About

Problematic is term used to indicate that something is troubling, bothersome or questionable. Online, the word is often associated with identity politics and social justice blogging as a catch-all label for anything deemed bigoted or offensive.

Origin

According to the Online Etymology Dictionary,^[4] the term problematic was adopted from the French term problematique during the 1600s as a synonym for "doubtful" or "questionable." In the 1960s, use of the term "problematic" increased dramatically according to the Google Books Ngram Viewer^[5] (shown below).

On August 2nd, 2003, the blog Deeply Problematic^[6] was launched, which describes itself as "a feminist blog that seeks to examine and analyze the treatment of problematized bodies in society and the media."

Spread

On May 18th, 2011, a definition for the word "problematic" was posted to the Urban Dictionary^[1] website, defining it as "a corporate-academic weasel word" for anything viewed as oppressive and a term "used in progressive political settings" to describe material deemed "racist" or "sexist" (shown below).

On December 31st, 2013, Gawker published an article listing "problematic" as one of the year's "worst words." On September 25th, 2014, the pop culture blog The Awl published an article titled "The Internet Has a Problem(atic)", which outlined the online history of the term toward becoming a "shorthand for self-serious identity politics." Additionally, the article claims the term's shift toward becoming a political buzzword came during the emergence of identity politics in the 1960s and post-structuralism in the 1970s. On February 18th, 2015, YouTuber tunging19Blogs uploaded a review of the film 50 Shades of Grey, which accused the film of being "problematic" (shown below, left). On June 21st, YouTuber Evan Edinger uploaded a video titled "On Being Problematic," in which he criticizes using the term "problematic" as a demonizing political label (shown below, right).

Related Memes

Problematic Fave

“Problematic Fave” is an expression used to describe popular celebrities or fictional characters that have been accused of some form of prejudice or bigotry. The phrase was popularized by the "Your Face is Problematic" Tumblr blog in March 2013, which features blog posts about various celebrities along with examples of gaffes, jokes or public statements that are perceived as “problematic”.

Search Interest

External References