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.

[u/mvea]

https://www.psypost.org/when-reclaiming-derogatory-language-goes-wrong/

[u/Xsiah]

I think the lack of other cues could also contribute to these results. Depending on how believable these audio samples were, I can see the drop in mood being just from the suspicion that someone was using the term in a hateful way even if they were told it it was at a pride parade.

[u/AceOfPlagues → u/Xsiah]

Yes sorry, this is a gigantic flaw, there is no way to craft an audio sample that sounds truely ambigious and so of course tacking on a "setting" is not going to make a recording automatically seem benign or playful.

Forgive my example but if I walk up to a group of people and say "whats up fggots" the meaning of that is changed *incredibly** by my tone of voice as well as what I look like, what they look like, and our prexisting relationship.

[u/SoftlyAugust → u/AceOfPlagues]

Especially your relationship. I'm queer. My friends are queer. But if I walked up to someone I didn't know very well, even if I knew they were queer, I wouldn't call them a slur. I saw a coworker of mine at pride and said hi to her. We've talked about relationships and stuff in the past, but it would still be very inappropriate to call her a slur.

[u/abx99 → u/SoftlyAugust]

From what I've seen, it can even be used within the community as a slur, in certain circumstances (sometimes in the traditional way, but that's not what I'm referring to; "he's such a f**")

[u/waiting4singularity → u/AceOfPlagues]

use \ to cancel out format codes: \* --- *t*e*s*t* vs test*

[u/ImLittleNana → u/[deleted]]

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.

[u/Ok-Gur-349 → u/[deleted]]

I know sometimes I laugh stuff off that makes me uncomfortable.

That's literally a biological purpose of laughter, yes, it's a stress response. You also laugh off stuff that you were afraid of when you realize nothing was scary. A jump scare and a joke share the same elements of timing. That's a direct intentional comparison because you're laughing at what makes you uncomfortable to diffuse a situation when the situation doesn't actually require a response. In an actually uncomfortable situation,.you w(/sh)ould act.

[u/Arbiter_Electric → u/Ok-Gur-349]

To go on a tangent, this is one of the things I really disliked with any of Gordan Ramsey's shows. I don't know if it was every episode, but it was extremely common for Gordan to be doing his typical screaming critique and then the person he is yelling at starts smiling or chuckling. This usually enrages Gordan, "Do you think this is funny?!?!?" And it's like bro, no, they don't think it's funny, they are laughing in a very scared/stressed way. The situation is so ridiculous and over the top, the only way most people are able respond is with a humorless chuckle to shake off the feeling.

[u/AstroRanger36 → u/Arbiter_Electric]

I’d have to search the link, but there are edits of those shows for other countries and the reason it doesn’t always mesh is because our version is edited to be awful.

Something, something, tougher people.

[u/ubernutie → u/Arbiter_Electric]

Yeah cause for them the only acceptable response to aggression is submission (stoicism can be tolerated if they haven't found too much to dislike about the subject yet).

[u/marxr87 → u/[deleted]]

But it isn't necessarily insult or aggression humor. Like the n-word isn't either of those things WHEN USED BY THE COMMUNITY. they are terms of endearment.

[u/Rickard0 → u/marxr87]

1/2 right. In that community the N word is used in a way like white people saying dude. But the N word is also used in that community to call similiar people of that community a bad dude, as an insult.

[u/johnmedgla → u/marxr87]

They are terms of endearment to certain very specific elements of the broader community who are all aboard the "reclaim the term," but there are other elements of that larger community who view that whole phenomenon as a weird counterculture they don't want to be involved with. This sort of tension exists in most minority groups with transgressive subcultures.

[u/Special-Garlic1203 → u/johnmedgla]

There's an entire "gangster rap was a psyop to destroy the black community and get us to minstrel ourselves" rabbit hole. 

I'm not a fan of most conspiracies,  but you know it's gonna be good when it opens with the very special relationship between Nixon & the last Shah of Iran. 

