GeniesLoki

People have no idea what "socialism" or "fake news" mean, but no one tells me off for using those terms. But I feel like in this corner of Twitter people are sensitive to feminist terms, to the point they'd rather I not use them b/c they could be misunderstood. Is that accurate?

I don't mind you using them and often use them myself, but I can probably explain the dynamic a bit of why people might be a bit sensitive about them if you'd like?

Yeah that would be great!

First: I don't think "because they might be misunderstood" points at the problem well. I think there are much more specific negative associations people have with the use of feminist terminology.

Where the problem is lack of precision, I think it's not that people are worried about misunderstanding so much as that that lack of precision is deliberate. This is what people mean when they say motte and bailey: A narrow defensible usage and a broad implied usage.

Just to make sure I understand - isn't the motte and bailey one where basically no one actually believes the narrow definition? It's *exclusively* used to defend against attacks? Is that what we're referring to here too? Or is that just the archetypal example?