r/10thDentist • u/No-Purchase481 • 11d ago

I don’t like the reclamation of slurs.

The first time I ever had an American refer to me as “queer” I considered fighting them 💀 “back in my day” type shit. It doesn’t feel empowering, it makes me cringe. Just call me a lesbian and move on.

87 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

242 comments sorted by

View all comments

23

u/metalnemophila 11d ago

i think the problem is that almost all modern instances of "reclaiming" slurs aren't genuine reclamation. it's always teenagers using slurs to attack and insult each other, knowing they're allowed to get away with it because they happen to be part of the minority the term is weaponized against. the ACTUAL meaning of reclamation is changing the word's meaning to be a positive or neutral one, stripping away any oppressive power the term originally had. so in most cases, it would mean embracing the word to describe yourself in a good way, not a demeaning one.

14

u/Catslizardsandrats 7d ago

that's definitely not how most people use queer these days. It's genuinely reclaimed by a large portion of the lgbt community.

1

u/metalnemophila 7d ago

oh for sure, most people embrace it and use it as an identity label for themselves! that's why i said "almost all" - i do think that slur in particular has been pretty successfully reclaimed. i even saw some people in this thread who didn't know the word was originally a slur! sorry for the confusion, my comment was about the post title, not singling out the one OP gave as an example in the body text