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February 24, 2026

Taboo tics like shouting curses and slurs are uncommon in Tourette syndrome − but people who have them suffer harsh social stigma

Source: The Conversation – USA (3) – By Rena Zito, Associate Professor of Sociology, Elon University

Tourette’s tics can include obscenities and slurs. These taboo words are emotionally charged and socially significant, so they tend to be more strongly encoded in the brain’s wiring. Dominic Lipinski/Stringer via Getty Images

John Davidson, whose life inspired the award-winning biopic “I Swear,” involuntarily shouted a racial slur during Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo’s speech at the BAFTA film awards in London on Feb. 22, 2026. The moment went viral, and the ensuing backlash ignited public debate about Tourette syndrome and its most shocking symptom.

Davidson has been a familiar figure to British audiences since his teenage years, when he first appeared in a BBC documentary about Tourette syndrome. He has since devoted decades to public education about the condition, earning him a distinguished honor from Queen Elizabeth II in 2019.

The reactions to Davidson’s tics at the BAFTA awards make clear that Tourette syndrome remains a deeply misunderstood condition, especially when it comes to obscene language tics, called coprolalia.

I am a sociologist who studies the social dimensions of Tourette syndrome, including the stigma of coprolalia. I also live with Tourette syndrome. Most people with Tourette’s will never experience these taboo tics, but those who do bear the weight of society’s judgment.

What is Tourette syndrome?

Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects about 0.5% to 0.7% of the population. It is characterized by involuntary movements and sounds called tics that usually begin in childhood and, for some people, continue into adulthood.

Tics consist of movements, such as eye blinking or shoulder shrugging, or vocalizations, such as throat clearing or brief sounds. Some involve a single movement or sound, while others combine several movements or involve longer verbalizations – for example, finger snapping followed by a head jerk, or repeated words or phrases.

Coprolalia, or involuntary obscene or offensive speech, is one of the most widely misunderstood features of Tourette’s. About 10% to 20% of people with Tourette syndrome experience this type of tic.

Fewer than 1 in 5 people with Tourette’s experience taboo tics, such as coprolalia, but they can have an outsized effect on people’s lives.

Tics often change over time in intensity, frequency and form, with relatively quiet periods followed by phases when symptoms are more severe. Many people feel an unpleasant building sensation before a tic, called a premonitory urge, describing it like an itch that needs to be scratched. Others experience tics more suddenly, like an unexpected sneeze. Some can temporarily suppress their tics, often at the cost of greater discomfort later, while others are unable to suppress them.

Tics can be physically taxing, leading to acute and chronic pain and injury. People with Tourette syndrome also frequently face stigma, discrimination and the pressure to monitor or hide their tics, which can take a serious psychological toll. People with Tourette syndrome are at increased risk of self-harm and suicide.

The causes of Tourette syndrome aren’t fully understood, but it has a strong genetic component. Although it often runs in families, it can also be caused by birth complications or infections.

Understanding taboo tics like coprolalia

Even though a minority of people with Tourette syndrome experience coprolalia, media portrayals of Tourette’s disproportionately focus on outbursts of profanity. This “swearing disease” stereotype misrepresents how most people with the condition experience it. But because taboo tics are shocking and unexpected, they loom larger in the public imagination than more common, less dramatic tics.

Coprolalia is only one form of taboo tic. Others include copropraxia, or obscene gestures, and non-obscene but socially inappropriate tics, such as making kissing sounds, spitting or touching others.

Baylen Dupree, star of TLC show Baylen Out Loud — Baylen Dupree, star of the TLC show ‘Baylen Out Loud,’ has severe Tourette’s and experiences coprolalia.
Slaven Vlasic/Stringer via Getty Images

One of the most confusing aspects of taboo tics is that they can be contextually relevant while also being involuntary. Consider, for example, the person who tics “I have a gun!” when stopped by law enforcement. Cues in the social environment can trigger tics, especially in moments of heightened stress.

Why profanity in particular? Tics arise from dysfunction in neural circuits involved in movement and impulse control. Taboo words are emotionally charged and socially significant, so they tend to be more strongly encoded in the brain’s language and emotional networks than neutral words. This helps explain why coprolalia can also occur, albeit rarely, in people with brain lesions, neurodegenerative conditions and seizure disorders.

