ENGLISH

Just Words: On Speech and Hidden Harm

By Mary Kate McGowan

Book information

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Year
2019
ISBN
0198829701, 9780198829706
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
997 kB (1021029 bytes)
Pages
224\222
Topic
Linguistics\\Rhetoric
Time added
2019-06-29 00:44:03
Hidden Harmspeech

Description

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.

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