Politically incorrect fragrance notes?

@Ringtale : this exactly! I personally think that it doesn't hurt me to stop using words that do hurt other people, after all. But more importantly for the topic, the perfume industry has more or less collectively decided that it was indeed a good idea to move on. 

My take is, outside of any "moral" considerations, the older discussion here about how adequate or not the word "ambery" is to describe a perfume, has pretty much become a moot point by now, since the perfumery world itself has decided to use it. 

@Hi @Anamandy, I think this book is not as simple as being about 'avoiding words' that could be painful to some. Many dictators start of their campaign promoting 'free speech' and 'free thinking' (encouraging people to even insult others, thinking that that is what freedom is all about) and then, when gaining power, they will ban journalists, punish people that are against their government and so on to stay in power. It's when 'free speech' becomes just 'one way trafic' when it stops being about real freedom and I think this book is more about that than about being conscious of what ones words can do to others.

For me personally, avoiding words that could hurt others is part of my freedom (!) to consult my own conscience before I speak and not to be 'prisoned' by the idea that we all 'must' say whatever we want, not matter the impact.

Incidentally, and stepping a bit aside for a sec but still on-topic: it is scientifically established, time and again, that language influences perceptions, thoughts and representations of the world - random example, "fireman" will, unconsciously, make little girls integrate - not even "think" - that it is "not for them"; while "firefighter" won't have that effect. 

Language doesn't exist in a vacuum, outside of time, place, culture, you name it; it is very much contextual, has connotations, and it does evolve, with society and/or preceding it. It's all but "censorship" to move away from words that have a connotation/weight that has become socially/culturally undesirable in place P and time T. The example has already been given above, but here and now, using the N- word would be totally not OK. I guess that when that shift started, some people felt censored and silenced too.

Hi @SixAmbregris, I think you are absolutely right! But it is even more compex than 'just the words we speak', which is why I feel intention matters too. Here in Holland we have the akward situation that an extreem right party now is in the government; they would use very insulting language towards refugees for instance, but now have to work closely with less right thinking parties, those asking from the extreem right party to take back the insulting language they would use. Guess what: they won't take anything back but instead they say: "I need not take it back because I said those things as a member of the opposition, now that I'm in government, I won't use this language any longer" (so not because their thoughts on refugees have changed for the better, but only to not to be excluded from government....). 

I'm giving this example not to start any political subject by the way, but only to illustrate how intention matters as well. 

recently bohoboco renamed their newly released perfume "Oriental Saffron | Bohoboco" in the span of just a few days, following the backlash from the public. they renamed it to exclude the word 'oriental', acknowledging its racist connotation. it's really refreshing to see a brand react this quickly!

quite an interesting conversation on the topic

https://blog.sporahealth.com/m...

Thanks for sharing that article! I still don’t really understand how the term Oriental can be considered racist (it’s literally East Asia), but I know it’s hard to figure out how that should smell. I wonder what we feel about Amalfi scents. That’s even more specifically bound to a place on earth.

Great discussion about uncommon ingredients and child slavery though.

What about "Exotic" as a term?

This was what the original term was partly referring to. The rich, spicy notes from the Asia/Middle East region. And of course the sultry sensual mystical image that titilated Europeans.

I believe the term "oriental" should be replaced with "amber" in fragrance descriptions. Many people don’t realize how offensive that word is — it’s essentially a racial slur, comparable to the N-word in its impact. When I see it, I’m reminded of a former coworker who was blatantly racist.

We worked for a company owned by a Malaysian corporation and had a significant number of Asian clients. Whenever my coworker had something nice to say about Asians, he would use the term "Asian people." But when he wanted to make offensive, stereotypical remarks, he would say "Oriental people."

One time, we had a customer organizing the Miss Asia California beauty pageant. She asked me to participate, complimenting my looks. I declined, explaining, “I can’t do it — I don’t want to take the place of someone who truly deserves to be there.” My coworker then chimed in, saying, “Don’t worry, you only pass as white until you open your mouth!” Fng asshat... (I’m a quarter Asian, but we don’t know the exact nationality of my grandmother because she was adopted as a baby)...

Anyway, the word "oriental" evokes memories of all the racists I’ve ever encountered. It’s outdated, loaded with prejudice, and shouldn’t be used in modern language — especially not in contexts like describing fragrances.