Development and Validation of the Motivation for Language Reclamation Scale Among Polish-Speaking Gay Individuals

Abstract

In response to hate speech, members of minorities use reclaimed derogatory language. Until now, psychological research has treated reclamation as a uniform concept in terms of the motivations of minorities, despite theoretical perspectives suggesting otherwise. In this paper, based on previous research, we described three motivations for using reclaimed language: to regain control, for humorous purposes, and to consolidate relationships in the community. We reported the process of creating a new scale to measure these three motivations. The three-dimensional structure of the Motivation for Language Reclamation Scale (MLRS) was validated in two studies (N = 362; N = 141) among gay people in Poland. We also showed that the motivations have various implications for collective action intentions. Language reclamation for humorous purposes was associated with lower willingness to engage in collective action. By contrast, reclamation aimed at consolidating relationships was associated with higher willingness to engage in collective action.

Keywords

reclaimed language motivations to reclaim hate speech coping strategies collective action

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Anderson

(2018). Calling, addressing, and appropriation. In Sosa

(Ed.), Bad words (pp. 6–28). Oxford University Press.

Baumeister

R. F.

Leary

M. R.

(1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a Fundamental human motivation. a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497

Becker

J. C.

(2012). The system-stabilizing role of identity management strategies: Social creativity can undermine collective action for social change. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103(4), 647–662. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029240

Bianchi

Carnaghi

Fasoli

Rusconi

Fantoni

(2024). From self to ingroup reclaiming of homophobic epithets: A replication and extension of Galinsky et al.'s (2013) model of reappropriation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 111, 104583. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2023.104583

Bianchi

Piccoli

Zotti

Fasoli

Carnaghi

(2017). The impact of homophobic labels on the internalized homophobia and body image of gay men: The moderation role of coming-out. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 36(3), 356–367. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X16654735

Bilewicz

Soral

(2020). Hate speech epidemic: The dynamic effects of derogatory language on intergroup relations and political radicalization. Political Psychology, 41(S1), 3–33. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.12670

Bulska

Górska

Malinowska

Matera

Mulak

Poniat

Skowrońska

Soral

Świder

Winiewski

(2021). Sytuacja społeczna osób LGBTA w Polsce: Raport za lata 2019–2020 [The Social Situation of LGBTA People in Poland: Report for 2019–2020]. Kampania Przeciw Homofobii & Stowarzyszenie Lambda Warszawa.

Bulska

Winiewski

(2023). Media publiczne powinny…Treści nienawistne na antenie telewizji publicznej. Raport z monitoringu mediów publicznych w trakcie kampanii parlamentarnej w 2023 r. [Public media should... Hateful content on public television. Report on the monitoring of public media during the 2023 parliamentary campaign]. Otwarta Rzeczpospolita.

Butler

(1997). Excitable speech: A politics of the performative. Psychology Press.

10.

Cameron

J. E.

(2004). A three-factor model of social identity. Self and Identity, 3(3), 239–262. https://doi.org/10.1080/13576500444000047

11.

Cepollaro

Lopez de Sa

(2023). The successes of reclamation. Synthese, 202(6), 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-023-04393-y

12.

Clarke

(2021). “Queer” history: A history of queer – The national archives blog. The National Archives Blog. https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/queer-history-a-history-of-queer/

13.

Costello

A. B.

Osborne

(2005). Best practices in exploratory factor analysis: Four recommendations for getting the most from your analysis. Practical Assessment, Research, and Evaluation, 10(1), 1–9. https://doi.org/10.7275/jyj1-4868

14.

Dictionary.com . (2018). Kiki. In Dictionary.com. https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/kiki/

15.

Fasoli

Hegarty

Carnaghi

(2019). Sounding gay, speaking as a “fag”: Auditory gaydar and the perception of reclaimed homophobic language. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 38(5–6), 798–808. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X19852753

16.

Fasoli

Maass

Carnaghi

(2015). Labelling and discrimination: Do homophobic epithets undermine fair distribution of resources? British Journal of Social Psychology, 54(2), 383–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12090

17.

Fredrickson

Levenson

R. W.

(1998). Positive emotions speed recovery from the cardiovascular sequelae of negative emotions. Cognition and Emotion, 12(2), 191–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999398379718

18.

Galinsky

A. D.

Hugenberg

Groom

Bodenhausen

G. V.

(2003). The reappropriation of stigmatizing labels: Implications for social identity. In Polzer

(Ed.), Identity issues in groups (pp. 21–56). Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

19.

Galinsky

A. D.

Wang

C. S.

Whitson

J. A.

Anicich

E. M.

Hugenberg

Bodenhausen

G. V.

(2013). The reappropriation of stigmatizing labels. Psychological Science, 24(10), 2020–2029. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613482943

20.

Gaucher

Hunt

Sinclair

(2015). Can pejorative terms ever lead to positive social consequences? The case of SlutWalk. Language Sciences, 52, 121–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2015.03.005

21.

Górska

Stefaniak

Matera

Marchlewska

(2024). The different effects of collective narcissism and secure ingroup identity on collective action and life satisfaction among LGBTQ+ individuals. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 27(2), 366–392. https://doi.org/10.1177/13684302221147125

22.

Horn

J. L.

(1965). A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 30(2), 179–185. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02289447

23.

