It is never a conscious one for me. No, I am not the good person who wants to give people "representation" nor it is the point of my works, there are better people with such intention that can handle it better. I just find it off when we can find fifty shades of alien races with bizzare biology but not a single person of colour or someone who does not want to fuck.
- I just try to do some research and play it safe.
My works are all fantasy with fictional worlds and races, the rule and power dynamic are different from ours even in a work where our world exists. However, the races are inspired by real-life ones and although they are different I try to avoid offensive things and stereotypes associated by their real-life inspiration. Researching and reading a lot of things that are happening in our world helps a lot. It is even more helpful when you look from another perspective: e.g. when you read what a racist thinks about racism, you will get a clearer point why it exists.
In fantasy setting it is can be tricky, because you are challenged by questions you cannot find an exact answer. For example, it is racist to make a group of shape shifters have brown skin in their human form? Will it reinforce the notion that people of colour are animals? Although being what you categorise as people of colour myself I do not find it offensive, I tried to play safe by implementing the logic that their human appearance is mimicking a human race they are close to, and having another kind of shape shifter who looks white in their human form.
For some other topics which is more difficult for me even if when I do my research, I try to just know my limit. For example, writing neurodiverse people, people with mental illness, and survivors needs immense amount of sensitivity and empathy which I lack. I will rationalize: How important it is for the story? If it not I will discard it to avoid presenting it incorrectly, if it important then I need to do extra effort to make it acceptable.
I just wish, both creator and audience can be reasonable in this topic. Creators first should do their research, ask for opinion, and most importantly listen to people. Audience should give creators chance to fix their mistakes, you cannot be woke overnight and be perfect.
Not everyone is living in woke America or Scandinavian dreamland. Some live in restrictive place with heavily censored media/internet, religious zealots that will harm you for showing the smallest symptoms of gayness, growing up indoctrinated in homogeneous environment, abusive parents who will do god knows what it is when you look up "unacceptable things"; it is not as easy for them to gain freedom, information, and change of mind overnight. Sure they can change, but change can be a slow progress and rather than demonizing them from making mistake, as long as they are willing to listen please guide them.
I have a low empathy myself but I try to rationalize and combine their identities, their social status and power regarding to their identities, and their other struggles to synthesise how they possibly perceive themselves and the world.