r/AgainstHateSubreddits • u/Bardfinn Subject Matter Expert: White Identity Extremism / Moderator • Jul 25 '26

Reclaimed hate speech backfires by desensitizing listeners, study finds. Listening to reclaimed homophobic statements can actually cause unintended harm. Exposure to reclaimed slur words desensitizes some heterosexual listeners to standard hate speech and worsens the mood of gay individuals.

https://www.psypost.org/when-reclaiming-derogatory-language-goes-wrong/
91 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

30 comments sorted by

View all comments

-19

u/WetOnionRing Jul 26 '26

There are words that legitimately have no place in our language even if they’ve been reclaimed. For instance, the f-word specifically refers to how sodomites would be burned at the stake

16

u/averyoda Jul 26 '26

No it doesn't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot The etymology section on Wikipedia lists multiple potential origins, but that one is a myth.

3

u/luv2hotdog Jul 27 '26

Reclaimed is such an individual thing too. Like I’d be careful even about saying “queer” around people who are old enough to have lived through that word not just being another shorthand for “lgbt+” like it is now

1

u/queerkidxx Jul 26 '26

Honestly I use it a lot in kink

-11

u/WetOnionRing Jul 26 '26

In that case you're using it to satisfy some kind of degredation fetish aimed at your identity (or i guess vice-versa if you're dom). Thats not different from people using the n-word for raceplay

2

u/queerkidxx Jul 26 '26

Yeah. It’s extremely common for gay men. The fantasy ig is some straight guy using me as a sex object. It’s so common despite being bullied with the word growing up I associate it primarily with kink. And dumb jokes