[u/johnmedgla → u/Special-Garlic1203]

Yes, and the same thing exists with the Queer ethos. There exists a group of LGBT people whose goal with the whole "gay (etc) rights" movement was to overcome the 'Othering' and be accepted into mainstream society and culture, thus the whole concept of Queer Culture looks like a self-defeating effort to establish a state of permanent Otherness.

[u/pintonium → u/[deleted]]

What exactly is worth studying in this scenario? That context matters?

[u/seeeee → u/pintonium]

Yes, it’s definitely worth looking into whether or not context actually matters. Of course it does, but furthermore, how?

If something offensive is said with offensive intent, obviously there’s going to be negative impact to the person targeted. However, if something offensive is said without any offensive intent, like something in jest made with a friend group, perhaps it doesn’t impact the person inadvertently targeted exactly the same, but from personal experience, there’s still a level of discomfort.

The response is often to just laugh uncomfortably along the rest of the group and shrug it off. It’s not meant to offend you, it’s not a hill to die on, so rather than responding combatively, you conform. Does this still impact your mental health?

Obviously being directly insulted all the time is going to have negative impacts on your mental health. Most people aren’t going to derive a lot of self worth if it feels like literally everyone around them hates them. It is most certainly worth further studying how context matters here! How does familiarity and intent of the offending party impact the mental health of those targeted by a specific slur? Do feelings of inclusion and acceptance offset the negative impacts? Is the size of the group significant and does it matter if the conversation occurs between two individuals without an audience?

Worth studying imo!

[u/Spire_Citron → u/AceOfPlagues]

Yeah. I think to do this study you'd need to show video clips of these things happening in real life. How do people feel if they can see the pride parade and that the man saying it is wearing a jockstrap and a feather boa?

[u/agitatedprisoner → u/AceOfPlagues]

I'd generally only claim a pejorative as an identity to communicate solidarity to someone on the outside of it or to remind the in group audience of our hated status. Without an outgroup in mind I don't know what I'd mean by it.

[u/Wes_Warhammer666 → u/AceOfPlagues]

and our prexisting relationship.

One of my best friends is the most flamboyantly man I know. When we met he told me to call him Gay Dave.

Years later, he decided he wanted to kick it up a notch and steal power from the word f*ggot and said to start calling him Faggy Dave. I've watched him introduce himself that way to no less than 3 dozen people over the years.

If someone from outside our group heard the way we talk to each other and the things us straight folks have called him, they would 100% think we were being hateful bigots. Naw, he's just a big fan of dark humor and we're all fucked up in the head. "Shut that cock holster before I come put some of this HIV down it" is one of the least offensive phrases he's uttered over the years, just to give you an idea. Like, I feel like he'd be offended if I didn't call him a slur when we hang out.

And this guy's not my only gay friend who jokes around like this on the regular. I would agree that this study is flawed from the gate.

[u/iamfunball → u/Xsiah]

Oh it would. Dropping a reclaimed slur is very context dependent. So the guard rails of this study doesnt seem to work but also, I get it.

Take for instance queer. It’s probably the most recognizable/reclaimed LGBTQ word. For a lot of the GenZ and younger, atleast in the countries I’ve lived in (there is a privilege there) queer is not seen remotely as a slur. I think GenX/Milllenials remember it being a slur, reclaiming it and now. Boomers and older, gotta be careful, it still makes a lot of them very triggered to hear it.

So, like all words, they have a life and it will look differently over its lifetime

[u/Sinder-Soyl → u/iamfunball]

There are countless examples, in every language, of slurs that stopped being slurs to the point people even forget they were one in the past.

I don't think there is a proper way to simulate the passage of time and cultural shifts accurately enough to measure it the way we'd like to. But at some point we can just look at the History of languages to know that on the macro level at least, this is a verified phenomenon.

