Calls for Lizzo to remove “spazz” from new song
ASPartOfMe
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12 Jun 2022, 2:54 pm
DanielW wrote:
In this case the person using the word "spazz" is directing it at themselves. We are all allowed to label ourselves in any way we like. I'm a huge fan of reclaiming words.
WORDS only have the power we give them.
WORDS only have the power we give them.
Speaking of reclaiming
Dury contracted Polio at 7 and was left disabled. The song and interview occurred in 1981
In the comments section, I believe a long-time member here posted.
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ASPartOfMe
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12 Jun 2022, 5:17 pm
DanielW wrote:
Yes, a disabled person writes a song and the abled label it offensive...talk about ableist
The more recent version is NT's demanding Autistic people use "person with autism" because "Autistic" is offensive.
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funeralxempire
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12 Jun 2022, 8:38 pm
hurtloam wrote:
DanielW wrote:
In this case the person using the word "spazz" is directing it at themselves. We are all allowed to label ourselves in any way we like. I'm a huge fan of reclaiming words.
WORDS only have the power we give them.
WORDS only have the power we give them.
Lizzo doesn't have cerebral palsy though. That's like me calling myself queer, I'm not.
She is using it in the way Americans do, because she's an American. She's fully entitled to call herself that word based on the way her countrymen use it and it seems like foreigners trying to tell Yanks how to define their words. She has no obligation to be mindful of how every single other dialect of English might use a word.
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13 Jun 2022, 3:00 am
funeralxempire wrote:
hurtloam wrote:
DanielW wrote:
In this case the person using the word "spazz" is directing it at themselves. We are all allowed to label ourselves in any way we like. I'm a huge fan of reclaiming words.
WORDS only have the power we give them.
WORDS only have the power we give them.
Lizzo doesn't have cerebral palsy though. That's like me calling myself queer, I'm not.
She is using it in the way Americans do, because she's an American. She's fully entitled to call herself that word based on the way her countrymen use it and it seems like foreigners trying to tell Yanks how to define their words. She has no obligation to be mindful of how every single other dialect of English might use a word.
I disagree on that one, sp*zz is also commonly used in Australia and I heard it plenty of times as a slur, it differs from the r-word as the person it's caricaturing is usually cerebral palsy/wheelchair. At some point it was also used to define all children with a physical or mental disability.
Amazingly the name has stuck with organisations supposed to he be providing support
https://scosa.com.au/about-us/our-history/
They use the acronym (like KFC do) to hide
Lizzo is not disabled so she shouldn't be using the word even if she's calling herself a name
ASPartOfMe
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14 Jun 2022, 9:16 am
Quote:
In a Twitter post Tuesday afternoon, the “Truth Hurts” singer said an updated version of “Grrrls,” the latest single from her upcoming album “Special,” was released after it was brought to her attention that one of its lyrics was “a harmful word.”
“Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language,” Lizzo wrote. “As a Black fat woman in America, I’ve had many hurtful words used against me so I overstand the power words can have (whether intentionally or in my case, unintentionally). This is the result of me listening and taking action.
“As an influential artist I’m dedicated to being part of the change I’ve been wanting to see in the world.”
As a slang term, “spaz” has often been used to describe losing “physical or emotional control,” but has fallen increasingly out of fashion because of the word’s origin from "spastic": “a form of muscular weakness (spastic paralysis) typical of cerebral palsy,” according to Lexico, an online dictionary.
Lizzo’s quick willingness to alter the lyric appears to already be striking a chord with fans.
“I’m going to cry,” wrote Diviney in response to Lizzo’s Twitter post. “Thank you so much for hearing us Lizzo and for understanding that this was only ever meant gently and being open to learning, it honestly means the world. You’re a real true ally.”
“Let me make one thing clear: I never want to promote derogatory language,” Lizzo wrote. “As a Black fat woman in America, I’ve had many hurtful words used against me so I overstand the power words can have (whether intentionally or in my case, unintentionally). This is the result of me listening and taking action.
