"Chav" is a slur.
Personally, it seems very complex to me.
Respected and mainstream newspapers in the UK use the term. And I'm talking, The Times (one of the most respected newspapers in the entire world), The Telegraph, The Independent (one of the most progressive papers in the UK).
There is definitely a lot of controversy surrounding the word and it can definitely be used as a slur.
But it is also commonly used in conversation and as I said, by all those newspapers and people know what is meant by it and this is why they use the term- because the thing it describes exists.
Now, this is from the wiki article on
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Bailey_(Misfits)The Times commented that she was "the chavish girl who can read minds".[6] The Daily Telegraph describes her as "bolshy Midlands chav Kelly".[7] Socha described the character as "Kelly is a standard beeyatch. She's wicked." and admitted she can relate to the character.[8] The Independent described Kelly as the "slap-happy female "chav" who can read other people's thoughts"
It is tricky deciding exactly when it is meant as a slur and when it is simply a useful term to describe something tangible. As I mentioned, the Independent would normally be one of the last newspapers I would think of as promoting any type of racial stereotyping or inequality. Yet they did use the term to describe a television character.
Though you could also say that rednecks are the rural equivalent of chavs, which are an urban population.
This is more or less true. And in another post I have, myself, likened the term redneck to the term chav. It is a term that has evolved well past being strictly a slur to something dynamic and complex. Rednecks do self-identify although others might bristle at someone from outside the South calling them that.
Redneck is a way of life. And no matter how it got to the point it is, rednecks are now conscious of the fact that they are rednecks and wear it on their sleeve. So, the concept has saturated culture to the point where it is not really a slur to use the word although some people still mean it as a slur when they say it.
When I still lived in the South, it didn't disturb me to have outsiders describe me or my family/friends in this way because it demonstrated more about them than about us.
I think the term 'chav' (as I understand its use by living here in the UK) the way it is used here in the UK is sort of evolving towards that point now but not quite there. Thus, the 'uncomfortable reality' I mention earlier in another post.
People use the word. They know the word can be taken the wrong way but the word describes something, so it has utility. In addition, fashion icons have adopted the 'chav' look to the point where you can say things like 'super chav' or 'chav chic'. You're not really making a slur when you use those terms because you're just talking about clothes. Yet it can be a slur when used for people. But it's the people who wear the clothes and this culture that the fashion-trend is based upon.
Thus, it is becoming mainstreamed.
The wiki article on Chav mentions how ASDA (a major supermarket) tried to create a Chav brand of candy.
I think this indicates that the word is going through an evolution and it will clearly end up in a place like 'redneck' or 'punk' or 'geek' or 'nerd'.
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