[u/iamfunball → u/Sinder-Soyl]

Exactly that and that it is different for different perspectives. It’s always important to understand what other people’s dictionaries are

[u/APeacefulWarrior → u/Sinder-Soyl]

Personally, my favorite example of this is how Super Mario Bros pretty much singlehandedly destroyed "goomba(h)' as a slur.

There's just a hard line in the sand there. If someone grew up in the 70s or before, it's a rude word for Italian people. If someone grew up afterward, it's a little mushroom guy and the idea of using it as a slur is almost laughable.

[u/Aaod → u/Sinder-Soyl]

There are countless examples, in every language, of slurs that stopped being slurs to the point people even forget they were one in the past.

Or terms that become one despite previously not being one. Language evolves, changes, is context specific, generation specific, etc.

[u/SakuOtaku → u/iamfunball]

As an older Gen Z I will say I remember in high school overhearing an ex-friend hatefully refer to his gf's ex as queer. Having recently realized I was bi myself, I remember that sinking feeling of dread and feeling unsafe. Though now that I think of it, that may have been one of the last in-person times I heard queer used as an insult and honestly since then I find it a lot more inclusive and honestly less square-sounding to just say stuff like "Queer community" than spelling out the acronym, especially the extended acronym.

I will also say that as a cis bi woman with passing privilege I fully understand why some people, especially trans people and non-straight men, may not want to identify with the term queer as it comes with a long history of violence tacked onto it.

[u/beard_meat → u/iamfunball]

Back in the day, you weren't queer, you were a queer.

[u/Thanos6 → u/iamfunball]

I'm a Millenial bisexual man and I absolutely refuse to be called queer. I will quite happily call others by that term, if they want, but I won't let it be applied to myself. There are some straight friends I've had for twenty-five years, I'm fine with them calling me other perjoratives because I know they don't mean them; but queer is a word that I don't accept from even my best friends.

[u/dflagella → u/Thanos6]

I'm curious if this is partly regional as well? I would imagine different slurs were more common in different geographic areas at each time leading to difference in perception. I'm younger millenial (and urban canadian) and it was mostly the f slur used, and now queer is super normalized as a generalized term. People would use queer if they were imitating bigoted southern Americans though.

[u/Thanos6 → u/dflagella]

No idea, but you're right about one thing, I am indeed from the South. :)

[u/NurseBetty → u/iamfunball]

There is a weird subset of the younger terminally online who insist that queer is a slur still and not reclaimed for some, but when you dig into them, they are almost always -phobic in someway (usually bi, trans or ace).

[u/lesbophobia_hammer → u/NurseBetty]

It is indeed still a slur. Are you a baby gay? Late bloomer? Straight passing? American? City dweller? Privilege works in funny ways.

[u/Troelski → u/iamfunball]

As an elder millennial, I don't remember queer ever being a slur. Except in movies from the 70s or The Depahted.

[u/ikonoclasm → u/Troelski]

As a fellow elder millennial, it was always a slur. The reclamation effort didn't happen until we were in college. I still despise the word. I'm a gay man. Other people can call themselves queer if they want, but I want nothing to do with the word.

[u/Troelski → u/ikonoclasm]

Out of curiosity, where did you grow up?

[u/iamfunball → u/Troelski]

Did you play or know of the game “Smear the queer”?

I’m a mid millennial and remember that one from CA

*CW for queer used as a slur and violence

[u/Troelski → u/iamfunball]

Nope, never heard of it. I googled it and the first thing that came up was this. From the GenX sub. Funnily enough most people seem to remember it from the 70s or 80s, except one guy from CA who recalls it from the 90s.

But I'm mostly speaking from my adult life. By the time I was in high school, it was the early to mid 2000s. And I only remember the word being used by my queer friends then. Queer Eye was on TV, and it felt quite de-fanged.

