Problematic Language - a podficcer's perspective
I have wanted to make this post for a long time, but words are hard :( Thank you 
anatsuno for looking this over, and helping clarify the language so that I made sense.
I am having a problem with a word. The word is 'spastic' (and the derivative 'spaz'). It is one of the first words I remember knowing as a word not to ever use. It's an insult and ableist and it is a problematic word now in fandom.
It is prevalent in fandom, due to the American meaning, or perhaps I should say 'understanding', of the word:
In American slang, the term "spaz" is largely inoffensive, and is generally understood as a casual word for clumsiness, sometimes associated with overexcitability, excessive startle response ("jumpiness"), excessive energy, or hyperactivity. wikipedia
Does that sounds like anyone in Teen Wolf fandom to you?
I have heard it used numerous times by the Teen Wolf cast in reference to both Stiles and Dylan O'Brien, I have heard Holland Roden use it numerous times in reference to herself. ALL these instances are used affectionately and indulgently, in Holland's case perhaps with a touch of self-deprecation.
However, in the UK the word 'spastic' relates to disability, specifically to Cerebral Palsy. It is a serious insult and is in no way 'inoffensive'. The only comparable word is 'retarded'.
For the longest time in fanfic, as I registered the word so infrequently, this didn't really bother me, as it's an Americanism in a sense, and I understood what the authors meant. I wouldn't swear on my life, that I haven't in the past recorded a story using the word, but I'm 99% sure I haven't. However, the frequency of its use in Teen Wolf fandom (in particular), as well as hearing it, both in podfic form and in Teen Wolf cast interviews, has really jarred me and has set me pondering the issue.
So, no matter the 'meaning' or 'usage', the origin of the word is ableist and deeply problematic for me as a reader.
Here are examples from AO3 from the Teen Wolf fandom, I do not mean to single out specific stories, but to illustrate how widespread the phenomenon is I searched by hits (highest to lowest), and all refs are from the first page of results only. I am not including links to the stories, because this is NOT about individuals, this is about trying to show a wider trend, and I hope this makes my point without hurting any feelings.
Except for Derek, of course, who was staring Mr Argent down, looking grumpy and surly as always while his entire pack (pack!) spazzed out around him.
Derek pointed out dryly, his lips twitching spastically like he had some physical illness that made him incapable of smiling more than once an hour.
The spastic kid who always tweaked out on Adderall in high school and scared everyone off except for Scott and Allison?
you complete spazz.
He’s babbling, on the edge of the kind of spastic hysteria that he hasn’t really experienced since high school
Stiles gets to That Coffee Shop a good forty-five minutes early because he is a spaz.
He becomes the best goddamn friend a spastic teenager could ever hope to have.
He kind of felt like he should be spazzing out more over the fact that there was a naked girl in his bathroom,
He’d spent the night with Lydia Martin and hadn’t even spazzed out once.
He’d already had to deal with him: his mouth and his spazz and his sarcasm
And one more, not from Teen Wolf fandom, but I just read it and I should be fair:
a dangerous undercurrent of spastic joy bubbling under his words
There are also two tags on AO3, which I found through simple searching 'spastic' and 'spaz' on the site: 'Stiles is mildly fascinated and a spaz' (2) and 'Spastic Stiles' (1).
So, I know these author aren't making disability jokes. I don't think if I recorded any of these fics my listeners would think that I condoned ableist jokes, but still, I cannot put that out into the world.
This leaves me with two options:
1) Don't record the fic, and move on.
2) Ask the author if they would be alright with changing the wording.
I'm leaning towards the second one, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Do, I just message explaining the problem, link to this post, and point out the problematic sentence(s)? Or suggest doing the rewrite myself because asking them to do it might be seen as demanding?
I would love to hear some thoughts, both on what I should do, and on the issue of problematic language. I'd also like to know whether people have the same feelings about these words, regardless of your geographical location. Am I showing my age, as well as my locale, by feeling this way?
anatsuno for looking this over, and helping clarify the language so that I made sense.
I am having a problem with a word. The word is 'spastic' (and the derivative 'spaz'). It is one of the first words I remember knowing as a word not to ever use. It's an insult and ableist and it is a problematic word now in fandom.
It is prevalent in fandom, due to the American meaning, or perhaps I should say 'understanding', of the word:
In American slang, the term "spaz" is largely inoffensive, and is generally understood as a casual word for clumsiness, sometimes associated with overexcitability, excessive startle response ("jumpiness"), excessive energy, or hyperactivity. wikipedia
Does that sounds like anyone in Teen Wolf fandom to you?
I have heard it used numerous times by the Teen Wolf cast in reference to both Stiles and Dylan O'Brien, I have heard Holland Roden use it numerous times in reference to herself. ALL these instances are used affectionately and indulgently, in Holland's case perhaps with a touch of self-deprecation.
However, in the UK the word 'spastic' relates to disability, specifically to Cerebral Palsy. It is a serious insult and is in no way 'inoffensive'. The only comparable word is 'retarded'.
For the longest time in fanfic, as I registered the word so infrequently, this didn't really bother me, as it's an Americanism in a sense, and I understood what the authors meant. I wouldn't swear on my life, that I haven't in the past recorded a story using the word, but I'm 99% sure I haven't. However, the frequency of its use in Teen Wolf fandom (in particular), as well as hearing it, both in podfic form and in Teen Wolf cast interviews, has really jarred me and has set me pondering the issue.
So, no matter the 'meaning' or 'usage', the origin of the word is ableist and deeply problematic for me as a reader.
Here are examples from AO3 from the Teen Wolf fandom, I do not mean to single out specific stories, but to illustrate how widespread the phenomenon is I searched by hits (highest to lowest), and all refs are from the first page of results only. I am not including links to the stories, because this is NOT about individuals, this is about trying to show a wider trend, and I hope this makes my point without hurting any feelings.
Except for Derek, of course, who was staring Mr Argent down, looking grumpy and surly as always while his entire pack (pack!) spazzed out around him.
Derek pointed out dryly, his lips twitching spastically like he had some physical illness that made him incapable of smiling more than once an hour.
The spastic kid who always tweaked out on Adderall in high school and scared everyone off except for Scott and Allison?
you complete spazz.
He’s babbling, on the edge of the kind of spastic hysteria that he hasn’t really experienced since high school
Stiles gets to That Coffee Shop a good forty-five minutes early because he is a spaz.
He becomes the best goddamn friend a spastic teenager could ever hope to have.
He kind of felt like he should be spazzing out more over the fact that there was a naked girl in his bathroom,
He’d spent the night with Lydia Martin and hadn’t even spazzed out once.
He’d already had to deal with him: his mouth and his spazz and his sarcasm
And one more, not from Teen Wolf fandom, but I just read it and I should be fair:
a dangerous undercurrent of spastic joy bubbling under his words
There are also two tags on AO3, which I found through simple searching 'spastic' and 'spaz' on the site: 'Stiles is mildly fascinated and a spaz' (2) and 'Spastic Stiles' (1).
So, I know these author aren't making disability jokes. I don't think if I recorded any of these fics my listeners would think that I condoned ableist jokes, but still, I cannot put that out into the world.
This leaves me with two options:
1) Don't record the fic, and move on.
2) Ask the author if they would be alright with changing the wording.
I'm leaning towards the second one, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Do, I just message explaining the problem, link to this post, and point out the problematic sentence(s)? Or suggest doing the rewrite myself because asking them to do it might be seen as demanding?
I would love to hear some thoughts, both on what I should do, and on the issue of problematic language. I'd also like to know whether people have the same feelings about these words, regardless of your geographical location. Am I showing my age, as well as my locale, by feeling this way?