Appropriate Slurs

DiFranco, Ralph

doi:10.1007/s12136-016-0313-0

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 28 publications

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“…Slurs alongside #NotYourShield can also be used ironically, jokingly, or as terms of endearment rather than to inflict damage to an interest, as scholars (see Allan, 2015;Croom, 2013;Jaszczolt, 2016;Maitra & McGowan, 2012;Pryor, 2016;Zimmerman, 2012) These reclamatory and resistance-based uses of slurs are noteworthy since they suggest, contrary to arguments put forth by Bolinger, that it is not always true that "in choosing to use a slurring term rather than its neutral counterpart, the speaker signals that she endorses the term (and its associations)" (2017, p. 439). Indeed, a vast body of literature (Allan, 2015;Bianchi, 2014;Bolinger, 2017;Brontsema, 2004;DiFranco, 2017;Herbert, 2015;Hom, 2008;Jeshion, 2013;Parks & Jones, 2008;Pryor, 2016;Saka, 2007) acknowledges that although slurs can serve as linguistic mechanisms of subordination, "re-appropriating these terms can be a strategy to fight back against social injustice [and], when successful, reclamation is the subversion of powerful mechanisms of oppression" (Herbert, 2015, p. 131). In academia, most often this phenomenon is addressed in the context of LGBTQ members' self-referential re-appropriation of "queer" (Bianchi, 2014;Brontsema, 2004;Hom, 2008;Jeshion, 2013;Saka, 2007) and in black communities' re-appropriation of the term "nigger" (Allan, 2015;Parks & Jones, 2008;Pryor, 2016).…”

Section: -Beyond Faggotry: Gamergate and #Notyourshieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from #GamerGate: Complicating virtual harm and reassessing frameworks for virtual harm assessment

Milford¹

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Beginning in summer 2014, a series of sustained misogynistic attacks against women in the video game industry coalesced online under #GamerGate. In this study I conduct a virtual ethnography of various online fieldsites hosting #GamerGate discussions, with the goal of complicating prevailing understandings of virtual harm. I draw from Feinberg (1987) to operationalize harm as that which damages an interest. I suggest that discourses in public policy, popular media and popular culture can oversimplify representations of virtual harm, theorizing an ontology of virtual harm that acknowledges a more nuanced range of factors that can impact how harm manifests within virtual contexts. To my supervisor, Dr. Lara Karaian: your guidance and support surpassed my wildest expectations. You endured my academic insecurity, excessively long drafts, and jumbled thoughts. You made me stronger with every patient word of advice that you graciously provided. You never doubted me even when I was doubting myself, and you always made me feel reassured that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. I couldn't have asked for a better mentor to lead me through this experience, and I'm genuinely honoured to have been your first PhD supervision. I'll be forever in your debt for seeing me through this process. To my committee, Dr. Aaron Doyle and Dr. Valerie Steeves: your constructive feedback over the past three years made for an incredibly positive peer review experience. Your insights challenged me and helped me reach beyond my discipline, and your enthusiastic, encouraging presences made me excited for our meetings-something I'm well aware that too few doctoral students can boast. You both made this committee feel like a team, and for that I will always be grateful. To my family, particularly Mom, Dad, Stacy and Aunt Lori: thank you for unreservedly standing by me and for always being willing to field my erratic text messages and calls, regardless of when or from what part of the planet I was contacting you. Your love and unconditional support, not just for my academic pursuits but for my life decisions in general, mean the world. To my friends, Clare, Kaitesi, Ciara, Nicole, Emily, Danielle, Steph, Стиви, Charley and others: thank you for putting up with me; I'm acutely aware that I'm not always the easiest to handle. Your willingness to chat with me at any hour of the day, to help me find light in dark places, to always know what to say and do to lift my spirits, and to non-judgmentally take my eccentricities in stride are things that I will always cherish. I wouldn't have been able to get through this without all of you. Special mention to Sandra, who taught me how to survive this experience. The years that I've spent writing this dissertation, like life, have been made up of meetings and partings. All of them have made me the person who I am today. As I embark on a new chapter of my life, I'd like to extend my appreciation to everyone who has played a role in charting my journey, but who I may not have mentioned by name. If you're ...

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Section: -Beyond Faggotry: Gamergate and #Notyourshieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons from #GamerGate: Complicating virtual harm and reassessing frameworks for virtual harm assessment

Milford¹

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No Harm, Still Foul: On the Effect-Independent Wrongness of Slurring

DiFranco¹,

Morgan²

2023

J. of the Am. Philos. Assoc.

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Intuitively, a speaker who uses slurs to refer to people is doing something morally objectionable even if no one is measurably affected by their speech. Perhaps they are only talking to themselves, or they are speaking with bigots who are already as vicious as they can be. This paper distinguishes between slurring as an expressive act and slurring as the act of causing a psychological effect. It then develops an expression-focused ethical account in order to explain the intuition that slurring involves an effect-independent moral wrong. The core idea is that the act of expressing a morally defective attitude is itself pro tanto morally objectionable. Unlike theories that focus only on problematic effects, this view is able to shift the moral burden of proof away from victims of slurring acts and onto speakers. It also offers moral guidance with respect to metalinguistic and pedagogical utterances of slurs.

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Appropriate Slurs

Cited by 2 publications

References 28 publications

Lessons from #GamerGate: Complicating virtual harm and reassessing frameworks for virtual harm assessment

Lessons from #GamerGate: Complicating virtual harm and reassessing frameworks for virtual harm assessment

No Harm, Still Foul: On the Effect-Independent Wrongness of Slurring

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