{"id":49747,"title":"SCUM: A Word With Intent","description":"Some words don\u2019t just describe - they divide. Scum is one of them. It\u2019s short, sharp and meant to sting. A word spat at people who don\u2019t fit everyone\u2019s idea of how a life should be lived. In the media, in politics and in everyday speech, scum is used to \u201cother\u201d and put people down.","content":"

Some words don\u2019t just describe - they divide. Scum<\/strong> is one of them. It\u2019s short, sharp and meant to sting. A word spat at people who don\u2019t fit everyone\u2019s idea of how a life should be lived. In the media, in politics and in everyday speech, scum<\/em> is used to \u201cother\u201d and put people down.<\/p>

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Class Warfare in Headlines<\/h2>

The tabloid press - especially The Sun<\/em>, The Daily Mail<\/em> and The Express<\/em> - have long used scum<\/em> to describe people who don\u2019t conform to middle-class ideals. It\u2019s been thrown at:<\/p>

Strikers<\/u><\/a><\/p>

Football fans<\/u><\/a> (and footballers<\/u><\/a>)<\/p>

People on benefits<\/u><\/a><\/p>

Protesters<\/u><\/a><\/p>

Rarely is there curiosity behind these headlines. The word flattens context and complexity into something disposable, a person no longer worth listening to and someone who\u2019s often held up as a figurehead for everything that\u2019s wrong in the world.<\/p>

A Political Weapon<\/h2>

In 2021, Labour\u2019s Angela Rayner caused outrage when she called Tory ministers \u201ca bunch of scum.\u201d<\/u><\/a> The backlash was loud, especially from the right-wing press. But the outrage wasn\u2019t really about the word, it was about who was saying it and who was being criticised. Meanwhile, the same media that clutched its pearls has often used scum<\/em> to describe migrants, campaigners and anyone seen as a threat to the status quo.<\/p>

Criminalisation by Language<\/h2>

In crime reporting, scum<\/em> is often used to strip people of dignity. People from poor or racialised backgrounds are reduced to a single word in headlines like \u201cLock up this scum!\u201d or \u201cGet scum off our streets.\u201d There\u2019s no asking why<\/em> someone ended up there. No room for stories, survival or struggle. Just another lazy label.<\/p>

Reclaiming the Word<\/h2>

Although we\u2019re on a mission to reclaim the word, others have gone before us. Scum<\/em> has already been claimed, reworked and thrown back by radical feminist Valerie Solanas<\/strong>, who used it in the 1960s as the title of her SCUM Manifesto<\/u><\/em><\/a> - a wild, furious rejection of patriarchy and capitalist control. Her use was a provocation, a challenge, a refusal to be polite or palatable.<\/p>

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More recently, the band IDLES<\/strong> turned the insult into a celebration of contradiction in their song \u201cI\u2019m Scum\u201d - <\/em>a howl of pride from the margins, owning the label and everything that comes with it.<\/p>