The challenges of living with coprolalia

The social world can be precarious for people with Tourette syndrome who experience taboo tics like coprolalia. These tics are often associated with more severe symptoms overall, more co-occurring conditions and greater social difficulty.

My research on coprolalia stigma reveals the depths of distress public misconceptions can cause.

A common misconception is that tics reveal what people “really” think and feel. In reality, tics often compel people to say or do precisely what they most wish to avoid. The stakes are especially high when tics involve slurs or insults. As one interview participant told me, “It’s like my brain weaponizes my most polite intentions and turns them into the cruelest things. And it’s scary to go outside … to have this sudden confrontation mechanism inside of me that I absolutely do not want.”

These socially inappropriate tics can draw unwanted attention and lead to exclusion, bullying, hostile encounters and barriers to employment. As another participant put it, “There’s no jobs I can work where I can get the accommodation that it’s okay for me to cuss at my boss.”

Anticipating these reactions, many people with prominent coprolalia withdraw from public life or carry the burden of constant disclosure and education.

A second misconception is that coprolalia always looks like someone shouting obscenities in public. While that does happen for some people, like Davidson at the BAFTA awards, others can suppress, mask or carefully manage their tics in social settings. Both experiences of coprolalia are stressful. Like other tics, coprolalia can come and go over time.

The stress of taboo tics extends beyond the individual. Families frequently describe feeling helpless in the face of their child’s distress, unsupported by schools and judged by others when these tics occur.

People with Tourette syndrome, and especially those with taboo tics, need understanding and support to participate fully and safely in public life.

Rena Zito does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Taboo tics like shouting curses and slurs are uncommon in Tourette syndrome − but people who have them suffer harsh social stigma – https://theconversation.com/taboo-tics-like-shouting-curses-and-slurs-are-uncommon-in-tourette-syndrome-but-people-who-have-them-suffer-harsh-social-stigma-276721

February 24, 2026

Danger was flagged, but not reported: What the Tumbler Ridge tragedy reveals about Canada’s AI governance vacuum

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon, Assistant Professor in Health Ethics, Simon Fraser University

Eight months before the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting, OpenAI knew something was wrong. The company’s automated review system had flagged Jesse Van Rootselaar’s ChatGPT account for interactions involving scenarios of gun violence. Roughly a dozen employees were aware. Some advocated contacting police. Instead, OpenAI banned the account, but didn’t refer it to law enforcement because it didn’t meet the “threshold required” at the time.

On Feb. 10, Van Rootselaar killed eight people (her mother, her 11-year-old half-brother and six others at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School) before dying of a self-inflicted wound.

This case is not simply about one company’s misjudgment. It exposes the absence of any Canadian legal framework for assigning responsibility when an AI company possesses information that could prevent violence.

As a researcher in health ethics and AI governance at Simon Fraser University, I study how algorithmic systems reshape decision-making in high-stakes settings. The Tumbler Ridge tragedy sits squarely at this intersection: a private corporation made a clinical-style risk assessment it was never equipped to make, in a legal environment that gave it no guidance.

The digital confessional problem

Generative AI chatbots are not social media. Social media functions as a public square where posts can be monitored and flagged by other users. Chatbot interactions are private, intimate and designed to be accommodating. Users routinely disclose fears, fantasies and violent ideations to systems engineered to respond with conversational warmth.

In clinical practice, this kind of disclosure triggers a well-established duty. The Tarasoff principle, adopted across Canadian provinces through mental health legislation, imposes upon therapists a duty to warn if they determine that a patient poses a credible threat to an identifiable person, even if it means breaching confidentiality. But that duty rests on the clinical judgment of trained professionals who understand the difference between ideation and intent.

Arguably, OpenAI tried to mirror this clinical standard. But the people making these assessments are software engineers and content moderators, not forensic psychologists. The company itself acknowledged the tension, citing the risks of “over-enforcement” and the distress of unannounced police visits for young people.

The real question is not whether OpenAI’s reasoning was defensible in isolation. It’s whether a private corporation should be making this determination at all.

