People are using the R-word again — online and IRL

Once pushed to the margins of acceptable language thanks to campaigns like “Spread the Word to End the Word,” the R-word all but disappeared from common use by the early 2010s. But in 2024, it seems to be making a troubling comeback, particularly on social media platforms like X. This reemergence is more than a linguistic relapse — it’s a reflection of how digital platforms are reshaping cultural norms in a way that seems to prioritize engagement over all else.

“⁤⁤Its increasing use stands in the face of decades of progress,” Katy Neas, the CEO of The Arc, a group whose work focuses on promoting and protecting the human rights of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, told Mashable. “⁤⁤People with disabilities have made it clear: this term is hurtful and unacceptable. ⁤⁤Yet, [the] persistence of this slur shows we still have work to do.”

As social media platforms like X allow offensive language to spread under the guise of free speech, the lines between humor and harm blur, revealing how digital spaces have become battlegrounds for societal norms. As if to illustrate just how difficult it is to tackle an issue online, there are very few useful tools that track harmful content on social media. Google Trends can tell us how often a word is searched, but it can’t tell us how often a word is used on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or X. And while the data is hard to pin down, there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that the word might be on the rise.

In the trailer for a comedy series starring Brian Jordan Alvarez, two teachers comment about how kids “aren’t into being woke” anymore and that they’re “saying the R-word again.” Posts using the word on X routinely get thousands of likes, bookmarks, and reposts. And “edgy” “comics” get hundreds of thousands of views on videos using the word in their sets. The comeback of the word not only highlights the failure of content moderation but also a broader shift in how technology amplifies toxic behavior, undermining the work of advocates who have fought to create a more inclusive world.

Over the years, there have been movements to eradicate the word — which Nease says has “long been weaponized to demean and marginalize people with disabilities” — from our vocabulary. For instance, in 2009, the Special Olympics launched a campaign called “Spread The Word to End the Word,” aimed at raising awareness about the damaging effects of the word “retard” and encouraging people to pledge to stop using it. Over time, the campaign has made a significant impact in schools. 

“‘Spread The Word’ is a hugely popular activity for our students to get involved in because it is very tangible, it is very specific, and kids have a lot of experience with this word and with bullying and teasing and inappropriate language in general,” Andrea Cahn, the Senior Vice President of the Unified Champion Schools at the Special Olympics who works with the Spread the Word campaign, told Mashable. “So it’s something they can take real action on and see the change.”

Eventually, students began giving feedback that the campaign needed to evolve, Cahn said. They reported that the R-word was rarely used anymore and wanted to shift the focus toward other ways to promote inclusion while still maintaining the original mission.

A decade after “Spread The Word” launched, there’s renewed concern about the slur’s resurgence, primarily driven by social media. It could be a reflection of the culture at large — people seem to be saying the word with abandon in real life, too, perhaps influenced by the church of Shane Gillis — or that anonymous posting is getting out of hand.

“Because the tenor of social media is to be provocative and tease and [be] mean-spirited, the humor mixed with the meanness seems to be like this toxic cocktail that’s very popular,” Cahn said, noting that the rise of user-generated content has changed the way offensive language is used. 

And it’s true. Content moderation often changes the way we speak as we look for alternatives to some words (seggs for sex or unalive for dead) that we fear could be impacted by the search algorithm. However, the R-word is not always affected by the algorithm.

Search for the word on X, and you’ll find people trying to be funny by using the slur. “you are not ‘demure’ or ‘mindful’ you’re retarded,” reads one post with over 3,900 thousand reposts and 30,000 likes. “I love smoking weed until I’m retarded,” reads another, with 1,200 reposts and 6,500 likes. “Chasing fat butt freshman around campus like a retarded Labrador” has 2,700 reposts and over 70,000 likes. There are hundreds of these examples, all with many likes and reposts.

And that’s just on X. On Instagram, no results are yielded in Reels for the word “retarded,” but there are results for the word “retard,” which are predominately French reels (“retard” is the French word for “delay”). On TikTok, users could once search for “retard” and “retarded,” but after contacting the platform while reporting this story, those terms were hidden from search along with other slurs. Now, searching for the R-word or any other slur on TikTok brings up a message that says, “No results found,” followed by, “This phrase may be associated with hateful behavior, TikTok is committed to keeping our community safe and working to prevent the spread of hate. For more information, we invite you to review our Community Guidelines.” Meta referred us to the hate speech section of its transparency center, which notes that it “prohibit[s] the usage of slurs that are used to attack people on the basis of their protected characteristics.” X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

This could be partly due to Elon Musk’s dedication to “free speech,” no matter the damage. At best, these attempts at humor scrape the bottom of the barrel, shockingly yet wildly shared. At worst, they perpetrate harm and violence.

Language constantly evolves and morphs as our culture decides what is and is not acceptable. Playing with language — especially the words we use to describe ourselves and marginalized communities — can be an effective way to move culture forward.

Some queer men are reclaiming the homophobic F-slur. People are reframing the word “fat” to be a neutral descriptor like “short,” “tall,” or “brunette.” Many women are reclaiming words like “bitch” and “cunt.” Angela Davis has advocated for redefining entire categories — womanhood, for instance — so that our language does not “simply reflect normative ideas of who counts as a woman and who doesn’t.” While reclamation can be risky, activists understand that changing language can often change culture itself, making those risks worthwhile.

Yet, the resurgence of the R-word is not about reclamation. Derogatory terms can only be reclaimed by the groups of people they target, and people with disabilities are not reclaiming the R-word — they’re asking people to stop using it.

“It’s not the slurs that people are reclaiming; it’s the ability to choose how one refers to oneself,” Cahn said. “But nobody I know of is choosing to use the slurs to describe themselves. It could be that because there is more use, more awareness, and more self-advocacy, other folks are feeling the environment of language usage increase and feel like it must be OK for me to use those terms in whatever way I want to.”

It’s hard to pinpoint precisely why the R-word is resurfacing in our vernacular, but it reflects a troubling de-evolution, one that’s only perpetuating harm against a vulnerable community.

“The resurgence of the R-word, particularly online, is more than just concerning ᅳ it’s a painful reminder of our society’s gut-wrenching history of discrimination against people with disabilities,”  Neas said. ⁤⁤”This word isn’t just offensive; it’s a demeaning relic of a past we’ve worked tirelessly to overcome.”