In recent years, quite a lot of effort has been put into making sure that terms used to refer to certain groups of people – particularly those who are part of marginalised or stigmatised minorities – are not offensive. This is obviously to be applauded. Language matters and hearing yourself referred to with a derogatory term is hurtful and undermines self-worth. Equally when people grow up hearing certain groups referred to with derogatory terms, this is more likely to create a feeling that these groups are in fact inferior in some sense and that it is okay to insult them. This can do a lot of long-term harm. However, the thinking seems to be that if we just change the term used, that will lead to improvement and this is short-sighted.
Continue reading “Language Matters, But Is Not All”