Slurs

ellio

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Another variation on the multiple 'Swearing in YA' thread.

When, if ever, is it acceptable to use racial slurs in YA?

This might get very different answers considering what country your audience is from. I know that in the UK we studied Of Mice and Men in Year 10 (14 - 15 years old) and there was a really awkward moment for me when we were reading out loud and someone had to say the N-word and everyone looked at me to check I wasn't crying in a corner or something about it, so I know it's not like a DO NOT DO situ in the UK.

Yet I'm also not sure where the boundaries are. I'm in the middle of a WIP that's got multiple POVs, and one of the young black boys in it uses the N-word a lot (atm) in reference to friends/people in general. It's not treated as a bad word through his POV, though when he's in scenes from others POV they're obviously uncomfortable with it.

Also, as a hypothetical: if it was a case where someone was just being racist would you personally opt to use a specific slur word or would you just go for a threatening stereotype? I think if I was trying to depict a character that was just a racist I wouldn't use a slur because in my opinion that is like THE worst thing you can say as a sort of verbal hate crime (beyond threats and such) and I feel like you'd have to either be really evil or deluded to actually describe someone as a slur to their face

I've never thought about the use of racial slurs before as I've never written anything that requires them. I just realised I have absolutely no idea how to go about it in YA because I can't recall ever reading a YA with real racial slurs in it (usually because there just aren't a lot of YAs with PoC protagonists).
 

KarmaPolice

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If it's what the character would naturally use, then to hell with the PC police and use the damn thing! Also, different times and places have differing standards; just see South Africa and the usage of 'Coloured'. Just because you're writing it, doesn't mean you bleeding approve of it. I'm reminded of a Doctor Who episode when the black sidekick is called a Negress (or words of the same effect) by Shakespeare; she takes some offense (naturally), but it's clear from his tone that he was just using it as a descriptive term, not as an insult.
 

Kerosene

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If there's a reason, use them. If not, why should you?

However, if you're using ethnic/racial slurs of any kind, I would think the racial portion of your story is a essential one, so this would be almost a given.
 

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If your character would use them. I added a new YA antagonist in my most recent write and he uses a derogatory term for a roman catholic which none of my other characters would but which is fitting for this character's background. As the story is set in Ulster, as Will says, the bigotry evidenced is deep seated and natural to the story, as opposed to an add on.
 
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kuwisdelu

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Cutting past when I think it would work and when it wouldn't—

Based on your post, I'm sure you handle it fine. Go for it.
 

Ken

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In general, insulting ones own people or indulging in playful banter at risk of offense by using certain terms often comes easy. As a check it's helpful to consider including slurs for races other than ones own.

Take the expression, "that's gay," for instance. It's a fairly popular expression among some teens these days. Would you have characters in your novel use that?

It's a way of keeping things in perspective and depersonalizing the issue.

I'm not saying you shouldn't use the n-word or that you should. Just suggesting a way to get a different angle on it by casting it in a different light.
 

kuwisdelu

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In general, insulting ones own people or indulging in playful banter at risk of offense by using certain terms often comes easy.

I wouldn't consider taking back a term to be insulting one's own people.

It can be a mechanism of defense, of survivance, of rebellion.
 

Ken

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I wouldn't consider taking back a term to be insulting one's own people.

It can be a mechanism of defense, of survivance, of rebellion.

I can appreciate that. The terms still have the potential to offend others who don't appreciate the terms in that way though. So if you have characters use them you can cause unintended offense. Just something to consider, non-subjectively. And again, I'm not saying one should or should not use such terms in fiction. It's the authors call.
 

ellio

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I can appreciate that. The terms still have the potential to offend others who don't appreciate the terms in that way though. So if you have characters use them you can cause unintended offense. Just something to consider, non-subjectively. And again, I'm not saying one should or should not use such terms in fiction. It's the authors call.

Offense to whom? To readers? Or to the fictional characters.
 

Hapax Legomenon

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The context sounds fine but you should probably get some betas of the group you're trying to portray.

I've seen slurs used in modern books as slurs but I don't recall any in YA. Then again I don't read that much YA and you're right there aren't that many PoC in mainstream YA right now. It comes down to being able to portray author endorsement versus a thing that happens in a book.
 

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I agree that as long as it's realistic for your character (and you're doing your research, as necessary, about this usage), you should feel free to use the slurs this way. However--and I think you're aware of this, but I mention it anyway--it is going to turn off some readers. It will probably be a harder sell to agents and publishers with the slurs than it would have been without them. And you will almost certainly get negative reviews because of it. This is no reason not to use them, but it's worth preparing for the cons anyway.
 

kuwisdelu

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Also, as a hypothetical: if it was a case where someone was just being racist would you personally opt to use a specific slur word or would you just go for a threatening stereotype? I think if I was trying to depict a character that was just a racist I wouldn't use a slur because in my opinion that is like THE worst thing you can say as a sort of verbal hate crime (beyond threats and such) and I feel like you'd have to either be really evil or deluded to actually describe someone as a slur to their face

To answer this part of your question, I agree. If I were just trying to depict someone as racist, I wouldn't go to racial slurs, at least for a contemporary fiction. In a modern setting, it's too much of an easy way out, since insidiousness of modern racism is its subtlety and covertness.