“As an influential artist I’m dedicated to being part of the change I’ve been wanting to see in the world.”
As a slang term, “spaz” has often been used to describe losing “physical or emotional control,” but has fallen increasingly out of fashion because of the word’s origin from "spastic": “a form of muscular weakness (spastic paralysis) typical of cerebral palsy,” according to Lexico, an online dictionary.
Lizzo’s quick willingness to alter the lyric appears to already be striking a chord with fans.
“I’m going to cry,” wrote Diviney in response to Lizzo’s Twitter post. “Thank you so much for hearing us Lizzo and for understanding that this was only ever meant gently and being open to learning, it honestly means the world. You’re a real true ally.”
Lizzo Releases New Version of ‘Grrrls’ After Backlash Over Ableist Lyric: ‘I Never Want to Promote Derogatory Language’
Quote:
In the original track, Lizzo sings: “Hold my bag, b***h, hold my bag/ Do you see this s**t? I’m a spaz.” The new version now has Lizzo singing: “Hold my bag, b***h, Hold my bag/ Do you see this s**t? Hold me back.”
Full original lyrics
“b*****s, uh
b*****s, uh, uh-huh
Hold my bag, b***h (girls)
Hold my bag
Do you see this s**t? I'ma spazz
I'm about to knock somebody out (girls)
Yo, where my best friend?
She the only one I know to talk me off the deep end (ah)
'Cause that's my girl, we codependent
If she with it, then I'm with it
Yeah, we tussle, mind your business
Zu, zu, zu, zu, zu-su-lu
That's my girl, we CEO's
And dancin' like a C-E-ho
We about to throw them bows
Let's f**k it up
Where my girls, where my girls at? (woo, hoo)
Where my girls, where my girls at? (woo, hoo)
Yeah, this the type of fight I'm lookin' for
Where my girls, where my girls at? (woo, hoo)
Let me take these earrings off
And hit the boosie ratchet with my friends
Woah, oh, woah, oh (whoop that ho)
I'ma go Lorena Bobbitt on him so he never f**k again, no-oh, oh
Now you can't f**k again, bro
That's my girl, we codependent
If she with it, then I'm with it
Yeah, we tussle, mind your business
Zu, zu, zu, zu, zu-su-lu
That's my girl, we CEO's
And dancin' like a C-E-ho
We about to throw them bows
Let's f**k it up
Where my girls, where my girls at? (woo, hoo)
Where my girls, where my girls at? (woo, hoo)
Yeah, this the type of fight I'm lookin' for
Where my girls, where my girls at? (woo, hoo)
Where my girls, where my girls at? (woo, hoo)
Where my girls, where my girls at? (woo, hoo)
Yeah, this the type of fight I'm lookin' for
Where my girls, where my girls at? (woo, hoo)
Uh-huh, okay, where my ladies at?
Uh-huh, okay, where my ladies at?
Uh, hold me down (down)
Uh, hold me back (back)
Uh-huh, okay
Where my ladies at?”
For those who do not get the Lorena Bobbitt reference
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_and_Lorena_Bobbitt
The current American meaning of spazz has nothing to do with spastic but refers to a loss of physical and emotional control. That meaning makes perfect sense in the context of the song where the protagonist is about to literally fight and is asking her friends to stop her. The revised lyric “hold me back” does not water down the meaning of the original lyric.
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It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
ASPartOfMe
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05 Aug 2022, 2:36 am
Quote:
Beyoncé's "Renaissance" has received praise from critics and fans since the album's release Friday, but one lyric has generated outraged.
Disability advocates are criticizing the eleventh track, "Heated," calling a portion of the lyrics ableist and offensive. On the song, Beyoncé sings, “Spazzin’ on that a--, spazz on that a--.”
"The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced," Beyoncé’s rep Yvette Noel-Schure said in a statement to Variety and Rolling Stone.
