Respect is a feeling of admiration for someone because of their qualities, achievements, or position, and the behavior that shows this feeling. To respect someone is to treat them with care, value, and consideration.
From Latin *respectus* 'regard, consideration', from *respicere* 'to look back at, regard', from *re-* 'back' + *specere* 'to look'. The word grew from the idea of 'looking carefully at' someone.
Respect is both a feeling and a behavior—you can’t claim to respect someone if your actions contradict it. It’s also one of the few things people want given freely, but often try to demand.
Discourses of 'respect' have been used both to demand basic dignity for women and marginalized genders and to enforce restrictive gender norms (e.g., 'respectable women don't...'). Respectability politics often constrained women's behavior more than men's.
Use 'respect' to affirm everyone's equal dignity and autonomy, not to police gender expression or sexuality. Avoid implying that only certain gendered behaviors are 'respectable.'
When discussing respect, credit feminist and civil rights movements—often led by women—that reframed respect as a universal right rather than a conditional privilege.
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