I wouldn't shy away from my PoC characters using what I would consider slurs and what could be problematic language if coming from other characters.
 

ellio

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To readers.

Maybe, but in your example 'gay' is a sexuality so it's a neutral descriptor, whereas the slang word 'gay' is used as a negative one. When people use the N-word as a slang word is used as a positive, to put in place of "homie" or other similar terms. I wouldn't use gay in a novel unless the point was to offend, and then I'd address why the character had used that particular choice of word.

However, if you're using ethnic/racial slurs of any kind, I would think the racial portion of your story is a essential one, so this would be almost a given.

This is a point I want to focus on, because in adult contemporary I don't think this would be a given. Does it have to be a given in YA?
Although my story does focus on race and around how the characters are affected by a race-related crime, the character who uses the N-word is there because he isn't affected by it and doesn't get why people keep assuming he should be just because he's black. There's never a discussion about why he uses it. I think it works within the context of the rest of the novel and the rest of the black characters in it.
Say I isolated his particularly POV from the greater theme of the story, or say he was my MC in another tale about his life just being a young black boy who used this word because culturally that's just what him and his friends did, would that kind of flippant usage be acceptable in YA?

It will probably be a harder sell to agents and publishers with the slurs than it would have been without them. And you will almost certainly get negative reviews because of it. This is no reason not to use them, but it's worth preparing for the cons anyway.

This is in some ways actually one of the reasons I want to write it this way. For all the years I've been writing I have been creating characters I find unbelievable because I've been trying to curtail to what I think publishers/agents will want and I'm at the point now where I really just want to write the kind of books I'd want to read about the kind of people familiar to me and real people do use racial slurs in casual conversation, especially teens. C'est la vie.
 

kuwisdelu

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This is in some ways actually one of the reasons I want to write it this way. For all the years I've been writing I have been creating characters I find unbelievable because I've been trying to curtail to what I think publishers/agents will want and I'm at the point now where I really just want to write the kind of books I'd want to read about the kind of people familiar to me and real people do use racial slurs in casual conversation, especially teens.

We need more such fiction.
 

Chazemataz

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It'd be awful strange to read a book about slavery and not see the "n"-word. Same with a book about the Holocaust and not hear anti-semetic words being thrown about.
 

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I've been having this debate with myself for a while now on a WIP. It's about a teen who grew up in a neo-nazi group. He doesn't use the slurs, but the group does. I think I'm going to strike a balance between the MC's narration and outside dialogue. Something he's narrating, a past event, a memory, etc. won't use the slurs because the character wouldn't use them. Real time dialogue between him and members of the group will because he can't control the outside.

It comes down to what the character(s) would realistically do, even if it makes you the writer uncomfortable. I know I am!
 

shahrazad

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The only time I remember reading a racial slur in contemporary YA was from the POV of a teen who got called the ch- word on the bus in a brief moment of casual racism for holding up the line. I was 13 or so when I read it, and it didn't really put me off the book or anything.

I agree that as long as it's realistic for your character (and you're doing your research, as necessary, about this usage), you should feel free to use the slurs this way. However--and I think you're aware of this, but I mention it anyway--it is going to turn off some readers. It will probably be a harder sell to agents and publishers with the slurs than it would have been without them. And you will almost certainly get negative reviews because of it. This is no reason not to use them, but it's worth preparing for the cons anyway.

That's an important point. Not quite at the level of a racial slur, but I have a male character who uses the c-word glibly in reference to other males and I'm trying to decide if I should keep it or not.
 
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southbel

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The context sounds fine but you should probably get some betas of the group you're trying to portray.

I've seen slurs used in modern books as slurs but I don't recall any in YA. Then again I don't read that much YA and you're right there aren't that many PoC in mainstream YA right now. It comes down to being able to portray author endorsement versus a thing that happens in a book.
It was set in the 1980s, but Eleanor & Park uses quite a few slurs in it - racial, gender, and sexual orientation. The characters say them and in that context it works because those characters say a lot about themselves via the slurs, if that makes sense.
 

maybegenius

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My personal stance is that I won't use the majority of slurs and I won't write stories that would "require" the use of slurs. I'll explain my (again, personal) reasons why below.

I'm white. I'm straight. I'm middle-class. The only slurs I've had to deal with, personally, are female-based slurs. I know how I feel when I'm called a slut, bitch, c*nt, or whatever other lady-slurs are out there. I know the visceral violence that can come behind it. I can write about my experience with those words with nuance. However, I know there's no way I'm going to be able to accurately portray the use of a slur that doesn't apply to me in a nuanced way, and personally I don't especially think I have the express right to try.

Slurs are not just words. They are words that come loaded with history, with oppression, with hatred, and with intent to harm. When we use them in fiction, we can't divorce the word from that history. Not even for the sake of "art." We have to ask ourselves: why am I choosing (and we are always choosing) to write a story/scene that requires this?

Is it okay to use slurs in certain contexts? Unless I'm part of the class of people affected by that slur, I can't really say. Personally, I choose to find other ways to convey what I need to convey.

In summary: tread very, very carefully.