Bias and sensitivity guidelines are guidelines that have been set up by several major textbook and standardized test publishers to remove potentially offensive words and phrases from their texts. Two textbooks A textbook is a manual of instruction or a standard book in any branch of study. ... Originally a standardized test was simply a standard test – of academic achievement or of knowledge in a specific academic or vocational domain. ...

These guidelines establish lists of objectionable issues, words, and stereotypes, which should be avoided by writers. Not all agree about the lengths to which such lists should go, however. Some say that they have gone too far; others argue that they have not gone far enough. Stereotypes are considered to be a group concept, held by one social group about another. ...

The guidelines and lists, nearly identical versions of which are used by every major textbook publisher, prohibit words which are of great consequence to some groups and subcultures. Specific stereotypes banned include women cooking, men working, and old people resting.

Some opponents argue that forbidding the portrayal of stereotypes completely is as much a misrepresentation as holding them to be generally true.

Examples:

Banned from all textbooks by most publishers are the following words:

• "dark" (banned as a reference to skin color)
• "red" (banned as a reference to hair color)
• "pink" (banned as a color of girls clothing)

Banned (as being sexist) are also the following "man" words: Historical data for native populations collected by R. Biasutti prior to 1940. ... Human beings have many variations in hair color and texture. ... (See also List of types of clothing and Clothing terminology) Humans nearly universally wear articles of clothing (also known as dress, garments, attire, or apparel) on the body. ...

• "humanity" (replace with civilization or human race)
• "mankind" (replace with civilization or human family)
• "seaman" (replace with sailor)
• "serviceman" (replace with member of the armed forces or gas station attendant)
• "showman" (replace with entertainer)
• "sportsman" (replace with outdoor enthusiast)
• "sportsmanship" (replace with sporting conduct)
• "chairman" (replace with chair or chairperson)

Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... A civilization (American English) or civilisation (British English) has a variety of meanings related to human society. ... Seaman can be a generic term for sailor. ... A sailor is a member of the crew of a ship or boat. ... The armed forces of a state are its government sponsored defense and fighting forces and organizations. ... Modern gas station A filling station, gas station or petrol station is a facility that sells fuel for road motor vehicles – usually petrol (US: gas/gasoline), diesel fuel and LPG. The term gas station is mostly particular to the United States of America and Canada, where petrol is known as... A sport consists of a normal physical activity or skill carried out under a publicly agreed set of rules, and with a recreational purpose: for competition, for self-enjoyment, to attain excellence, for the development of skill, or some combination of these. ... Sportsmanship is, in a basic sense, conforming to the rules of sport. ...

Regional bias

One of the less widely-supported theories used in standard bias and sensitivity guidelines is regional bias. Simply put, regional bias is the idea that setting a story in a certain location puts at a disadvantage those children who read the story but are unfamiliar with the location.

For example, a story about a mountain climber would be regionally biased against readers who have never climbed a mountain, or a story about a farm would be regionally biased against those who have never been to a farm.

Some critics of the theory argue that this makes the insulting claim that one cannot imagine anything beyond what one has experienced; others maintain nonetheless that it is an important part of the guidelines.

Further Reading

• Diane Ravitch, The Language Police: How Pressure Groups Restrict What Students Learn. Knopf, 2003, hardcover, 255 pages, ISBN 0-375-41482-71