Gia Pham

Trend Idea: Typically Marginalized Individuals Reclaiming Derogatory Language

People to interview and questions

1. Females

How might referring to yourself as a “slut” or a “bitch” be empowering to you if that language is often derogatory?
Do you call others “slut” and “bitch”? If so, who?
How would you react if someone calls you those names? Does it depend on who is saying it?
Has your opinions about these terms changed over time, if so, why?

African Americans

Do you feel black people nowadays are doing their relatives good by saying the n-word if it was used to abuse African Americans for decades?
Is there a difference in the n-word that has an “-er” as opposed to the “-a” ending?
How do you feel if someone who is not black uses the n-word (including “nigga”)?
What does the n-word mean to you?

LGBT individuals

When and why would you use these words?
How do you feel when someone is not LGBTQ uses these words?
Have you’ve ever been personally insulted with these words? If so, what did you learn from that experience?

The latest reclamation comes courtesy of Tyler, the Creator, the rapper from skateboarding, jazz-appreciating hip-hop crew Odd Future. For his newest bit of “Golf Wang” merch, he’s taken a white supremacist logo, designed it in rainbow colours, and then printed it on a T-shirt. To promote it, he and a white model were photographed holding hands wearing the shirts.
Nicki Minaj has effectively reclaimed “bitch” and “cunt” as words not to be hurled at women but to be used to describe those unbowed by others.

Warren turned Trump’s idea of what constitutes ‘nasty’ on its head, reclaiming it and turning it into a battle cry: ‘Get this, Donald. Nasty women are tough, nasty women are smart, and nasty women vote, and on November 8, we nasty women are going to march our nasty feet to cast our nasty votes and get you out of our lives forever.’
The world reacted to his ‘nasty woman‘ jibe as you would expect, it’s a phrase which belies Trump’s fundamental distaste for women, particularly when they’re more intelligent, more well prepared and more qualified for a job than him.

“The term ‘slut’ never seemed to go away—in fact, I began to realize that I’d be called a slut whether I behaved according to other people’s standards or not,” she wrote. “So, I decided to take the power out of that word and reclaim it. I said f—k it, hoe is life. But don’t get me wrong—this self-proclaimed hoe is a powerful woman and an unapologetic feminist.”