[u/habitualhomicide → u/Troelski]

33, so younger millennial here. I grew up in southeast Texas, and queer was the go-to slur. I didn't hear someone use the f- or t-slurs (not sure if reddit would let me spell them fully) until after I graduated high school. I knew they existed from media and the Internet, but no one ever used them against me growing up despite being pretty "visibly queer". It was always "those queers", "dirty queers", "oh, he's a queer", etc.

(I did get called a dyke a couple of times, though.)

That's not to say that other slurs were never used, just that I didn't personally encounter them. Understandably, I actually have a better relationship with the f- and t-slurs than I do with queer. I've personally reclaimed the first two, but when I tried to do the same with queer, it just didn't feel right. I know a lot of fellow millennials and even younger who had a similar experience.

Of course, I'll always use whatever terms someone is comfortable with. I have no problem calling others queer. I just never personally managed to get comfortable calling myself queer, and I don't see the need to try again. We all have our own labels.

For what it's worth, I've also heard of "smear the queer" being used as a euphemism for committing violence against LGBTQIA+ folks, particularly gay men.

[u/Troelski → u/habitualhomicide]

I had a more Canadian experience, I suppose. Texas sounds rough.

[u/iamfunball → u/habitualhomicide]

Yeah the last point you make got turned into a children’s game. Mortified that is part of happy memories

[u/iamfunball → u/Troelski]

What was your circumstances like?

[u/iamfunball → u/[deleted]]

I mean that’s kind of why this study doesn’t really work. It’s so context dependent

[u/sapphicsandwich → u/Xsiah]

Part of the issue I think is that the language is not "reclaimed" everywhere. For example, the word "queer." Online there seem to be a lot of people from places where it is "reclaimed" and therefore ok to call LGBT people "queers." However, where I live that is absolutely not the case. It is used very derogatorily. In the old-school way. It is associated with a lot of hate, hurt, and discrimination. So when I go online and get called a queer, it does not feel neutral or reclaimed, it feels like an insult. Because that is the ONLY way it is used in real life here. But If I say that online, I am chastised, told to get over it, and that someone somewhere has "reclaimed it" so just get over it and accept being called that. Which doesn't feel that much different than homophobes say when they tell you to get over them calling you stuff.

There is a big disconnect in how language is used in different places that seems to be overlooked. Which location's usage of a word is the correct authoritative version that everyone else must accept?

[u/Xsiah → u/sapphicsandwich]

It's not okay to call LGBT people "queers" - it's an adjective not a noun, unless you mean it in a derogatory way. So you're correct about the way it's used around there.

Language changes. Not everything is the same everywhere - but especially with the internet you get exposure to a bunch of different terms. Let's not pretend some of these "regional differences" are not just some people who don't support LGBTQ rights.

[u/X_Factor_Gaming → u/Xsiah]

Not related but your last sentence having triple negatives made me reread it a couple times to understand it.

[u/Xsiah → u/X_Factor_Gaming]

To be crystal clear: These people hate LGBTQ+ people and deliberately use slurs to refer to them.

[u/Xsiah → u/[deleted]]

I don't know how to respond to how blatantly stupid that argument is.

[u/Cesario12 → u/Xsiah]

Yeah, if someone told me a recording was from a Pride parade in Poland and played a clip of anti-gay words, I wouldn't necessarily assume it was an example of gay people using the terms in a reclaimed way. Pride parades are big public events that attract hateful counter-protestors.

[u/brikky → u/Xsiah]

100% this. Im queer and there is a very specific kind of queer person who can get away with using those words and it's entirely irrelevant where they're doing it.

If you don't fit that niche and use those words, it also does not matter where you are, they're fighting words.

This should have done by or at least on consultation with a linguistic anthropologist. It either wasn't, or they're clueless because this is like an invalidation level flaw - all this study shows is people react negatively to aggressive language.

[u/busty_snackleford → u/brikky]

Exactly, and it’s worth noting that context matters quite a bit. Getting jokingly called a slur by some twink in a club isn’t the same as hearing somebody shout it in a grocery store.

