“I know the f-word, do you?”
As early as elementary school, I can remember swear words being akin to a form of currency — students exchanged swear words, often whispering them at recess or when teachers weren’t paying attention.
Recently, my brother, a fourth-grader, told me about an incident in which one of his peers said the n-word in class. It immediately reminded me of my own experience in elementary school, when students were spelling out swear words, completely unaware of the racist, sexist and homophobic implications behind many of them.
As high schoolers, we have all learned the history behind slurs through various advisories and emails, but no such education is present in elementary school. We are taught that all swear words are inherently bad words that we shouldn’t say anywhere — whether in school, at home or in private.
Despite this discouragement from teachers and parents, students still swear — this socially constructed taboo surrounding swearing places an unnecessary emphasis on it, making it even more appealing to students and leading them to swear even more when unmonitored. More importantly, it perpetuates the idea that all swear words are the same: to children who don’t know better, racist ephitets are bad in the same way profanity like the f-word is bad, which could cause them to use harmful slurs and less harmful swear words indiscriminately until they learn better.
Instead of dissuading students from saying any swear word, we need to work to deconstruct the taboos surrounding the words. Profanity shouldn’t be seen as inherently harmful — it can serve as a perfectly harmless form of emotional expression. In fact, occasional swearing can have positive physiological effects, including increased blood circulation, elevated endorphin and serotonin levels and an overall sense of calm, control and well-being. It is necessary that students are able to see a clear distinction between harmful and harmless profane phrases — there is a sizable difference between using a slur and letting out a “f— yeah!” in response to something. Teaching students that words such as the n-word, which is linked with years of violence against Black Americans, and the b-word, designed as a derogatory term for women seen as “promiscuous,” shouldn’t be said just because they’re swear words allows the harmful ideologies behind them to persist. Slurs are a reflection of years of discrimination that led to the creation of these words and acknowledging this history, however painful or uncomfortable it may be, is an essential step towards eliminating discrimination.
Students must also be taught that even phrases that don’t contain slurs can be harmful — it is important to consider intent, context, audience and tone when determining if a phrase is acceptable. Using profanity in a directed manner with a negative intent is harmful, but using swear words in phrases that aren’t directed at should be perfectly acceptable.
Furthermore, students must learn to emotionally express themselves in a multitude of ways — letting out an f-bomb in a casual environment once in a while is perfectly fine, but we should be able to not only express ourselves in many different ways, but also know when a situation calls for professionalism.
Teaching students how and when it is OK to swear, even if it means teaching kids exactly which swear words are OK to use, can help destigmatize harmless swearing and acknowledge the history behind harmful slurs. Ultimately, the words we use are a means of self-expression, and making sure that we can articulate our emotions without hurting others is necessary to help us communicate better.
