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The negative connotation was particularly aimed at those espousing views adhering to [[social liberalism]], [[political correctness]] or [[feminism]], and was popularized during the [[Gamergate controversy]].<ref name=SalonRosza>{{cite news|url=http://www.salon.com/2015/12/31/5_reasons_2015_was_the_year_of_the_social_justice_warrior_and_why_progressives_should_embrace_the_term_partner|title=5 reasons 2015 was the year of the social justice warrior (and why progressives should embrace the term)|first=Matthew |last=Rozsa|work=Salon|accessdate=22 March 2016|date=31 December 2015|dead-url=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229182915/http://www.salon.com/2015/12/31/5_reasons_2015_was_the_year_of_the_social_justice_warrior_and_why_progressives_should_embrace_the_term_partner|archivedate=29 February 2016}}</ref><ref name=WashingtonPost>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/10/07/why-social-justice-warrior-a-gamergate-insult-is-now-a-dictionary-entry|title=Why ‘social justice warrior,’ a Gamergate insult, is now a dictionary entry|accessdate=22 March 2016|first=Abby |last=Ohlheiser|date=7 October 2015|work=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> The accusation of being an SJW implies that a person is engaging in disingenuous [[social justice]] arguments or activism to raise his or her personal reputation.<ref name=ViceAllegra>{{cite news|title=Meet the Female Gamer Mascot Born of Anti-Feminist Internet Drama|date=28 August 2014|last=Ringo|first=Allegra|work=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]|url=http://www.vice.com/read/meet-the-female-gamer-mascot-created-by-anti-feminists-828|accessdate=22 March 2016|archivedate=14 January 2016|dead-url=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114083321/http://www.vice.com/read/meet-the-female-gamer-mascot-created-by-anti-feminists-828|quote=In other words, SJWs don't hold strong principles, but they pretend to. The problem is, that's not a real category of people. It's simply a way to dismiss anyone who brings up social justice—and often those people are feminists. It's awfully convenient to have a term at the ready to dismiss women who bring up sexism, as in, 'You don't really care. As an SJW, you're just taking up this cause to make yourself look good!'}}</ref>
The negative connotation was particularly aimed at those espousing views adhering to [[social liberalism]], [[political correctness]] or [[feminism]], and was popularized during the [[Gamergate controversy]].<ref name=SalonRosza>{{cite news|url=http://www.salon.com/2015/12/31/5_reasons_2015_was_the_year_of_the_social_justice_warrior_and_why_progressives_should_embrace_the_term_partner|title=5 reasons 2015 was the year of the social justice warrior (and why progressives should embrace the term)|first=Matthew |last=Rozsa|work=Salon|accessdate=22 March 2016|date=31 December 2015|dead-url=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160229182915/http://www.salon.com/2015/12/31/5_reasons_2015_was_the_year_of_the_social_justice_warrior_and_why_progressives_should_embrace_the_term_partner|archivedate=29 February 2016}}</ref><ref name=WashingtonPost>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/10/07/why-social-justice-warrior-a-gamergate-insult-is-now-a-dictionary-entry|title=Why ‘social justice warrior,’ a Gamergate insult, is now a dictionary entry|accessdate=22 March 2016|first=Abby |last=Ohlheiser|date=7 October 2015|work=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> The accusation of being an SJW implies that a person is engaging in disingenuous [[social justice]] arguments or activism to raise his or her personal reputation.<ref name=ViceAllegra>{{cite news|title=Meet the Female Gamer Mascot Born of Anti-Feminist Internet Drama|date=28 August 2014|last=Ringo|first=Allegra|work=[[Vice (magazine)|Vice]]|url=http://www.vice.com/read/meet-the-female-gamer-mascot-created-by-anti-feminists-828|accessdate=22 March 2016|archivedate=14 January 2016|dead-url=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160114083321/http://www.vice.com/read/meet-the-female-gamer-mascot-created-by-anti-feminists-828|quote=In other words, SJWs don't hold strong principles, but they pretend to. The problem is, that's not a real category of people. It's simply a way to dismiss anyone who brings up social justice—and often those people are feminists. It's awfully convenient to have a term at the ready to dismiss women who bring up sexism, as in, 'You don't really care. As an SJW, you're just taking up this cause to make yourself look good!'}}</ref>