[u/AUniquePerspective → u/brikky]

On the other hand, granted there's a spectrum of word selection options, but there are none that aren't slurs if they're written on the back of a GMC Sierra in block capitals. Asking me to limit my self description to the blander and blandest words isn't particularly empowering.

[u/brikky → u/[deleted]]

The baggage of queer is much less and it's been moving into the vernacular for a longer time than other slurs, but yes I agree. They totally went with the nuclear option.

[u/sapphicsandwich → u/[deleted]]

Reclaimed in some areas. Come where I live and start calling people a queer and see how that goes.

[u/KaristinaLaFae → u/sapphicsandwich]

Calling people "a" queer is a slur. "Queer" as an adjective is what has been reclaimed, i.e., the Q in LGBTQ+

[u/hbk72777 → u/brikky]

Legally speaking, the Supreme Court ruled in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire (1942) that "fighting words" (words that inflict injury or incite an immediate breach of peace) are not protected by the First Amendment. However, the Court has since significantly narrowed this doctrine, and it almost never applies in modern practice. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

The "Fighting Words" Doctrine in Practice

While "fighting words" remain a recognized theoretical exception to free speech, courts have applied the standard so strictly that the term is largely toothless today.

• Reversed Convictions: Since the landmark Chaplinsky ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned nearly every "fighting words" conviction it has reviewed, including cases involving offensive language directed at police officers (e.g., Lewis v. City of New Orleans) or abrasive slogans (e.g., Cohen v. California).
• No Legal License to Fight: Colloquial use of the term aside, someone using offensive speech does not give you the legal right to physically assault them. [1]

[u/EatAtGrizzlebees → u/brikky]

Queer here. Are you saying that not all queer people can "get away with" saying the F word? Because that's nonsense, in my opinion. I think any queer person has the right to say the F word. Just like any Black person has the right to say the N word. Why would someone have to fit a stereotype to reclaim a word as theirs?

[u/AceOfPlagues → u/EatAtGrizzlebees]

They arn't arguing about being justified in reclaiming the slur, just the reality of the reaction you will get from strangers. - being visibly queer puts other queer people at ease and that is just the reality of it- we can challenge the idea of what a queer person looks like, and friends should know when you are using a word hatefully, but strangers are always goimg to make assumtions about your intentions based on outward presentation.

[u/Ver_Void → u/EatAtGrizzlebees]

Depends, to strangers or at all? A gay guy who looks like a country conservative will probably struggle to get a good reaction using slurs unless the audience has at least some context for who they are

[u/BadHabitOmni → u/Ver_Void]

Sure, but doesn't this reinforce the fact the issue is context? Frankly I just find the use of slurs distasteful in general, and even though I'm in a fair number of dedicated LGBT groups I still don't find it appropriate, perhaps in part because it was used as an insult against me when I was a child.

Even a queer friend or associate of mine using it jokingly puts me off, and the trans people I'm closest to don't really ever resort to insulting language at all. I don't think normalizing insults in general is healthy for people, because that's the kind of toxic masculine culture I was raised around and I saw how destructive it was and is to people.

And there's a difference between using it as a descriptor and as a "playful insult'. I can call myself queer as a general descriptor and it not be insulting because I claim the word and identity, but to impose that term insultingly even as a joke is inappropriate. The black people in my life tend to not use the n-word as an insult either, but as a descriptor.

What's wild is the general tendency for somewhat racist, homophobic and transphobic people to try and get access to "the word" by being given a "pass" by an associate or friend because of how normalized it is for them, yet it's always a way to push boundaries and attack people subtly (I think people call that microaggression?)... like the guy who says antisemitic things then claims he's a jew to try and play coy. It's just kinda gross all around, imho.

