Verb: To use something or someone fully and sometimes unfairly, in order to gain an advantage. Noun: A brave, interesting, or adventurous act.
Verb and noun come from Old French *esploit* ‘outcome, achievement’, from Latin *explicitum* ‘that which is unfolded, brought out’. The sense of unfair use developed later from ‘making full use of’ something.
It’s one of those rare words that can be heroic or harmful: ‘exploits’ are great deeds, but ‘to exploit workers’ is clearly negative. The line between smart use and unfair use is exactly where the moral tension of the word lives.
“Exploit” has been used to describe economic and sexual exploitation, including systemic exploitation of women’s labor and bodies under patriarchy and colonialism. Language around exploitation has sometimes minimized harms to women by framing them as “opportunities” or “mutual benefit.”
Use clearly to name harm and power imbalance, especially in contexts of labor and sexual exploitation, and avoid euphemisms that obscure who is being exploited. Do not frame people, particularly women or marginalized genders, as resources to be “exploited.”
["take advantage of","leverage","utilize","use fully"]
Women workers, activists, and survivors have been central in naming and resisting exploitative conditions in factories, domestic work, and the sex industry; citing their analyses emphasizes their role as agents, not just victims.
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