A vacuum where legislation should be

Federal AI Minister Evan Solomon, who intends to meet with OpenAI representatives today on Feb. 24 about this issue, said on Feb. 21 that he was “deeply disturbed” by the revelations, adding the federal government is reviewing “a suite of measures” and that “all options are on the table.” But those options remain undefined because the legislative tools that would have enabled them no longer exist.

The Artificial Intelligence and Data Act, embedded in Bill C-27, was supposed to be Canada’s answer to AI regulation. The Online Harms Act (Bill C-63) would have addressed harmful digital content. Both died on the order paper when Parliament was prorogued in January 2025.

What remains is a voluntary code of conduct with no legal force and no consequences for non-compliance. When OpenAI flagged Van Rootselaar’s account, its only obligation was to its own internal policy. Banning the account resolved the company’s liability while leaving a person expressing violent ideations disconnected from any intervention pathway.

Canada’s privacy law compounds the problem. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act does contain an emergency exception: section 7(3)(e) permits disclosure without consent “to a person who needs the information because of an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual.” But this provision was drafted for clear-cut crises, not for the probabilistic threat indicators that AI chatbot interactions generate. For a foreign corporation navigating this ambiguity, uncertainty favours inaction.

What Canada needs now

Canada’s next attempt at digital governance must recognize that human-to-AI interactions are fundamentally different from social media posts. Three elements are essential:

Binding legislation with clear legal thresholds for when AI companies must refer flagged interactions to authorities. These thresholds must be developed with mental health professionals, law enforcement and privacy experts, not left to individual corporations.
An independent digital safety commission as a third-party triage body. When an AI company identifies severely concerning interactions, it should refer the case to trained threat-assessment professionals rather than making the call internally or triggering an immediate armed police response.
Modernized privacy legislation that provides explicit legal clarity for AI-specific disclosure, resolving the ambiguity that currently rewards doing nothing.

At the AI summit that took place in New Delhi from Feb. 16 to 20, 86 countries, including Canada, pledged to promote “safe, trustworthy and robust” AI. No concrete commitments followed. OpenAI’s Sam Altman stressed the urgency of international AI regulation and proposed an international body for AI safety norms modelled on the International Atomic Energy Agency, an irony not lost on anyone following the Tumbler Ridge revelations.

Minister Solomon says all options are on the table. Families of shooting victims, survivors and a devastated community in Tumbler Ridge are living with the cost of leaving regulation options open for too long.

Jean-Christophe Bélisle-Pipon receives funding from Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar Award and the US National Institutes of Health.

– ref. Danger was flagged, but not reported: What the Tumbler Ridge tragedy reveals about Canada’s AI governance vacuum – https://theconversation.com/danger-was-flagged-but-not-reported-what-the-tumbler-ridge-tragedy-reveals-about-canadas-ai-governance-vacuum-276718

February 24, 2026

Why people are turning to AI first for relationship advice — and why they shouldn’t

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Maha Khawaja, PhD Student, Health and Society, McMaster University

It’s 1 a.m. The argument is over, but you keep running it back in your head anyway. You replay the tone, timing and that one sentence that landed wrong. So you open an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot and type, “Am I right or am I overreacting? What do I say to what they said? What did they mean by XYZ?”

Research on attachment, emotion regulation and online discourse helps explain why turning to AI is becoming increasingly popular . The reassurance that it provides, however, can consolidate a one-sided interpretation far too quickly and, ultimately, train expectations that real relationships struggle to meet.

But for many, that’s where relationship support begins nowadays. The privacy of AI chatbots has become the space people go to first, especially given that the alternative — professional help or family and friends — often either involves paying, explaining yourself at length or risking judgment at exactly the moment you feel least steady.

However, while it’s a private moment and a keyboard click away, should we be looking for neutral relationship advice from AI chatbots?

Why does AI feel like support?

At a time when therapy is expensive or out of reach, and most relationship learning comes from media rather than practical skill-building, immediacy can be deeply appealing for some.

The appeal intensifies when relationship talk implicates identity. Questions like “Am I needy? Am I unlovable? Am I the problem?” carry shame, which makes disclosure feel risky. A chatbot offers a low-stakes space to narrate events and voice what might feel too exposed with friends or family.

