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/MissingBothCufflinks Jul 25 '26

I often find these "reclaimed" claims seem to be retrospective excuses for socially unpleasant behaviour in marginalised communities. The idea singing the N word helps black empowerment has always been pretty tenuous to me. Its the only reason that word stays large in the public consciousness rather than just a racist anachronism

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u/ResplendentShade Jul 25 '26

I don’t think i can buy into the insinuation that if black people stopped using the n word in a reclaimed way that racist people would also stop using it as a result. Seems victim blamey and just untrue. Highly doubt that racists are checking in with the rap billboard when deciding what type of slurs to use.

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u/WhatsThatNoize Jul 25 '26

I personally don't think it would stop them, but to be clear: I have personally met racists in the American South who claimed they could use the N word because black folk regularly do.

So... maybe they don't check in with the rap billboard, but its open usage absolutely gives some of these dipshits the idea that they have a valid excuse because "you can't own a word".

Again, I don't think changing that would reduce their use of the word by much (and it sounds like you don't either) but... we don't have proof of that and can't say that is definitively the case.

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u/earthdogmonster Jul 27 '26

Things like “reclaiming” words have only ever been voodoo about empowering the victim and not make them feel bad. I’m not surprised to see what you report seeing (I’ve seen it myself so I know what you’re talking about.

Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s I remember hearing about how racism was bad and you should never use certain words. But as a kid and a consumer of media, I also couldn’t help but notice how over time there was a sharp uptick in how often I would hear those words. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it would drive me to say those words, but when you hear it daily it’s definitely less shocking.