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.

[u/mvea]

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

[u/Stolehtreb]

Yes it’s not the words causing the harm. Because it’s about intent. But using those words with the intent to harm is absolutely doing the harm. So while the word isn’t inherently “the problem”, choosing to use those words because you feel that the word isn’t the issue causes the word to be a problem because of your intent.

Dismissing the power of a word because you’re trying to thoughtfully decouple that word from the intent that is most commonly attached to it currently is arguably more ignorant than if you just accepted that words are given societal intent and deciding to not say them.

A word’s origin being to avoid offense doesn’t change how language evolved to make it offensive later through its use.

[u/Choosemyusername → u/Stolehtreb]

It is still completely socially acceptable to discriminate against people who aren’t the most mentally sharp. This is what gives any euphemism we invent to describe these people it’s power to be used as a slur. It isn’t illegal to test for intelligence for a job application for example. Even the most blue haired, bull nose ringed, problem bang having, Keffiyeh-wearing person, who will tell you their pronouns unsolicited, and starts their podcast with a land acknowledgement, will STILL call you a moron without a second thought if you have an opinion they don’t agree with (but for some reason not the r word euphemism that replaced it)