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Gumbitch, I understand and appreciate what you're saying there. Holding my hands up, I also find it hard to know what terminology is less offensive when talking about transsexuality. (There was, of course, a "101" thread about it on Conversation).
Y'know what it is, IMO--Emily is 'postracist' like girls who think pole dancing is empowering are 'postfeminist'. I don't think she gets the significance of what she's said; she has no concept of the history. She like, 'black people can vote now, so what's, like, the issue? That's all fixed now, and they say it in rap songs, so what's the problem.'
This is what I was trying to get at above ~ whether there's a generation thing and maybe to black and white teenagers, there's a genuine confusion about whether the word is a horrible racial insult or just something you hear in songs all the time, or both, and when there's a difference. Maybe the issue of context and intention is quite complicated and hard to grasp, especially (not meaning to be too patronising) when you're a teenager. I can see it could be odd to reconcile one of the worst and most taboo words in our language with a term you hear in mainstream films and music ~ and maybe there is some kind of difficult slippage for them.
This is why I concluded above, not that it's up to me, that I can't help thinking it'd be easier if we never heard the word again. Unless you totally rid it of its origins and history, which doesn't seem possible within the near future, I'm not sure how it can cease to be a problem. Some people would have to find a new word for mate or guy, but, you know, sacrifices can be made. |
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