Hurtful Language You May Not know.
Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2023 7:14 am
I was born in the early 80's for context.
When I was a small child we sang songs in elementary as most kids do. Nursery rhymes that often had hidden meanings we knew nothing about. Jack and Jill is a good example. Some were more hurtful, but we didn't know. One started with singing in broken English about being from China and being stupid. It seemed like a funny song to us 5-8 year old white kids. We were just reciting songs handed down to us.
In middle school everything bad was "gay". A deceptive bad deal was "Jewish". A male perceived as weak was a "fag". A female perceived as less than feminine was a "dyke".
These words are not used as much publicly due to recognition that it isn't ok. Kinda like how slurs against black people, Asians and Latinos of various origins aren't ok.
I'm going to seem to digress for a moment, but I have a point.
Many years ago when I was in college I took American Political History. On the first day the professor stated that he wanted the mostly white male class to understand history through his eyes. I was a white middle class male and I thought it was a good Idea. I still do. I learned a lot. One thing I'll never forget is when he got to Andrew Jackson. He paused for a minute and then said that the Native Americans, and especially the women, are the only ones than had and still have it worse than black people in America and they don't get media attention like BLM.
Look up what is still happening to women in their communities.
I'm done digressing, and I hope you'll see why after I explain.
There is a people that have been oppressed for centuries and, like the Native Americans, have been ignored. Slurs against them have not been exposed to the point of public shame. I have used them in my speech not even knowing and maybe you have as well.
The Romani people don't like being called "gypsy". I have friends among them and I can tell you that "gypsy" and "gypped" are not ok words to use.
Might seem cumbersome, but we should respect people's identities and not use offensive language when speaking of other people.
When I was a small child we sang songs in elementary as most kids do. Nursery rhymes that often had hidden meanings we knew nothing about. Jack and Jill is a good example. Some were more hurtful, but we didn't know. One started with singing in broken English about being from China and being stupid. It seemed like a funny song to us 5-8 year old white kids. We were just reciting songs handed down to us.
In middle school everything bad was "gay". A deceptive bad deal was "Jewish". A male perceived as weak was a "fag". A female perceived as less than feminine was a "dyke".
These words are not used as much publicly due to recognition that it isn't ok. Kinda like how slurs against black people, Asians and Latinos of various origins aren't ok.
I'm going to seem to digress for a moment, but I have a point.
Many years ago when I was in college I took American Political History. On the first day the professor stated that he wanted the mostly white male class to understand history through his eyes. I was a white middle class male and I thought it was a good Idea. I still do. I learned a lot. One thing I'll never forget is when he got to Andrew Jackson. He paused for a minute and then said that the Native Americans, and especially the women, are the only ones than had and still have it worse than black people in America and they don't get media attention like BLM.
Look up what is still happening to women in their communities.
I'm done digressing, and I hope you'll see why after I explain.
There is a people that have been oppressed for centuries and, like the Native Americans, have been ignored. Slurs against them have not been exposed to the point of public shame. I have used them in my speech not even knowing and maybe you have as well.
The Romani people don't like being called "gypsy". I have friends among them and I can tell you that "gypsy" and "gypped" are not ok words to use.
Might seem cumbersome, but we should respect people's identities and not use offensive language when speaking of other people.
Are you sure you've got that right? That wasn't my own experience. Where does that come from? 