Hornowska

(2018). Testy psychologiczne. Teoria i praktyka [Psychological testing. Theory and practice]. Wydawnictwo Naukowe Scholar.

24.

Howard

(2016). A review of exploratory factor analysis decisions and overview of current practices: What we are doing and how can we improve? International Journal of Human–Computer Interaction, 32(1), 51–62. https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2015.1087664

25.

Jeshion

(2020). Pride and prejudiced: On the reclamation of slurs. Grazer Philosophische Studien, 97(1), 106–137. https://doi.org/10.1163/18756735-09701007

26.

Kaiser

H. F.

(1974). An index of factorial simplicity. Psychometrika, 39(1), 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02291575

27.

Kay

A. C.

Whitson

J. A.

Gaucher

Galinsky

A. D.

(2009). Compensatory control: Achieving order through the mind, our institutions, and the heavens. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 18(5), 264–268. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2009.01649.x

28.

Klysing

Braun

Buscicchio

Jacobs

Formanowicz

Fasoli

(2024). The use and perception of reclaimed group labels for lesbian women and gay men. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 43(3), 326–352. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X241234047

29.

Leap

(1995). Beyond the Lavender Lexicon: Authenticity, Imagination, and Appropriation in Lesbian and Gay Languages. Routledge.

30.

Malinowski

(2020). Andrzej Duda o LGBT: Próbują wmówić, że to ludzie. To ideologia [Andrzej Duda about LGBT people: They are trying to make us believe that they are people. It’s an ideology]. Rzeczpospolita. https://www.rp.pl/wydarzenia/art8909311-andrzej-duda-o-lgbt-probuja-wmowic-ze-to-ludzie-to-ideologia

31.

Marcinkowska

Puchała

Bilewicz

Bulska

Winiewski

Górski

(2023). Śmiech w Auschwitz, czyli o tym, w jaki sposób psychologia może pomóc zrozumieć łamanie tabu w miejscu pamięci Zagłady [Laughter in Auschwitz; or, how psychology can help understand the breaking of taboos at the Holocaust memorial]. Teksty Drugie, (5), 113–131. https://doi.org/10.18318/td.2023.5.7

32.

Martin

R. A.

Lefcourt

H. M.

(1983). Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between stressors and moods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(6), 1313–1324. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.45.6.1313

33.

Nunnally

J. C.

(1978). Psychometric theory. McGraw-Hill.

34.

Oxford University Press . (n.d.). Drag. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/drag_n?tl=true#1387355560

35.

Pappalardo

(2023). We’ve ruined slay. The Varsity. https://thevarsity.ca/2023/02/12/weve-ruined-slay/

36.

Pearlin

L. I.

Schooler

(1978). The structure of coping. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 19(2), 2–21. https://doi.org/10.2307/2136319

37.

Posit Team . (2024). RStudio: Integrated development environment for R: Posit software. PBC.

38.

Puchała

Bilewicz

Świderska

(2025a). “A red alert appears”: Ambivalence of the reclaimed hate speech in a hate-saturated environment. Journal of Homosexuality, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2025.2469581

39.

Puchała

Bilewicz

Świderska

(2025b). Reclaiming derogatory language. Self-reports and interbeat intervals. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 44(1), 38–56. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X241299791

40.

Puchała

Bilewicz

Świderska

(2025c). Development and validation of the Motivation for Language Reclamation Scale (MLRS) among Polish-speaking gay individuals. https://osf.io/wj29t/

41.

Soral

(2021). Mowa nienawiści wobec gejów i lesbijek [Hate speech against gay men and women]. Centre for Research on Prejudice.

42.

Soral

Bilewicz

Winiewski

(2018). Exposure to hate speech increases prejudice through desensitization. Aggressive Behavior, 44(2), 136–146. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21737

43.

Soral

Świderska

Puchała

Bilewicz

(2024). Desensitization to hate speech: Examination using heart rate measurement. Aggressive Behavior, 50(1), e22118. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.22118

44.

Strick

Holland

R. W.

van Baaren

R. B.

van Knippenberg

(2009). Finding comfort in a joke: Consolatory effects of humor through cognitive distraction. Emotion, 9(4), 574–578. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0015951

45.

Sturaro

Fasoli

Suitner

(2023). When is self-labeling seen as reclaiming? The role of user and observer’s sexual orientation in processing homophobic and category labels’ use. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 42(4), 464–475. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X231173147

46.

Thorndike

R. L.

Hagen

(1977). Measurement and evaluation in psychology and education. Wiley.

47.

Uysal

M. S.

Acar

Y. G.

(2024). Wear it like armor and it can never be used to hurt you: Reappropriation, identity change, and collective action. Political Psychology, 46(3), 548–567. https://doi.org/10.1111/pops.13022

48.

Whitson

Anicich

E. M.

Wang

C. S.

Galinsky

A. D.

(2017). Navigating stigma and group conflict: Group identification as a cause and consequence of self-labeling. Negotiation and Conflict Management Research, 10(2), 88–106. https://doi.org/10.1111/ncmr.12094

49.

Zochniak

Lewicka

Wybrańska

Bilewicz

(2023). Homophobic hate speech affects well-being of highly identified LGBT people. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 42(4), 453–463. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X231174569