The big bad list of words you shouldn't be saying here.

Hi everyone! As we approach 1,500 subscribers, I'd like to take the time to remind you all that there are certain things you just should not say here.

I'm sure you've all read the sidebar and have noticed that

slurs of any kind

are not allowed here and we will ask you to edit your post appropriately. If you do not, we will remove it. If you continue to break the rules, you will be banned.

####SO

What are slurs exactly? They are words, phrases, or remarks that disparage someone or a group of people. There are different types of slurs and I'll go over a few of them.

Ethnic Slurs

I'm pretty sure we're all familiar with ethnic slurs so I won't list any, but wikipedia has a great list http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ethnic_slurs.

Homophobic/Transphobic Slurs

I haven't really seen this be an issue here, but using words like fag, faggot, tranny, and homo/gay/dyke in a derogatory manner is completely unacceptable. This wikipedia list is pretty exhaustive but includes a lot of words that lgbtq people use around other lgbtq people: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LGBT_slang

Sexist/Gendered Slurs

One of the reasons I wrote this post was the pervasiveness of the word 'bitch' in r/blackladies. It doesn't matter how you use it, it's unacceptable and will not be tolerated. We don't care if you say it 40x a day in real life, when you enter this space you need to be respectful of others. Slurs like bitch, bitching, whore, slut, pussy, skank, slut, cunt, twat, etc. are not allowed at all.

And the biggie, Ableist slurs

Now this may be new to many of you so I'll go into more depth here and offer up some links for further reading.

There are lots of able-bodied, mentally healthy people in the world but there are also those who are disabled physically or mentally. Using words like crazy, psycho, retarded, idiot, lame, spaz, cretin, "special," moron, dumb, stupid, halfwit, vegetable, lunatic, loony, nuts, batshit, bonkers, insane, or hysterical can really offend some people. Saying that people are bipolar or have OCD flippantly is also offensive. A lot of these words are totally normal to use in every day conversation, but their meanings have roots in ableism (i.e. hysterical comes from a word that means 'of the womb' and any woman acting irrationally was said to be hysterical) and they are going to be frowned upon here.

Some ableist word profiles can be found here: http://disabledfeminists.com/category/ableist-word-profile/

Definition of ableism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ableism

Replacement words: http://superopinionated.com/2012/08/14/im-done-with-your-ableist-word-choices/

http://flutterflyinvasion.tumblr.com/post/15314010502/two-brief-lists-of-replacement-words-for-certain

http://whatprivilege.com/replacing-crazy-for-ableism-and-preciseness-of-language/

I don't expect everyone to memorize these words and stop using them overnight, but if you're asked to edit your post, please respect the mods and our rules. I don't mean to call you out or make you feel like shit, I just want to keep people from being offended so this can be a truly safe space. For those of you who got so pissy about my moderating today, read this.

Ok everyone, keep being awesome.