"s-word"

Am Psychol. 2015 Apr;70(3):282-3. doi: 10.1037/a0039070.

Comment on the January 2015 cover of the American Psychologist.

Peters WM1, Cavalieri CE2.

Author information

• 1The NETT, Ltd.
• 2University of St. Thomas.

Abstract

This article comments on the January 2015 cover of the American Psychologist (Vol. 70, Issue 1). The caption linked to a picture of a wintry mountain scene said "Squaw Valley Meadow." Although a seemingly innocuous word to most people, a majority of Society of Indian Psychologists (SIP) members wanted to share what the term squaw , hereinafter deemed "s-word," invokes for many Native individuals as well as in the collective cultural memories of American Indian peoples. As a voice representative of Native peoples, the members of SIP are acutely aware of the many issues that need to be redressed, both within our own communities and in our relations with non-Native society. In the case of the cover art caption and the ire provoked by the use of the s-word, the members of SIP opted to take an opportunity to educate versus confront, and to inform versus chastise or accuse amid this polarized political climate of interracial tensions.