==Origin and meaning==
==Origin==
{{more|Social justice}}
{{more|Social justice}}
Dating back to 1824, the term ''social justice'' refers to justice on a societal level.<ref>{{Cite OED | social justice }}</ref> Abby Ohlheiser wrote in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' that "social-justice warrior" or variations thereof had been used as a laudatory phrase in the past, and provided an example dating to 1991.<ref name=WashingtonPost /> She quoted Katherine Martin, the head of United States dictionaries at [[Oxford University Press]], who said, "All of the examples I’ve seen until quite recently are lionizing the person".<ref name=WashingtonPost/> According to ''The Washington Post'', use of the phrase in a positive manner continued from the 1990s through the 2000s.<ref name=WashingtonPost />
Dating back to 1824, the term ''social justice'' refers to justice on a societal level.<ref>{{Cite OED | social justice }}</ref> Abby Ohlheiser wrote in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' that "social-justice warrior" or variations thereof had been used as a laudatory phrase in the past, and provided an example dating to 1991.<ref name=WashingtonPost /> She quoted Katherine Martin, the head of United States dictionaries at [[Oxford University Press]], who said, "All of the examples I’ve seen until quite recently are lionizing the person".<ref name=WashingtonPost/> According to ''The Washington Post'', use of the phrase in a positive manner continued from the 1990s through the 2000s.<ref name=WashingtonPost />


==Pejorative use==
==Gamergate controversy increased pejorative use==
{{more|Gamergate controversy}}
{{more|Gamergate controversy}}
Martin told ''The Washington Post'' the term began gaining traction with a negative connotation in 2011.<ref name=WashingtonPost /> According to ''[[The Washington Post]]'', the term's usage in a negative connotation became mainstream due to the [[Gamergate controversy]].<ref name=WashingtonPost /> ''The Washington Post'' wrote "Here’s how 'social justice warrior' became a part of that debate" and described "When it was a compliment" and traced examples of its usages in positive forms and subsequently early negative forms.<ref name=WashingtonPost />
Martin told ''The Washington Post'' the term began gaining traction with a negative connotation in 2011.<ref name=WashingtonPost /> According to ''[[The Washington Post]]'', the term's usage in a negative connotation became mainstream due to the [[Gamergate controversy]].<ref name=WashingtonPost /> ''The Washington Post'' wrote "Here’s how 'social justice warrior' became a part of that debate" and described "When it was a compliment" and traced examples of its usages in positive forms and subsequently early negative forms.<ref name=WashingtonPost />

Revision as of 01:52, 22 March 2016

"Social justice warrior" (commonly abbreviated "SJW") is a pejorative term for a person expressing or promoting socially progressive views, including advocacy for women's rights and civil rights.[1][2] The phrase originated as a laudatory term for those engaged in social justice.[2]

The Washington Post interviewed the chief of United States dictionaries for Oxford University Press, Katherine Martin, who acknowledged that the term was previously used primarily to compliment an individual.[2] Martin noted the term had mostly positive usage in the 1990s through 2000s.[2] The Washington Post traced its usage "when it was used as a compliment" to its subsequent inclusion in debate with a negative connotation.[2]

The negative connotation was particularly aimed at those espousing views adhering to social liberalism, political correctness or feminism, and was popularized during the Gamergate controversy.[3][2] The accusation of being an SJW implies that a person is engaging in disingenuous social justice arguments or activism to raise his or her personal reputation.[4]

Origin

Further information: Social justice

Dating back to 1824, the term social justice refers to justice on a societal level.[5] Abby Ohlheiser wrote in The Washington Post that "social-justice warrior" or variations thereof had been used as a laudatory phrase in the past, and provided an example dating to 1991.[2] She quoted Katherine Martin, the head of United States dictionaries at Oxford University Press, who said, "All of the examples I’ve seen until quite recently are lionizing the person".[2] According to The Washington Post, use of the phrase in a positive manner continued from the 1990s through the 2000s.[2]

Pejorative use

Further information: Gamergate controversy

Martin told The Washington Post the term began gaining traction with a negative connotation in 2011.[2] According to The Washington Post, the term's usage in a negative connotation became mainstream due to the Gamergate controversy.[2] The Washington Post wrote "Here’s how 'social justice warrior' became a part of that debate" and described "When it was a compliment" and traced examples of its usages in positive forms and subsequently early negative forms.[2]

