(CW: slurs)

This has been on my mind since “queer is a slur” discourse last came up, so as someone who relies on rules for interaction, I want to talk about a rule regular people break, or more commonly, fail to recognize ill-intentioned people breaking:

The Adjective-Noun Rule

The Adjective-Noun Rule is thus:

An adjective used to describe another person’s identity is descriptive when combined with an appropriate noun (“a queer woman”), but reductive or dehumanizing when used alone (“the queers”), because it reduces that person to JUST that adjective.

The most obvious example of this in action is “woman”/“female”. Why is it OK to call someone a woman, but not a female? Well, woman is a noun; it is the object. Female is an adjective used to describe something else. When female is used alone, it reduces them to the descriptor.

This holds true for most identity markers. Reasonable people can have varying preferences between “black (/brown/etc) person” or “person of color”, but both pair an adjective with a humanizing noun. Using “blacks” or “coloreds” alone is worthy of side-eye; it’s reductive to color https://twitter.com/iambrandontv/status/1293035831121321986

Reasonable people can also disagree on people-first (“person with Down’s syndrome”) vs. identity-first language (“blind person”), and do in disability circles. But calling someone “an autistic” or similar? Reduces someone to JUST their disability. It’s a denial of personhood.

As to how this plays into the issue of slurs: there are quite a few words that BECOME slurs when decoupled with nouns because of their reductive nature, and a MUCH LONGER LIST of words DESIGNED to be (negative) identity descriptors used as nouns; these are all explicit slurs.

Sometimes, bigots will use similar or obfuscating language in order to hide the nature of their slur use, and in these cases, the Adjective-Noun Rule can help. For example, can you tell me the difference between “trans men” and “transwomen” in this article’s headline? https://twitter.com/katymontgomerie/status/1290948796323635200

This rule isn’t meant to be a be-all, end-all. Some adjectives are slurs even when used with nouns (you know which ones). Some are “reclaimed” in the context of in-group use, where people have shared experiences with a word. But it’s still useful as a measure of respectfulness.