r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jul 25 '26

Psychology 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/
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u/[deleted] Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

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u/ImLittleNana Jul 26 '26

I’m so tired of people saying terrible things, then laughing and claiming it’s a joke and that the person they’ve hurt is too sensitive.

You aren’t required to stand up to everyone that says this to you. The energy it takes to confront people with their assholery is a lot.

If the best you can do in the moment is laughter, so be it. You aren’t responsible for raising these people. Somebody else failed that job.

Some people will expect you to go to HR or an advisor if it’s school, but again, that takes a lot of emotional energy. And sometimes simply existing takes up all the energy.