Deciding what #language to use when describing vulnerable groups can be difficult. But Humphreys—who is the editor at a scientific journal and has witnessed some of these arguments firsthand—warns that society needs to be careful not to ban terms arbitrarily.
“To be sure, when someone expresses clear preferences about how he or she wants to be described, that wish requires no evidentiary validation.” But, he adds, “Any claim that specific terms are actively harmful should be viewed as a hypothesis until it is established as fact. When confronted with claims that term X causes harm to people with a given characteristic, or that term Y is the only way to describe them respectfully, a fair-minded person can reasonably respond, ‘What evidence suggests that this is true?’”
Evidence does exist. For example, surveys show no consensus about whether people seeking care prefer the term “patient” or “client.” Additionally, many U.S. academics quickly adopted the neologism #Latinx as a more inclusive, gender-neutral alternative to Hispanic or Latino, but survey data suggest that few use it to describe themselves.
“Denouncing other people’s terminology as harmful, and demanding that others adopt your own, can be intoxicating—to the point that submitting such disputes to empirical tests can feel like a bit of a comedown,” Humphreys continues. But “a shared commitment to evidence provides a way to resolve upsetting disagreements that can otherwise fester forever, while opening up chances to learn when we have in fact caused harm and genuinely need to treat others better.”
The Atlantic
#Words should not be outlawed without evidence, Keith Humphreys argues. theatln.tc/4eMPhuNg
Deciding what #language to use when describing vulnerable groups can be difficult. But Humphreys—who is the editor at a scientific journal and has witnessed some of these arguments firsthand—warns that society needs to be careful not to ban terms arbitrarily.
“To be sure, when someone expresses clear preferences about how he or she wants to be described, that wish requires no evidentiary validation.” But, he adds, “Any claim that specific terms are actively harmful should be viewed as a hypothesis until it is established as fact. When confronted with claims that term X causes harm to people with a given characteristic, or that term Y is the only way to describe them respectfully, a fair-minded person can reasonably respond, ‘What evidence suggests that this is true?’”
Evidence does exist. For example, surveys show no consensus about whether people seeking care prefer the term “patient” or “client.” Additionally, many U.S. academics quickly adopted the neologism #Latinx as a more inclusive, gender-neutral alternative to Hispanic or Latino, but survey data suggest that few use it to describe themselves.
“Denouncing other people’s terminology as harmful, and demanding that others adopt your own, can be intoxicating—to the point that submitting such disputes to empirical tests can feel like a bit of a comedown,” Humphreys continues. But “a shared commitment to evidence provides a way to resolve upsetting disagreements that can otherwise fester forever, while opening up chances to learn when we have in fact caused harm and genuinely need to treat others better.”
Read more: theatln.tc/4eMPhuNg
🎨: Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty
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