AAP 2026 CONFERENCE

In this paper, I argue that there is a general class of label that purports to track problematic behaviours, beliefs, motives, or vices. I call these demeriting labels. Some examples are “liar”, “racist”, “tattletale”, “creep”, “virtue signaller”, “snowflake”, and “slob”. When someone is labelled, lead to social sanctions, tarnish their character, and block them from making conversational moves.

While demeriting labels sometimes have appropriate uses, they can be weaponised to misassign demerits to people innocent of wrongdoing. I worry that this makes demeriting labels particularly effective for the reproduction of social hierarchy, especially given that demeriting labels do not stick to all people with equal ease. For example, dominantly situated people can sometimes get away with bad behaviour because their social position grants them a Teflon coating that makes it harder to get demeriting labels to stick. At the same time, demeriting labels often stick to marginalised people far too easily. Similarly, labels like “slut”, “snowflake”, and “DEI hire” misrepresent something as problematic, but for certain audiences, they have considerable sticking power. This allows demeriting labels to function as the strong arm of prejudiced ideologies, which is I argue that why they demand our attention.