race and fandom

[rm]

http://witchqueen.livejournal.com/407901.html

Short version: HP porn community chooses a different theme from a dictionary ever week. This week they chose "miscegenation," being, presumeably, unaware of the word's context. This, combined with the fact that the listing of submissions on said theme managed to equate goat-fucking with interracial relationships, pissed some people right the hell off. When the problem was pointed out to the mods of the community, they blow it off. And you thought that whole Blaise Zabini makes my fandom look like racist idiots situation sucked? Yuck.

Random PSA: While we're on the subject of people not understanding the terms they are using, please don't say "gyped" or "jipped" or however you choose to spell it. It's derived from "Gypsy" and using it is the equivalent of saying someone "jewed you down," which I can only assume you all already do know is offensive. I have to correct people on this one all the time and it makes me nuts.

Comments

other words i hear people use all the time with derrogitory origins

[delicatetbone.livejournal.com]

"lame"
"gay"
"pussy"
"retarded"

I'm sure there are a slew of others, but yeah..."lame" was one I used all the time until my band-mate Nomi Lamm pointed out that it was derrogitory to people with physical disabilities

Re: other words i hear people use all the time with derrogitory origins

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

I don't think "lame" is derogatory to people with physical disabilities. The word "lame" has multiple definitions, and one of them is "weak; inadequate; unsatisfactory; clumsy." The example given at dictionary.com is "a lame excuse." Since the use of "lame" to describe disabilities is as a descriptor ("a lame leg", "a lame wing"), it's not a word primarily about disability.

That's right up there with thinking that "to call a spade a spade" has racist origins.

In other news, does this mean you have changed your opinion of "pussy"?

Re: other words i hear people use all the time with derrogitory origins

[delicatetbone.livejournal.com]

I don't remember what my opinion of "pussy" used to be....i still use the term, in a variety of ways.

[heron61.livejournal.com]

One of the major limitations of fan culture is that it is exceptionally white. I haven't encountered more than a small number of serious racists in various forms of fandom, but the stereotypically clueless middle-class white beliefs that racism is no longer a problem and that anyone who avoids shouting racial epithets cannot possibly be racist both thrive in fandom culture. *sigh*

[00goddess.livejournal.com]

I hate it when people say "gypped." It's so racist! And it makes me crazy too.

However, I have taken a cue from Kinky Friedman and use the phrase "Christianed them down" when I speak of bargaining.

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

I sent an email of my own to the moderators - and it was even civil! - because not actually having the knowledge is one thing but denial of the facts placed in front of you is something else entirely.

It was embarrassingly recently in my life that the derogatory origin of "gypped" was explained to me, and it really threw me because it didn't make sense to me; it wasn't the kind of thing I was familiar with Gypsies being accused of. It actually caused me to examine the rest of my vocabulary with suspicion. Even though I've been assured by more than one source that there is nothing remotely anti-Semitic about the phrase I still am hesitant to use "the heebie-jeebies" because of the similarity to "hebe".

[karnythia.livejournal.com]

I have come to the conclusion that I hate fandom. I'm going back to watching my shows/reading my books etc. without interacting with others. It's the only way.

[sociallyawkrd.livejournal.com]

"jewed you down," which I can only assume you all already do know is offensive

Let me assure you somehow, somehow some people don't know it is offensive. I recently had one of our switchboard operators who returned from her honeymoon launch into a discussion about jewing people down in the Caribbean. I was so shocked I just sort of looked at her with my mouth open for 5 minutes. Then I explained the problem with that phrase. She still didn't get it.

[marzipan-pig.livejournal.com]

One of the people who raised me only recently STARTED saying it and when I challenged her, she said "Well, my friends say it". I pointed out that if her friends all jumped off a bridge that wouldn't make it a good idea, and I think we both got the role reversal and she stopped, at least in front of me.

[hangedwoman.livejournal.com]

This is one of those things that always seems to get me into trouble, but I can't stop myself from doing it. Technically, the etymology of "gypped" is unclear. It's similar enough that I think it's a good idea to strike it from one's vocabulary, but there is evidence that its origin may have been entirely separate from the labelling of the Romany peoples as Gypsies. There is no clear evidence that it originated as a derogatory term.

This is actually a less extreme example than some things I've seen, but some days I wish there was a Snopes for etymology, because it's amazing what people will not only swallow when it comes to language but will then browbeat other people about as well. For instance, why is it that no one criticizes "quarantine" when it's used to mean something other than a period of fourty days?

Of course on the other hand it seems that my instant horrified recognition of the word "miscegenation" is a minority reaction - it's odd how many people are saying they've never seen it before. But the history of the usage of that word is clear and well-documented.