Ohlheiser wrote that the derogatory phrase had "emerged as the preferred term among the Gamergate movement for the people they believed to be their greatest enemies."[2] In internet and video game culture the phrase is broadly associated with the Gamergate controversy and wider culture war fallout, including the 2015 Sad Puppies campaign that affected the Hugo Awards.[4][6][7][8][9]

Writing in a 2014 article for ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society, Heron, Belford and Goker described the motivation of those that used the term in online debate: "the ... term often employed is that of the 'social justice warrior', to imply that the target of the term is a wishy-washy left-wing liberal who seeks to engage in the discussion for personal validation rather than out of any deep-seated conviction."[10] They wrote that the term was used as an: "attempt to neutralize opposition through inferred degradation of the motivations."[10]

In a December 2014 piece for The Huffington Post queer activist Tile Wolfe defended use of the term in a positive manner to refer to those who wished to increase progressive change in society.[11] Wolfe commented: "'Social Justice Warriors' — I’m talking progressive folks here, this term’s used within multiple movements — are accused of being oversensitive and overeducated, which isn’t quite right. ... Users hold each other accountable, intersectionally — it’s not rare to see a lesbian blog take on racial justice in one post, and dating advice in another. They celebrate each other often. And they defend each other in a way that almost no other platform can do by policing trolls when they infiltrate the bubble."[11] She concluded such activists should continue their efforts online, writing: "On the spectrum of activism, 'Social Justice Warriors' belong, to push our community on what’s acceptable and to carve out unique spaces for those that otherwise wouldn’t have a place to call their own."[11]

Mother Jones journalist Rebecca Cohen classed the term as an outgrowth of individuals belonging to the men's rights movement.[1] Cohen defined the term as what these individuals and "Gamergaters call someone who advocates equal rights for women and minorities."[1]

"the 'social justice warrior,' i.e., the stereotype of the feminist as unreasonable, sanctimonious, biased, and self-aggrandizing."

 —New Literary History[12]

Scott Selisker wrote for the journal New Literary History that the term was used by male participants in online discussion in criticism of feminism.[12] Selisker described their behavior patterns on the Internet: "they often make personal criticisms of what they see as a type: the 'social justice warrior,' i.e., the stereotype of the feminist as unreasonable, sanctimonious, biased, and self-aggrandizing."[12] He posited that the Bechdel test was an intriguing methodology to assess equality in the media in the face of such online criticisms.[12]

In her 2015 memoir You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost), actress and writer Felicia Day observed that the label was directed upon individuals "trying to add dialogue about feminism and diversity in gaming".[13] She commented: "That label was always so weird to me, because how is that an insult? 'Social Justice Warrior' actually sounds pretty badass."[13] She compared the ensuing controversy to a mob akin to the French Revolution, and called it a "wave of vengeful emotion".[13]

Sarah Jeong wrote in The Internet of Garbage (2015) that the Gamergate movement: "brought into new prominence the term 'social justice warrior' — or SJW for short."[14] Jeong commented upon the term's placement within the movement: "The SJW moniker seems to come from the belief that people who criticize video games for a lack of diversity are the enemy — a kind of cultural juggernaut with a supposed chokehold on the media, that must be forcefully opposed. Gamergate as a force is aligned against everyone they perceive to be SJWs."[14]

In August 2015, the derogatory term "Social Justice Warrior" was one of several new words and phrases added to Oxford Dictionaries.[2][15][16] In discussing the term's origin, Martin outlined the similarity with the pejorative use of "political correctness" to denigrate something, stating that "the perceived orthodoxy [of progressive politics] has prompted a backlash among people who feel their speech is being policed."[2]

In February 2016, the first QueerCon event was held at the University of Cincinnati, with the theme, Social Justice Warriors.[17] Event organizer Kyle Shupe explained that the theme for the event was an attempt to reclaim the term Social Justice Warrior: "we're kind of taking that idea and looking at how a social justice warrior is perhaps a positive — something people can use to combat social injustices."[17] Panels at the event focused on topics including feminism, LGBT, politics, diversity, and social justice.[17]

Writing for Stuff.co.nz in March 2016, journalist Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen lamented the travails associated with taking a stand for equality on the Internet.[18] She commented that this may result in being labeled or ridiculed: "Any outspoken feminist will likely tell you that it all sometimes feel thankless. Even in this supposedly progressive age, calling people out for their racist, sexist, transphobic, ableist or homophobic remarks and actions often results in being made into a pariah – you're humourless, too PC, a 'social justice warrior' (a term that's meant to be pejorative but actually sounds awesome – where's my sword?)."[18]

