By Marcelle Meyer
I debate in an organization that is, on balance, very liberal and focuses heavily on political correctness in our discussions. Topics range from feminism and gender theory to United States intervention in human rights violations. We are debating complicated and often sensitive topics, and it is necessary for the comfort of everyone on the circuit that we use politically correct language to talk about groups of people. Similarly, this is important throughout society.
However, my experience as a debater has taught me that political correctness, or, rather, how it is enforced, can often hinder dialogue. People involved in the feminist movement or the LGBT rights movement tend to have a set of words or phrases that are deemed inoffensive and best to use in conversations about women, transgender people, lesbians, gay people, etc. Having a positive and open language with which to discuss these topics is always important; however, the focus on people being perfectly correct in how they talk about, for example, feminism can often hinder real discussions about it.
Not everyone discussing feminism knows everything about gender theory, and many people might say things about gender that are not completely correct or deemed correct by the community; however, when we focus so heavily on the language instead of the discussion, we lock people out of the conversation.
As a woman, I would much rather someone who doesn’t understand the term “cisgender” talk about feminism with a few incorrect phrases than not talk about it at all, because I want as many people as possible to participate in the conversation. There have been many times when I have been engaged in debates or discussions about the LGBT community and did not approach certain topics because I was afraid of unintentionally offending someone by not being “up-to-date” on the latest queer theory or phrasing development. The problem is that there are many conversations that I could have participated in that would have helped me to understand the community better, if only I had not feared backlash for using outdated or incorrect language.
I am a woman who grew up in the Deep South — someone telling me that I “don’t seem like a feminist” because I wear makeup is hardly the most offensive thing I have heard about women. Similarly, someone saying that they aren’t a “feminist” but believe in equality between genders is not as important as the fact that they do, in fact, support equality.
Political correctness is good. Language that makes people feel comfortable is good. However, it is also important to remember that not everyone is familiar with this language, and we should still invite them into the conversation. Changing people’s hearts is much more meaningful than simply changing their words.