Notably, chat-based relationship coaching can feel immediately satisfying, and research on reward-based engagement in online platforms suggests that quick, reinforcing feedback can encourage people to come back again and again, forming an addictive effect that chatbot interfaces may amplify.

Related work on chatbots also finds that when users feel a sense of closeness with AI, they report higher satisfaction and stronger intentions to reuse it, which helps explain why the use of these tools can become a habit instead of a one-time check-in. Interestingly, recent research also notes that people with anxious attachment styles are more likely to become emotionally dependent on AI.

From anonymous forums to algorithmic advice

Before chatbots, people often did this work through anonymous crowds in forums like Reddit, and research on online disclosure and support communities shows that anonymity and low social cost can increase willingness to share, especially around stigmatized or emotionally charged experiences.

In those spaces, you can disclose without being fully known, gather language from strangers and feel less alone with your own thoughts. AI distills that and suggests next steps, which can make disclosure easier while also nudging one reading of the situation into something that feels settled.

A quick, overly simplified fix.

However, over time, instant affirmation can train expectations for constant reassurance and rapid closure that intimate relationships rarely sustain, since intimacy develops through slower, reciprocal work under strain.

AI as a relationship rehearsal room

In practice, people use AI for far more than crisis.

Many use it as a communication coach, such as for drafting messages after conflict, softening tone and practising repair language before they speak.

Others use it as a rehearsal room for difficult conversations or as a planning tool for reconnecting, whether through date ideas, routines or small rituals that rebuild intimacy after distance.

It also shows up readily in the less visible work of relationships.

That could look like asking AI about the benefits of planning sex, how to navigate menopause and vaginal dryness or what lubricant to use with a dilator after cancer treatment. Here, AI helps make sense of situations that may be difficult to discuss with others and helps bring clarity to an unfamiliar field.

Where this becomes complicated is not simply that people use AI, but how its structure changes what counts as a good explanation. Because the system only has access to one narrated perspective, it can produce a coherent interpretation with high confidence while keeping out perhaps major details like context, history, power dynamics or what the other person has said.

Assisting, but not replacing, relational work

Though it may seem coherent, AI readily compresses nuance into a single storyline and can only focus on a singular conclusion. A chatbot can only respond to what it is given; trained professionals probe, clarify and notice gaps.

This isn’t only informal use of general chatbots either. Some tools are explicitly designed to mimic relationship coaching and therapeutic support, like Mojo or Amanda.ai, and some are even designed to function as an “AI companion” and romantic partner.

AI’s appeal also comes with real costs and risks, including energy-intensive infrastructure, corporate and political interests that shape what these systems learn and reproduce, the possibility of misinformation when nuance is missing and privacy concerns when an individual’s intensely personal disclosures are routed through data systems they do not control.

AI can support reflection and communication, but the substance of a relationship is still built and repaired in real time through choices partners make with each other. So, if you want a nuanced human answer, then just ask the humans in your life what they meant when they said “XYZ.”

Maha Khawaja does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Why people are turning to AI first for relationship advice — and why they shouldn’t – https://theconversation.com/why-people-are-turning-to-ai-first-for-relationship-advice-and-why-they-shouldnt-272797

February 24, 2026

Can the placenta predict schizophrenia risk? Lessons from prenatal cannabis exposure

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Daniel Hardy, Professor, Department of Ob/Gyn and Physiology and Pharmacology, Western University

Schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder that is characterized by psychosis, making it difficult for a person to tell what is real. It impacts about one per cent of the Canadian population and is linked to major health challenges, including a shorter life span.

Many factors can increase the risk of developing schizophrenia, such as prenatal environmental conditions (for example, malnutrition or drug exposure), family history, childhood trauma and growing up in an urban environment.

However, there are still no reliable biomarkers that can predict early risk. This is important because early diagnosis leads to better treatment and outcomes for patients. Researchers are now looking at the placenta as a possible source of early indicators of schizophrenia risk.