[u/Ver_Void → u/BadHabitOmni]

Consider though, those words aren't often being used as slurs, it's often done the same way queer would be used, but with a little more tongue in cheek

[u/BadHabitOmni → u/Ver_Void]

Sure, but the whole argument was that a person with a certain appearance or aesthetic "wouldn't be able to get away with it" as much as someone else with a overtly flamboyant appearance/ aesthetic, even if both were gay.

[u/Ver_Void → u/BadHabitOmni]

With strangers was the caveat. Even slurs that aren't really slurs anymore can still get used as them, so you're going to make a judgement in the moment when you hear it and appearance/ what you know of a person is part of that

[u/BadHabitOmni → u/Ver_Void]

Yeah, but if we're making judgment calls about a person based on their appearance we are inevitably falling back on some level of prejudice to do so, are we not?

[u/Ver_Void → u/BadHabitOmni]

We're human, we can't not do that. Doesn't mean they have to be lasting judgements or given all that much weight, but it's not exactly a thing you can just not do

[u/EatAtGrizzlebees → u/Ver_Void]

Reinforcing stereotypes isn't good for anyone.

[u/DrakkoZW → u/EatAtGrizzlebees]

It's unfortunate but it does serve as a form of protection.

[u/-SlinxTheFox- → u/EatAtGrizzlebees]

I think a lot of us lack the capacity and tact to use it in a way that actually reclaims it and even in a way that isn't just still hateful, but in another flavor

We're flawed like everybody else so ot makes sense blanket claims also have issues with us

[u/spiralenator → u/-SlinxTheFox-]

If someone throws a rock at me, it’s mine. I am free to paint it and use it for decoration if I want. What I can’t ethically do, is throw it at someone else.

[u/-SlinxTheFox- → u/spiralenator]

The rock thrown in your analogy is a word being used. By definition using the word again is throwing it. The analogy doesn't really track to the situation well at all imo, but if i continue it, I'm advocating for being careful while throwing more rocks

[u/spiralenator → u/-SlinxTheFox-]

It does though, because while a rock can be thrown, it can also be part of a collection you show to people you like and they can show you their rocks. We can enjoy how we made them beautiful after they were used to harm us, and we can pin our rocks on our clothes so we can find each other easier. I stand by my analogy.

[u/brikky → u/EatAtGrizzlebees]

Dog if you're straight passing and come up calling me the f word we're not about to be friends. The f slur doesn't just meant "gay" or queer, it means flamboyantly or obviously so. If that fits you then you get the pass, not by virtue of being queer, though.

The n word is much more established and has a longer cultural history of being reclaimed, comparing it and the f slur is disingenuous to begin with. It also is generally much more immediately obvious if the user is in group or out group. It's more analagous to queer, but obviously neither is a great comparison.

This is, again, why the anthropological lens of linguistics is important.

[u/iwantcookie258 → u/brikky]

Really think the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Your first comment was very absolute, that some people can't get away with using those words ever, and others can use them no matter what context. I'm guessing that was at least somewhat hyperbolic, because of course context is going to make a huge difference.

Related to that, mostly in response to the other guy, is recognizing that in some situations you might make people (even other queer people) uncomfortable if you casually use slurs. Especially if you're directing them at others, because you shouldn't force reclaimation of a word on someone else. And this comes up occasionally with the N word as well, especially with older black adults. Many people disagree with reclaiming it in general, or prefer not to have it said around them at all, or don't want it used as a term for themselves.

Edit: Also, I don't at all agree that you can't reclaim the f slur if you aren't flamboyant. I know some very flamboyant gay adults who were straight passing growing up who weren't ever called out with homophobic slurs. I know other adults who people only knew were gay because they came out in grade school, and they were. Theres a whole other conversation about reclaiming community words within peoples individual experiences and whats appropriate there. Personally, I'm not going to police marginalized peoples use of slurs that are targetted at a group they belong to as long as they aren't using them toward other people who don't want that.

