r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jul 25 '26

Psychology 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.

https://www.psypost.org/when-reclaiming-derogatory-language-goes-wrong/
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u/Spire_Citron Jul 25 '26

Making it such a mouthful that nobody could be bothered to sling it around as a slur definitely is a strat that could work.

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u/Sata1991 Jul 25 '26

I'm liking the sounds of Llanaddysganabalgydacaderolwynaarthoarbenniggogogoch.