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A post was deleted (10k+ rep link) for containing an image (view here) which used the word "slutty" in summarizing how D&D's depiction of the goddess Lolth could be viewed as slut-shaming a female figure for leaving her boyfriend and finding someone better.

Is such a heavy-handed ban on words regardless of usage appropriate in Stack Exchange?

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    \$\begingroup\$ Related meta. \$\endgroup\$
    – Miniman
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 6:53
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    \$\begingroup\$ For the benefit of People From the Future: the post in question has since been edited and undeleted. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie Mod
    Commented Sep 8, 2015 at 16:35

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The image's attempt at tackling the issue of slut-shaming is fairly ham-handed. It not even obvious that's what it's doing, so it's going to go right over the average viewer's head. The giant word “SLUTTY” is really obvious though and won't be missed by anyone, however. Net score: very negative.

So given that:

  1. the image itself is completely unnecessary for the post
  2. it's a clumsy attempt at tackling a sensitive subject
  3. tackling slut-shaming properly takes finesse at the best of times, never mind as a side-note left as an exercise for the reader
  4. it's not super-relevant to the question

…the sudden appearance of the all-caps term “slut” in a 34px font on RPG.se was gratuitous.

We rarely, if ever, need to use the word here with gravitas. We definitely don't need it gratuitously, tossed off casually in an image macro.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Removing the image would have left the actual 'answer' bit of the post intact and devoid of slut-shaming. I whole-heartedly agree with your analysis here, but I don't see how it justifies burning the entire answer. Is there some element or interaction I'm missing? \$\endgroup\$
    – BESW
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 7:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ @BESW There's not much answer left with the image removed. The author can edit to give it more substance and flag to have it undeleted, but collateral damage from thoughtless use of unwelcome language is to be expected. Since it's a held/closed question now, there's even less practical reason to finesse it. Nothing done so far can't be undone if the post is redeemed. \$\endgroup\$
    – SevenSidedDie Mod
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 7:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ +1 this isn't freaking Reddit let's keep it that way. \$\endgroup\$
    – mxyzplk Mod
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 14:38

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