The Hollywood Reporter journalists Lesley Goldberg and Kate Stanhope noted in March 2016 that actress Isabella Gomez was cast in the Netflix remake of One Day at a Time and portrayed Elena, a character content to self-identify as a social justice warrior.[19] Goldberg and Stanhope wrote: "A proud nerd, idealist and social justice warrior, Elena is opinionated and not afraid to speak her mind."[19]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Cohen, Rebecca (January 2015). "You've Got Male". Mother Jones. 40 (1) – via Questia Online Library. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ohlheiser, Abby (7 October 2015). "Why 'social justice warrior,' a Gamergate insult, is now a dictionary entry". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  3. ^ Rozsa, Matthew (31 December 2015). "5 reasons 2015 was the year of the social justice warrior (and why progressives should embrace the term)". Salon. Archived from the original on 29 February 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b Ringo, Allegra (28 August 2014). "Meet the Female Gamer Mascot Born of Anti-Feminist Internet Drama". Vice. Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016. In other words, SJWs don't hold strong principles, but they pretend to. The problem is, that's not a real category of people. It's simply a way to dismiss anyone who brings up social justice—and often those people are feminists. It's awfully convenient to have a term at the ready to dismiss women who bring up sexism, as in, 'You don't really care. As an SJW, you're just taking up this cause to make yourself look good!' {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "social justice". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  6. ^ Clarke, Donald (18 October 2014). "Gamers Misogynistic? Some Certainly Are". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016. The term "social justice warrior" GamerGate: A Closer Look At The Controversy Sweeping Video Games (surely a good thing) has been used pejoratively to describe those writers who choose to examine the social and political subtexts of contemporary video games {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Dewey, Caitlin (14 October 2014). "The Only Guide to Gamergate You Will Ever Need to Read". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 April 2015. ...'SJW,' for social justice warrior—a kind of shorthand insult for liberals and progressives.
  8. ^ Johnson, Eric (10 October 2014). "Understanding the Jargon of Gamergate". Re/code. Archived from the original on 2 January 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2015. A Social Justice Warrior, or SJW, is any person, female or male, who argues online for political correctness or feminism. 'Social justice' may sound like a good thing to many of our readers, but the people who use this term only use it pejoratively. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Waldman, Katy (8 April 2015). "2015 Hugo Awards: How the sad and rabid puppies took over the sci-fi nominations". Slate Magazine. Archived from the original on 14 January 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ a b Heron, Michael James; Belford, Pauline; Goker, Ayse (2014). "Sexism in the circuitry: female participation in male-dominated popular computer culture". ACM SIGCAS Computers and Society. 44 (4): 18–29. doi:10.1145/2695577.2695582.
  11. ^ a b c Wolfe, Tile (31 December 2014). "In Defense of the 'Social Justice Warrior'". The Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 9 March 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ a b c d Selisker, Scott (2015). "The Bechdel Test and the Social Form of Character Networks". New Literary History. 46 (3). Johns Hopkins University Press: 505–523. doi:10.1353/nlh.2015.0024. ISSN 0028-6087. OCLC 1296558.
  13. ^ a b c Day, Felicia (2015). You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost). Touchstone. p. 240. ISBN 978-1476785653.
  14. ^ a b Jeong, Sarah (2015). The Internet of Garbage. Forbes Media.
  15. ^ Wagner, Laura (27 August 2015). "Can You Use That In A Sentence? Dictionary Adds New Words". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Steinmetz, Katy (26 August 2015). "Oxford Dictionaries Adds 'Fat-Shame,' 'Butthurt' and 'Redditor'". Time. Archived from the original on 20 January 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  17. ^ a b c Cai, Belinda (24 February 2016). "Social Justice Warriors". Cincinnati CityBeat. Archived from the original on 25 February 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ a b Nguyen, Giselle Au-Nhien (2 March 2016). "How to change someone's mind online". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 22 March 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ a b Goldberg, Lesley; Stanhope, Kate (17 March 2016). "Netflix's 'One Day at a Time' Remake Adds 'Matador' Actress". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 22 March 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

Further reading

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