Political correctness
From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Political correctness (or PC for short) means using words or behaviour which will not offend any groups of people. It is important for everyone to be treated equally, fairly and with dignity. Some words have been used for many years in ways which may have been unkind to some people. Sometimes these words have now been replaced by other words that are not offensive. Such words are called politically correct. This term has been used since the early 1990s.
Politically correct words are often ones which have been introduced to describe people who are different in some way. This may be because of their race (skin colour), gender (whether they are male of female), belief (religion), sexual orientation (gay or lesbian) or because they are disabled in some way (mentally or physically), or just different.
Some words used to describe people of different races or of different cultures were used in unkind ways during colonial times. Nowadays, for example, black people prefer to be “black” or “ethnic African”, “ethnic Caribbean” etc.
Throughout the 20th century women have been fighting to have the same rights as men. In PC language this is seen in some words for job titles such as “lineman” and “chairman” which are now often called “lineworker” and “chairperson” because these jobs can be done by men and women.
People who prefer partners of their own sex are called "gay" (for males) or "lesbian" (for females) rather than "homosexual" (which is a medical term).
People who are mentally disabled are now never described as “mentally retarded” but may be said to have “special needs”.
People who are blind or deaf may be referred to as “visually impaired” and “hearing-impaired”. People who cannot speak are never "dumb" but "mute" or “without speech”.
Some of the new “politically correct” words are often criticized for being rather ridiculous. Some examples of these are the terms ending in “challenged” e.g. someone who is very short might be described as “vertically challenged”. People also say that things that are obviously bad are called by something else which hides the fact that they are bad, e.g. young people who are in trouble with the law, instead of being called “juvenile delinquents” became “children at risk”. Some PC terms may be ambiguous i.e. have two possible meanings. "Hearing impaired" can also mean someone who is only partly deaf (hard of hearing).
Words in themselves cannot be good or bad. It is the way in which they are used that determines whether people feel they are good or bad. If our attitude towards people is unkind then new politically correct terms will in themselves start to sound offensive. The important thing is to treat everyone with respect. This is what PC tries to do.
