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Volume 14, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2211-3770
  • E-ISSN: 2211-3789
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Abstract

Abstract

While the television franchise continues to expand across linguistic and cultural contexts, some linguo-cultural specificities resist translation for the global audience. This paper critically analyzes the intertextual management of participants’ use of the reclaimed slur . Following shocked reactions from Anglophone fans, the Season 1 translation () was abandoned, and instead, in Season 2, the utterance was frequently omitted in both English and Spanish subtitles and/or translated as — a common utterance in Anglophone iterations of the show. We argue that this shift domesticates the language of the Spanish contestants, defanging the political potency of contestants’ reclamation of a slur targeting their own sexualities and camp femininities, and instead leaving discussions of reclamation orphaned, as their active illustration is replaced with a more broadly reclaimed term, which likely has not been used as a slur against the contestants and therefore lacks the same political force.

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2025-07-14
2026-03-09

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/content/journals/10.1075/jls.24027.one
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Making maricones into bitches
Journal of Language and Sexuality 14, 200 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.24027.one
/content/journals/10.1075/jls.24027.one
/content/journals/10.1075/jls.24027.one
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): AVT; drag; Drag Race; reclaimed slurs; subtitles; translation

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