and be educated. As readers, we are all constantly learning and growing. Not everyone is at the same point in their journey. **
We INCLUDE books that explore these themes. Our goal is to provide content warning tags on the bookshelf-database so that members can be forewarned of heavier content.
5) What Are Spoiler Tags and How Do I Use Them?
When explaining parts of a book's plot or disturbing content, we request that you use spoiler tags. These tags hide content.
Goodreads uses older HTML codes for spoiler tags. To create a tag, type the following into your comment...
To avoid manually typing the HTML spoiler code, many devices allow you to program keyboard shortcuts. For example: if you google "how to add keyboard shortcuts to iPhone", you'll find this article...
https://www.imore.com/how-use-text-sh...
6) How Do I View Which Books Are Already Included or Excluded?
Books that have been recommended and INCLUDED are located in the group bookshelf-database HERE
Books that have been recommend and EXCLUDED are not added to the bookshelf database. Instead, we compile a list of books that were excluded along with the reasons why. There is one list per year, located HERE
7) Why Does the Group Include Books With Other Forms of Disturbing Content?
Firstly, Sexual violence has become a common plot device in SFF and many of us find it triggering, or are simply tired of seeing its continual use.
Secondly, there are many ways that authors can do better. Creating a list of books that exclude most content concerns would be a monumental task and would likely result in a small number of options. As the group grows, we do hope to identify and celebrate some of these rare and wonderful specimens.
And while we do include books with other forms of disturbing content, we do flag some of the more common content warnings on our bookshelf database. All shelf tags that start with "w" list content warnings for the book. Please note, our content warnings are the most common and are not an exhaustive list. If you have specific triggers, we recommend you perform your own deeper research before reading.
8) Where Can I Find SFF Books That Exclude More Than Just SV?
We recommend using goodreads review search. Using the keyword "warning" usually brings up members that provide laundry lists of content warnings in their reviews. Find reviewers you agree with and follow them.
Or check out members other recommended resources HERE
9) What Should I Do If I Don't Think a Specific Book Belongs on the Group Bookshelf?
First, please ensure you have read our full group mission, submission guidelines and this FAQ
If you still feel the book does not meet our submission guidelines, please share your detailed concerns in our recommendation thread HERE
We value your opinion and will thoroughly research reviews & other sources. We have no qualms about removing books when new information comes to light.
10) Why is This Group Public, Wouldn't Private Be Better?
To ensure that our group and it's bookshelf-database is accessible and eventually appears in Google search results, the group must be set to public. The moderators will be vigilant with trolls and bots. Please keep mind that your comments will be visible to all non-members.
PRO TIP: There is a Goodreads setting where you can ensure your all of your comments in any public group are NOT added to your Goodreads feed.
>Go to Account Settings
>Select Feeds
>Ensure that 'Comment on a book or discussion' is unchecked
NOTE: This will not turn off your comments on other's book reviews, that is a different setting
11) Does This Group Read Books Together?
As a very new group, we do not have enough active members to facilitate regular group reads. In the future, when the group has hopefully grown, we will survey members to see if this is something they'd like us to do together. In the meantime, you're welcome to join in our monthly reads at our two other SFF groups. Note, both are private groups but only to avoid bots and trolls.
Women of the Future - Womxn authored adult SciFi & Speculative Fiction
Worlds Beyond the Margins - Celebrating adult fantasy, scifi, and horror books that promote diversity and inclusion
12) What is 'Pending'?
These are books that are recommended by a member, but there is insufficient information available for moderators to perform our validation. These books are add to our Pending List HERE. Active members are invited to read, validate content and cast the deciding vote on whether the book should be added to the group's bookshelf-database
Reasons books are added to the Pending List:
1) Outlier Reviews - A very low number of GR reviews contradict a much higher number of reviews in regards to content
2) Insufficient Reviews: Books with less than 75 written reviews on GR
13) Can I Recommend an Entire Series?
SFF is full of series and spin off series set in the same universe. We have decided for the early days of our group to only allow the first 2 books of each distinct series to be recommended and added to our group bookshelf. In the future, as our project evolves, we may opt to allow more than this.
The Series Guidelines
Members may recommend the first and second editions of a series. A moderator will validate both editions to confirm they meet our SV and other content guidelines.
∆ If both editions meet our guidelines, both will be added to the bookshelf
∆ If either edition doesn't meet our guidelines, neither will be added
∆ If a member reports that specific later edition does contain SV, we will remove the series
14) Does The Group Exclude Any Authors?
Yes, this group will exclude authors who:
1) Use their power, money and fame to oppress othersFull details on the Author Rules and the list of pending/excluded authors is available HERE
2) Have been found guilty/admitted to acts of SV or SH
15) The Group Description Says "Adult" SFF, does that mean you don't allow YA?
In general, this group is focused on books for adults with adult characters. However, we acknowledge that some YA is more adult in its content and tone. Members are welcome to suggest YA books without SV that they feel are more adult focused in their theme and style.
Moderators will decide on a case by case basis. They will not approve the more "typical" YA that spends the majority of the narrative focused on an MC's coming of age, special skills, personality, fashion, romantic relationships, friendship issues. Moderators will approve YA that is more mature in its outlook and focuses on the issues of the world in which it is set.
Examples of books we exclude: Throne of Glass, The Hunger Games, Ruin and Rising
This topic has been frozen by the moderator. No new comments can be posted.
Do Better: SFF without Sexual Violence
Books mentioned in this topic
Throne of Glass (other topics)The Hunger Games (other topics)
Ruin and Rising (other topics)
OUR MISSION: To build a reliable bookshelf-database of SciFi, Fantasy, Horror and Speculative Fiction that does not include sexual violence or dubious sexual consent.
What about other ways authors can do better? Why focus on SV only?
We acknowledge that there are many other areas where authors can do better. However, SV is a commonly used plot device that some readers find triggering. Other readers are simply tired of its continuous use in SFF.
In addition to SV we will:
BOOKSHELF SUBMISSIONS:
All members are welcome to suggest books to be added to the group's bookshelves. To qualify a book must:
1. Belong to the SciFi, Fantasy, Horror or Speculative Fiction genres
2. Be considered Adult, no Young Adult
3. Contain no sexual violence: 4. Have not already been added to our bookshelf
Also, please avoid suggesting books where sexism, racism, homophobia or transphobia are included and NOT acknowledged/condemned
A NOTE ON ACCURACY:
⭐ All books will be vetted by a moderator before being added to the bookshelves
⭐⭐ If you notice a book that shouldn't be on the shelves, please speak up and state the reasons
CONTENT WARNING:
This group's bookshelf only excludes SV and may contain other forms of violence or elements that other readers may find disturbing. Content warning tags are used on the bookshelf, but are not a fully comprehensive list. We strongly encourage those with specific triggers to use GR review's keyword search to determine if a book is right for you.
WANT TO SEE THE BOOKS WE'VE EXCLUDED?
We keep a list of books that we've excluded/removed from our bookshelves and the reason for the exclusion. The list is HERE