The placenta-brain axis

The placenta can “record” what happens during pregnancy and can reflect both healthy and unhealthy conditions for the baby. This idea is known as the placenta-brain axis, which suggests that when the placenta is negatively affected, brain development may also be harmed in both the short and long term.

Large clinical studies have shown that in pregnancies resulting in low birth weight babies, certain genetic markers in the placenta are changed. These markers are strongly linked to a higher risk of schizophrenia and other negative behavioural outcomes (for example, autism, impaired cognition) in children.

There is also strong evidence connecting cannabis use during pregnancy to harmful effects on a child’s brain development, including a higher risk of schizophrenia. This is especially concerning in Canada, where cannabis was legalized in 2018. Since then, cannabis use during pregnancy has increased, with the highest reported rate of 24 per cent among pregnant teens (ages 13 to 19 years).

Although prenatal cannabis use is known to be associated with low birth weight, it is not well understood whether cannabis exposure affects the same placental biomarkers linked to schizophrenia. My laboratory, which has experience studying the effects of drug exposure during pregnancy, explored this question in a study published in Biology of Reproduction in January.

THC exposure

As a professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University, I worked with my research team and collaborators, including master of science student Andrea Kocsis, Enzo Perez Valenzuela, Ph.D., David Natale, Ph.D., and Steven Laviolette, Ph.D. to investigate whether THC (the main psychoactive component of cannabis) changes these known placental schizophrenia markers.

First, we used a preclinical rodent model in which pregnant animals were given edible THC mixed with Nutella. We found that both male and female offspring exposed to THC showed reduced prepulse inhibition early in life. Prepulse inhibition is a psychological test commonly used when diagnosing schizophrenia in humans. Specifically, the prepulse inhibition test measures sensorimotor gating — the brain’s ability to filter out irrelevant stimuli — by observing how a weak, preceding stimulus (prepulse) reduces the startle response to a subsequent loud noise (pulse).

More importantly, we discovered that the placentae of these THC-exposed offspring showed increases in several human placental markers linked to schizophrenia risk.

We then tested whether this also occurs in a human cell culture model. We found that isolated human placental cells treated short-term (24 hours) with THC showed similar increases in these schizophrenia-related genes in these cells.

Identifying risks

This study has important clinical implications. Although stopping cannabis use during pregnancy is always recommended, it can be difficult for many people due to social or habitual dependence. As a result, some children are exposed to cannabis before birth without having any choice.

By identifying cannabis-specific placental markers linked to schizophrenia, there is potential to reduce negative behavioural outcomes early in life through psychological or dietary interventions. Since schizophrenia is usually diagnosed between ages 16 and 30, being able to identify risk at birth would be extremely valuable. Moreover, testing the placenta after delivery could become a practical way to assess schizophrenia risk.

Further research is needed to understand whether other components of cannabis, such as cannabidiol (CBD), also affect neurodevelopment or alter these placental markers. It is also imperative to explore whether these markers can help predict other outcomes, including adverse psychological conditions, autism or cognitive impairments.

Additionally, because the pre-conception health and lifestyle of fathers as well as mothers can affect the placenta, it is also possible that consumption of cannabinoids by either parent before pregnancy could affect placental health and increase schizophrenia risk, but this requires further study.

In the meantime, our findings provide important functional evidence for clinicians and regulatory agencies, such as Health Canada, as they continue to make decisions and policies regarding the safety of cannabis use during pregnancy.

Daniel Hardy receives funding from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR).

– ref. Can the placenta predict schizophrenia risk? Lessons from prenatal cannabis exposure – https://theconversation.com/can-the-placenta-predict-schizophrenia-risk-lessons-from-prenatal-cannabis-exposure-274381

February 24, 2026

Chiens de race : l’esthétique peut-elle justifier la souffrance ?

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Valérie Chansigaud, Historienne des sciences et de l’environnement, chercheuse associée au laboratoire Sphère (Paris Cité – CNRS), Université Paris Cité

Un bouledogue français, un cavalier King Charles Spaniel, un chat sans poil sphynx, un teckel à poil ras. Greggabet photographie caudry / Cavalier King Charles Spaniels / Dmitry Makeev / Dalila Dalprat Sousa Santos , CC BY

Afin de limiter la souffrance animale, la Commission européenne tâche de poser des limites à la sélection génétique des races de chiens et chats aux traits extrêmes. Si cette avancée demeure inédite, elle réagit à un phénomène tout sauf nouveau : l’obsession de l’homme pour l’apparence des animaux domestiques.

