Just Words: On Speech and Hidden Harm (Repost)
Mary Kate McGowan, "Just Words: On Speech and Hidden Harm"
English | 2019 | ISBN: 0198829701, 019289739X | PDF | pages: 222 | 1.0 mb
English | 2019 | ISBN: 0198829701, 019289739X | PDF | pages: 222 | 1.0 mb
We all know that speech can be harmful. But what are the harms and how exactly does the speech in question brings those harms about? Mary Kate McGowan identifies a previously overlooked mechanism by which speech constitutes, rather than merely causes, harm. She argues that speech constitutes harm when it enacts a norm that prescribes that harm. McGowan illustrates this theory by considering many categories of speech including sexist remarks, racist hate speech, pornography, verbal triggers for stereotype threat, micro-aggressions, political dog whistles, slam poetry, and even the hanging of posters. Just Words explores a variety of harms - such as oppression, subordination, discrimination, domination, harassment, and marginalization - and ways in which these harms can be remedied.