This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply. Lizzo has released a new version of “GRRLS” after some criticism that the song contained ableist language. more Not all embedded content is displayed here. You can view the original to see embedded videos, tweets, etc.
Choices like this make me happy. Language is such a small part of ableism, but the way we communicate and the words we choose start to dictate how we act and think. I was a little disappointed to note that, at least when I learned about this on Monday, the post that she/her team made announcing the change lacked alt text, and couldn't be easily read by people who rely on a screen reader. However, accessibility/usability is a rapidly changing area of practice, actions like this, and Jason Isbell's sensory processing areas at some of his recent concerts, go towards making a more inclusive community.
Well good luck with all of that. As times get tougher, idealism hits a wall. Tale as old as time. Accepting differences and having “empathy” somehow equals policing slang. Exhaustion for no reason.
I just don’t get what’s so hard about someone saying a word can be offensive to them and then you say okay cool, I won’t say it anymore and then moving on with your life.
I have muscle spasms in my leg, and I am not offended by the term. I think people are just looking for reasons to police each other's speech, especially in art forms. Akin to someone saying they have OCD over some mundane thing, disregarding people who have clinical obsessive compulsive disorder. We want people to feel comfortable, but the world isn't comfortable. Same with speech. Very rarely does someone say something that everyone will agree with nor is any less respectful or disrespectful to use slang. Most people aren't assholes, and do not specifically say something in order to offend people. I also find policing art to be wrong. I am not minimizing if someone says, "this offends me," but I am trying to understand a world where language is dead because the words we used are no longer allowed. Or in this case, a small twitter minority of people deciding a word now is offensive and badgering a pop star to change their art.
I think a lot of the comments Lizzo received were positive and “learning moments” about why that word can be hurtful, it didn’t seem like she was being badgered moreso educated by the people the word effects. I’d argue she took it that way as well, hence why she changed the lyrics. There’s a difference in not agreeing with someone because of their words and the words being offensive to a group of people. With the vast amount of words to use in this world, it just seems weird to die on the hill of “we’re going to run out of non offensive words to use at this rate”. Changing one word in a song seems like a stretch to claim she’s having to alter her art. Which again, she chose to do. So if she chose to do so on her own accord, no one then is really forcing her to change her art.