La Conseil et le Parlement européen ont récemment adopté une accord provisoire visant à encadrer plus strictement l’élevage des chiens et des chats, en interdisant notamment la reproduction et la mise en avant d’animaux présentant des « formes extrêmes ».

Sont particulièrement concernées certaines morphologies associées à des troubles graves et durables, comme les chiens au museau écrasé, chez lesquels les difficultés respiratoires, l’intolérance à l’effort ou les problèmes locomoteurs sont désormais bien documentés.

Cette évolution réglementaire répond à des alertes répétées du monde vétérinaire et à une sensibilité croissante de l’opinion publique à la souffrance animale. Elle s’inscrit également dans une longue histoire de la place démesurée accordée par les sociétés humaines à l’apparence des animaux domestiques et à leur volonté de la façonner.

Sélectionner l’apparence : une pratique ancienne aux usages multiples

Il est impossible de dater précisément le moment où les humains auraient commencé à sélectionner des animaux sur des critères esthétiques. Bien avant l’existence des « races » au sens moderne (un phénomène qui émerge au XIX^e siècle), des animaux étaient déjà choisis en fonction de leur sexe, de leur âge, de leur couleur ou de leur conformation. Dans de nombreuses sociétés anciennes, les animaux destinés au sacrifice devaient ainsi répondre à des critères précis d’apparence et d’intégrité corporelle : dans les cultes grecs et romains, seuls des animaux « sans défaut » étaient admis devant les divinités ; en Chine, sous la dynastie Zhou, les sacrifices royaux exigeaient également des bêtes jugées parfaites, tant extérieurement qu’intérieurement.

Autrement dit, la sélection sur l’apparence est probablement aussi ancienne que la domestication elle-même. Elle n’était jamais isolée : elle s’entremêlait à des critères religieux, sociaux, économiques ou politiques, par exemple lorsque le pouvoir politique affirme sa puissance en imposant des animaux sacrificiels répondant à des normes précises.

Ce qui change à l’époque contemporaine, c’est que l’apparence peut devenir, dans certains cas, le critère central, voire exclusif, de la création des races. Posséder un chien de race peut ainsi marquer un rang, une appartenance sociale ou un certain rapport au monde, comme d’autres animaux ont pu, à différentes époques, signaler le prestige ou le pouvoir de leur propriétaire, à commencer par le cheval, mais aussi certains chiens de chasse.

Une préoccupation tardive pour la santé et le bien-être

Les races modernes émergent au XIX^e siècle, dans un contexte marqué par le goût pour la classification, la hiérarchisation et la distinction sociale fondée sur la notion de race. Cette passion pour les lignées « pures » n’est pas sans lien avec les cadres intellectuels qui, à la même époque, voient se développer les théories raciales appliquées aux humains.

Photographies de l’exposition canine, au jardin des Tuileries en mai 1898.
Jules Beau/Gallica BNF, Fourni par l’auteur

Pendant longtemps, les effets de la sélection ont été évalués presque exclusivement à l’aune de la productivité, de l’efficacité ou de la conformité à un standard. La souffrance animale était connue, mais largement tolérée, considérée comme secondaire, voire inévitable. Les pratiques vétérinaires elles-mêmes en témoignent : pendant une longue période, des interventions lourdes ont été pratiquées sans anesthésie, comme la stérilisation des chiennes.

D’autres gestes, aujourd’hui reconnus comme inutiles et douloureux, étaient également courants : on sectionnait par exemple le frein de la langue chez les chiens, dans l’idée erronée de prévenir la rage.

Ces pratiques témoignent d’un rapport au corps animal dans lequel la souffrance était largement ignorée, par indifférence plus que par méconnaissance.

