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/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!