Ejected Ems

Well since my last Big Brother comment I’ve had a bit of a rethink, particularly in the light of watching it on Thursday night. As the entire nation probably now knows, contestant Emily Parr was ejected from the BB house for using racist language. The specific incident took place around 8.30pm, when Emily was with Charley and Nicky in the garden of the BB House, and said: “Are you pushing it out you nigger?” to Charley.

Mmmm! This is a very thorny issue.

On the one hand, racist language is very hard to condone in many situations. I actually found a pretty good definition of “nigger” in an online dictionary:

“Usage note: The term nigger is now probably the most offensive word in English. Its degree of offensiveness has increased markedly in recent years, although it has been used in a derogatory manner since at least the Revolutionary War. Definitions 1a, 1b, and 2 represent meanings that are deeply disparaging and are used when the speaker deliberately wishes to cause great offense. Definition 1a, however, is sometimes used among African-Americans in a neutral or familiar way. Definition 3 is not normally considered disparaging—as in “The Irish are the niggers of Europe” from Roddy Doyle's The Commitments—but the other uses are considered contemptuous and hostile.

Noun:

1. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.

a. a black person

b. a member of any dark-skinned people.

2. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a person of any race or origin

Regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.”

Victim or prejudice similar to that suffered by blacks; a person who is economically, politically, or socially disenfranchised.”

Interesting eh? As the above clearly demonstrates, the term “Nigger” certainly has highly offensive and negative connotations and there’s no getting away from that. Going off on a slight - but nevertheless related - tangent, I find the whole issue of language and meaning / association a fascinating one. As a gay man, I’m all too aware of the barrage of negative and derogatory terms which have so often been leveled at those of my sexual orientation: poofter, woofter, arse-bandit, fairy, shi*t stabber, sh*t dick, fudge-packer, fudge-packer, batty man… and countless other labels that the bigoted, narrow-minded and ignorant have blessed us with over the centuries. But you know what? I have actually, ahem, willingly used some of these terms when talking about myself and my fellow gay brethren – in an ironic, taking-the-p*ss out of myself/gay people kind of way. And some expressions once deemed homophobic or negative have actually been reclaimed by the very people at whom they were aimed – the expression “queer” for example, has been a great favourite of many Gay and Lesbian political groups in their stirling efforts to achieve equal rights. And in that type of context, the power of words to create a negative image or ideology is completely turned on its head. The negative impact of anti-gay language is seriously dimished when gay people themselves start using the very same words! Of course some dissenters might argue that taking on oppressive terms just reinforces existing prejudices, as well as society’s negative estimation of us…debatable I suppose. But the point I’m trying to get to is this: it all depends on WHO is using those so-called offensive words and the CONTEXT in which they are utilised. Not to mention the WAY in which such words are used.

Getting back to BB then, it certainly didn’t seem that Emily intended any actual offense or harm by what she said - a careless slip of the tongue. It's just unfortunate that such a word is so loaded with bad associations. As with my point about gay people using potentially offensive “gay” labels to refer to themselves, I have the feeling that, in Emily’s mind, she was attempting to use the “N” word in the same “cool”, ironic way that black people sometimes do when referring to their own kind – she was trying to prove that she had some kind of street cred - as with some black rap artistes/groups e.g. “Niggers With Attitude”!

The problem is, when a WHITE person brandishes such a term it becomes a different matter, especially when you consider the immense history of white oppression of blacks. In this respect it WAS naïve of Emily to think that she could get away with uttering the word - she clearly wasn’t thinking about its wider impact and meaning from a white-black perspective. And it was even more thoughtless of her to come out with it in the light of the whole Shilpa Shetty debacle that happened so recently. On entering the house, the latest batch of contestants were told in no uncertain terms by BB that any incidences of inappropriate behaviour would not be tolerated, so it was careless of Emily to forget this so quickly. Channel 4 have obviously clamped down massively since the last series and are being particularly vigilant with regard to any (however small) recurrences of racism. Fair enough.

But in spite of all of this, I do (now!) think that C4 has overreacted in its treatment of Emily, not to say panicked. They could have banned Emily from the bathroom for a week. Or made her do some demeaning household chores. Or took away all her privileges. I'm sure some kind of demoralising punishment could have been devised with a bit of thought. But booting Emily out of the house so abruptly was just too extreme. I take it all back.