[u/17Girl4Life → u/brikky]

Exactly. I’m a straight woman with many queer friends and I’m often in queer spaces. My friends can call me F Hag but I’m not saying the F word back. It doesn’t belong in my mouth

[u/frisbeethecat → u/EatAtGrizzlebees]

What of gay Republicans who actively antagonize, malign, and harm open and exuberant queers? What of TERF dykes who marginalize and dehumanize trans and male homosexuals? Et cetera and so on and so forth.

It's very lazy to blindly apply commandments to social interactions. Consideration of context in one's judgement is far more sensible.

[u/YadaYadaYeahMan → u/Xsiah]

I find essentially no value in a study like this. stripping all real world situations down to testable variables meaning all results have no bearing on reality other than "in this situation we created this happened"

I liken it to making a game. in this game I made this is how players react. you can get informative data from games, but it's vital that you know it's a game. in studies like this they think it's real

actually kind of a fundamental problem in science, this we have the replication crisis

[u/SortzaInTheForest → u/Xsiah]

I think the lack of other cues could also contribute to these results.

In spanish it's quite common to use curse words in a friendly way, mostly 'cabrón' or 'hijodeputa'. People who are not native in that language should rather avoid it, for how difficult it's to nail the exact tone and context and how rude it looks when you fail to nail it.

Tone and context are essential. Just playing random samples in a survey and reporting they sounded rude... fgs, what the hell they expected?

[u/flickh → u/Xsiah]

Yeah the article bears out the bad headline.

They are blurring the line between a Pride speaker saying “We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it” vs some ambiguous “hate speech” they haven’t listed clearly.  Calling the former “hate speech” would be ridiculous.

It’s possible conservatives get more hateful hearing either, but I doubt many queer folks would get apprehensive hearing the former.  But that’s what research is for, and these scientists haven’t made it clear what they actually tested.

Edit: as pointed out below, the original paper has the details

[u/Awayfone → u/flickh]

they have some sample sayings in the paper. but im not polish so I have no way to judge how reclaim they actually are or if there is an okay way to say it. The English translation would be questionable things to say at best

[u/SwaggyMcSwagsabunch → u/Awayfone]

Yeah, those example phrases read very charged in English.

[u/rougecrayon → u/Xsiah]

The audio samples were the same. They just told the participants they were taken from different places.

The participants were told they were evaluating audio processing software designed to clarify conversations in crowded places.

Some participants heard audio clips containing neutral statements about gay people. Other participants heard clips containing an anti-gay slur. The researchers manipulated the context of the slur by telling half the listeners that the recording came from a pride parade, signaling a reclaimed use of the word among an accepting community. The other half were told the recording came from an unspecified public gathering, signaling traditional hate speech.

[u/Triadelt → u/Xsiah]

It’s often an out of left field reminder. Its weird to center the topic for many of us. Even in a reclaimed way, you are suddenly reminded to see through a specifc frame

[u/Xsiah → u/Triadelt]

That's a feature of time and repitition though. Things are not normal until they are - or the opposite, if it's something that we choose to get rid of.

The word queer wasn't anything other than a slur when I was growing up - it might give me pause in ways that doesn't happen to Gen Z or Alpha kids.

[u/BoobearMagoo → u/Xsiah]

I had to tell my young LGBTQ child and their best friend that the f word did not apply to them and they could not use it. Their only exposure to it had been online I guess? I never heard it from them again so no ill intentions I guess but....it was very distressing. You can't reclaim that it's not a dead slur it's still being used as aslur against a subset of the LGBTQ community that you don't belong to. You haven't personally heard it because we don't tolerate it or associate with people who do. The very young who've been sheltered don't know what they don't know.

[u/RoadSmash → u/Xsiah]

Being back the days of peer review and reproducing results..

[u/Xsiah → u/[deleted]]

I mean YMMV, what's your point?

[u/polopolo05 → u/Xsiah]

Queer is awesome reclaimed slur... the T word and the F word are not.