We live in a world where “safe space” has become a thrown around the term. People use it flagrantly and constantly, to speak for and against it. It’s gotten to the point of most overused words in that people no longer seem to know what it means.
Some people claim safe spaces are synonyms to censorship. That they prohibit free speech and that will take away the backbone of our generation. ( because we haven’t heard that about music and video games and body autonomy) These claims are spun on the belief that people asking for a safe space or crying out when something offends them have no right to do so. As a writer, it’s always interesting to explore this belief and the truth behind it.
The first thing I want to do is look through the history behind censorship. That big scary word we all fear like the boogie man.
Censorship can be qualified into four kinds Moral, Military, Political, Religious, and Corporate. Moral Censorship can be defined as removing material that is obscene or morally questionable. Pornography for example and graphic content can be seen as an example of things that would be censored because of this. Military censorship is defined as the process of keeping military tactics confidential to the enemy. Political censorship is defined as the government holding back information from the populace. Religious censorship is defined as any method by which material that contradicts any religion is removed. Corporate censorship is the method by which editors in media outlets disrupt the publishing of information.
By definition, none of these apply to people who are associated with wanting a safe space. So by simple, it isn’t censorship, despite it seeming like they could be synonyms.
What’s more, when someone is using the word Safe Space ( in a way that isn’t derogatory or mocking) they aren’t always asking for someone to not say their piece.
When I think of this issue I think of a man walking around with a boom box, he’s enjoying his music but the people around him are not comfortable with this. A fair compromise would be for him to put on headphones, or for him to find a room to blast his music with people who may enjoy it.
The man in this hypothetical is in a public space, a space that those around him are as free to enjoy as he is.
Another example can be the case where racial slurs and xenophobic comments were forbidden in a radio channel. Yes freedom of speech allowed that man to say that, but it did not grant him freedom of consequence.
Overall a safe space just means a place where people will be allowed to enjoy themselves, a person of color does not need to see racist commentary in a place, a minority student does not need to see xenophobic content in a place where they need to be. This isn’t as simple as hurt feelings. There are slurs and connotations that can be actively harmful to people. As a writer, and a person, I would like to be told when I slip into any toxic mentality. Being told someone is offended by something I say or do wouldn’t offend me. It would make me think, and consider things from a different point of view.
Above all, there’s something just insidious about dismissing people’s feelings by deigning yourself as the person who gets to decide if they have a right to be offended or hurt. The next time you want to complain about someone “needing a safe space” or “being too P.C.” ask you why they need one, and why you’re dismissing them so quickly.