Disability advocates are criticizing the eleventh track, "Heated," calling a portion of the lyrics ableist and offensive. On the song, Beyoncé sings, “Spazzin’ on that a--, spazz on that a--.”
"The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced," Beyoncé’s rep Yvette Noel-Schure said in a statement to Variety and Rolling Stone.
While we are at it.
Beyoncé called out by Monica Lewinsky over 'Partition' lyric after ableism controversy
Quote:
After reports surfaced that Beyoncé will change a lyric on her new album "Renaissance" following accusations of ableism, Monica Lewinsky is calling on the singer to make an additional rewrite.
On Monday, Lewinsky shared a Variety report on Twitter about Beyoncé removing the lyric from the song, while suggesting the pop star also consider tweaking her 2013 song "Partition."
"uhmm, while we’re at it… #Partition," wrote Lewinsky, who became an anti-bullying advocate following her widely publicized affair in the 1990s with then-President Bill Clinton when she was his intern.
When a Twitter user inquired if Lewinsky reached out to Beyoncé about "Partition" before the singer's recent controversy, Lewinsky conceded that she hadn't.
"i did mention it in the first vanity fair article i wrote in 2014… which was the first public thing i’d done in 10 years," Lewinsky added. "but you make an interesting/fair point…"
In "Partition," Beyoncé makes a suggestive reference to Lewinsky and Clinton's affair, singing: "He popped all my buttons, and he ripped my blouse / He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown"
Lewinsky has spoken out against her mention in "Partition" — and in other forms of pop culture — before.
"Every day someone mentions me in a tweet or a blog post, and not altogether kindly," Lewinsky wrote for Vanity Fair in 2014. "Every day, it seems, my name shows up in an op-ed column or a press clip or two — mentioned in passing in articles on subjects as disparate as millennials, 'Scandal,' and French president François Hollande’s love life."
She continued: "Miley Cyrus references me in her twerking stage act, Eminem raps about me, and Beyoncé’s latest hit gives me a shout-out. Thanks, Beyoncé, but if we’re verbing, I think you meant 'Bill Clinton’d all on my gown,' not 'Monica Lewinsky’d.' "
On Monday, Lewinsky shared a Variety report on Twitter about Beyoncé removing the lyric from the song, while suggesting the pop star also consider tweaking her 2013 song "Partition."
"uhmm, while we’re at it… #Partition," wrote Lewinsky, who became an anti-bullying advocate following her widely publicized affair in the 1990s with then-President Bill Clinton when she was his intern.
When a Twitter user inquired if Lewinsky reached out to Beyoncé about "Partition" before the singer's recent controversy, Lewinsky conceded that she hadn't.
"i did mention it in the first vanity fair article i wrote in 2014… which was the first public thing i’d done in 10 years," Lewinsky added. "but you make an interesting/fair point…"
In "Partition," Beyoncé makes a suggestive reference to Lewinsky and Clinton's affair, singing: "He popped all my buttons, and he ripped my blouse / He Monica Lewinsky-ed all on my gown"
Lewinsky has spoken out against her mention in "Partition" — and in other forms of pop culture — before.
"Every day someone mentions me in a tweet or a blog post, and not altogether kindly," Lewinsky wrote for Vanity Fair in 2014. "Every day, it seems, my name shows up in an op-ed column or a press clip or two — mentioned in passing in articles on subjects as disparate as millennials, 'Scandal,' and French president François Hollande’s love life."
She continued: "Miley Cyrus references me in her twerking stage act, Eminem raps about me, and Beyoncé’s latest hit gives me a shout-out. Thanks, Beyoncé, but if we’re verbing, I think you meant 'Bill Clinton’d all on my gown,' not 'Monica Lewinsky’d.' "
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
05 Aug 2022, 3:26 am
DanielW wrote:
(and for the record, I have CP, specifically Spastic Diplegia, along with a good many other co-morbid conditions.)
.
.
It might give you the right to speak about yourself but others who have cerebral palsy will likely be triggered by the careless use of the word for a joke or a song.
Lizzo at least saw some sense,
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