[SymbiSpidey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Captain Nash

I could choose to be offended by the use of quotation around the word straight here as it could come across as being a self applied but not true identity. Those who are straight are straight, not "straight," not, "not straight". Those who are LGBT are LGBT, not "LGBT" like it's some kind of true/but not really true identity. But I'm not offended, I'm just pointing out how easy it is to set up ways in our writing and language that can be taken as offense.

As someone who is part of the LGBT community, I would be offended if someone uses such words as F****t to identity us as part of their own way of thinking. But if they are doing it as quoting something that used those terms I see it as being a reference to something beyond their own opinions. That is what the GNR lyrics are (Dire Straights too for that matter which I've sung karaoke with before). That is how Ashley Barton empowers herself in the book (granted Millar is putting that label on her, but it does come across as a self-empowerment tool). THe fact this is part of a creation of work is immutable and does not necessarily reflect the actual opinions of those who use it. Sometimes a reference is just a reference.

This is what I wanted to say. There's a difference between a character or group of people referring to themselves by certain words as a means of self-empowerment as opposed to just straight up spewing a racist/sexist/homophobic slur to another person.

And as a black person myself, I found the previous use of the n-word far more problematic than what anything NiteLife had said in that post, which was essentially just him referring to a comic book character by her given name. If he was going around calling women bitches, then sure, he'd have a point. But now, it just seems like we as a society are screaming oppression at everything because we want it to bother us.