Degeneracy

The chronic effects of too much social media consumption

Degeneracy is a term used in various subjective contexts, most often as a shorthand for ungodly or impure acts, desire, ideology and identity. It is now most often heard within a modern American religious/right-wing/conservative context, but has been seen among adjacent feminists.

Degeneracy refers to the promotion of acts deemed (within these moral frameworks) to be dirty, impure, and early evidence of civilizational failure. It was previously used by Nazis in reference to homosexuality, abstract and Jewish Art.

The term is now even used by organizations such as Gays Against Groomers in reference to grooming concerns, in spite of the obvious irony of its previous use against homosexuality.

The nature of this term, or at least its common usage, is highly subjective and varies according to which group is using it, whose framework or culture is being threatened by that which is labeled “degeneracy”. Thus, within a western social media context, it is typically used against groups deemed a threat to the aforementioned (American conservative) culture. This may include, but is not limited to LGBT, transgender people, MAPs, paraphiles, other sexual minorities and their allies, or any conflation thereof, in the counter-degeneracy narrative.

While degeneracy has no set meaning within western laws, those whose identities may be non-normative and/or conflict with "sex" laws are often described as degenerates.