Reclaiming Slurs
Means
Reclaiming Power

We here at Hips, Crips, and Queers want to address the slurs in our name and description - "A dating and community website centering queer, fat, disabled and older folk. Our goal is to create a friendly and safer space to date and build a supportive community."

Slurs can be painful and disempowering. The nature of reclaiming these words is to take them back from the people & systems that oppress us.

The term "Crip" has been a way for many disabled people to take back the power from the slur "Cripple". Using the word "Queer" has been a way to siphon hate out of a word that identifies LGBTQI people as not being normal. "Fat" has been reclaimed by many from being a hate word to being a fact-based way to describe our bodies. Using the word "Old" in the context of a dating site is disputing the claim that old people have less visibility, power and desirability in this culture.

While turning language on its head like this can cultivate community & solidarity, re-appropriating slurs is a difficult task. We acknowledge that you may not use the terms, "Crip", "Queer", "Old" or "Fat" for yourself. We hope that you see that we are using these terms with love, power, admiration and respect.