February 10, 2026 - 18:31
During class today, I found the discussion about how words are reclaimed very interesting. In my experience, I believe that a significant factor influencing this is community, not just having a community, but also being able to safely express pride and togetherness with that specific community. Oftentimes, these originally harmful words are used to reinforce an existing system of oppression against a group of people. When someone is oppressed community becomes secretive and often fragmented. When something like gay marriage was legalized, it essentially “normalized” showing your emotions and feelings about being in that specific community, which paved the way for reclaiming words that were used against them.
I also wanted to further examine the idea of the “freak show” that Eli uses as a basis for his theories. I found it interesting to see the pattern of people looking for something to feel superior over reveal itself in these shows. Throughout history, this has clearly emerged through eugenics and attempts at justifying slavery (in many forms); however, this reading showed how even displaying someone as “other” can be a subversive reinforcement of imperialism. While the “freak shows” were labeled as entertainment, it was often exploitative. At this time, jobs generally excluded people with disabilities and people of color. This created a system where these individuals were forced to present themselves as lesser and or “other” for money. As we read, these were often embellished representations of disabled people to bring in the most “rubes” as possible. A contemporary comparison I could draw to this is many medical dramas that are aired today. Instead of focusing on bigger, more common issues like social determinants of health, they find a rare disability or medical complication that can be fed to the viewers as “exciting” and “new.” While I understand the idea of these shows is to entertain, I find it confusing that they manage to over-medicalize certain disabilities while also ignoring the bigger picture and failing to show the patients humanity.