Ce n’est qu’à partir de la seconde moitié du XX^e siècle que la douleur chronique, la qualité de vie ou la santé à long terme des animaux commencent à être pensées comme des problèmes en tant que tels. Les inquiétudes actuelles concernant les chiens aux morphologies extrêmes – difficultés respiratoires, troubles locomoteurs, intolérance à l’effort – s’inscrivent pleinement dans cette histoire récente de la sensibilité au bien-être animal.

Des chats qui ont longtemps échappé à cette logique

La récente réglementation européenne semble concerner plus directement les chiens que les chats, et cette impression correspond à une réalité historique, biologique et sociologique. En France comme dans de nombreux pays européens, les chiens de race sont proportionnellement plus nombreux que les chats de race. Cette différence s’explique en grande partie par l’histoire de l’élevage.

L’intérêt pour les races de chiens est ancien et structurant. La sélection de types morphologiques spécifiques devient l’un des moteurs centraux de l’élevage canin au XIX^e siècle, en systématisant et en normant des pratiques bien plus anciennes de différenciation fonctionnelle. Dès l’Antiquité, certains chiens sont ainsi recherchés pour des usages guerriers ou de combat, en fonction de leur taille, de leur puissance ou de leur agressivité.

Ce type de sélection n’est d’ailleurs pas propre aux chiens : chez les gallinacés, des individus ont été privilégiés très tôt pour des usages non alimentaires, notamment pour le combat de coqs ou comme animaux d’ornement, bien avant que ne s’impose une sélection orientée vers la production de chair ou d’œufs.

À l’inverse, les chats ont longtemps échappé à cette logique. Les premiers concours félins du XIX^e siècle récompensaient des individus – souvent des chats de gouttière – et non des représentants de races qui n’étaient pas encore standardisées. Le chat est resté plus longtemps un animal ordinaire, moins soumis aux impératifs de sélection morphologique.

Exposition féline à la salle Wagram en 1934.
Gallica/BNF

Quels chiens demain ?

Populaires sur les réseaux sociaux, les Pomskys sont issus de croisements entre des Huskys sibériens et de spitz-nains.
GJH-hoond, CC BY

Les croisements récents, comme le pomsky (issu de croisement entre le husky sibérien et le spitz-nain), témoignent aujourd’hui d’une forte demande pour des animaux perçus comme originaux et attendrissants, mais sont surtout emblématiques d’un effet de mode.

Le choix de ces chiens relève moins d’une réflexion sur leurs besoins ou leur santé que d’une logique de distinction : on choisit un chien comme on choisirait une paire de chaussures, parce qu’il flatte l’ego de son propriétaire et signale une position sociale. Dénoncées depuis longtemps par les vétérinaires, qui constatent au quotidien les conséquences de la sélection de morphologies extrêmes, ces pratiques pourraient être freinées par la nouvelle réglementation européenne, en rappelant clairement que tout croisement n’est pas acceptable dès lors qu’il compromet la santé ou le bien-être des animaux concernés.

Prédire à quoi ressembleront les chiens du futur reste toutefois hasardeux. L’histoire montre que les avancées en matière de protection animale ne sont ni linéaires ni irréversibles. L’émergence d’idéologies brutales ou violentes pourrait très bien conduire à un recul de la prise en compte de la souffrance animale. L’interdiction des formes extrêmes révèle ainsi une tension ancienne entre la vanité des désirs humains parfois cruels et la nécessité d’établir des règles morales pour en limiter les effets – un débat aussi vieux que la philosophie elle-même.

Cette réflexion trouve un écho particulier dans certaines initiatives muséales récentes. L’exposition Domestique-moi si tu peux, présentée au Muséum de Toulouse, propose ainsi de revisiter l’histoire longue de la domestication en montrant qu’il ne s’agit pas d’un phénomène « naturel » et qu’elle est façonnée par des choix humains parfois irrationnels. Elle met surtout en évidence la place centrale de la domestication dans la construction des cultures humaines, la sélection artificielle ayant pour objectif principal de rendre des organismes vivants – animaux comme végétaux – compatibles avec les modes de vie et les besoins humains.

L’exposition Domestique-moi si tu peux retrace l’histoire des domestications animales et végétales, leur histoire et leurs conséquences sur la biodiversité. On peut la visiter jusqu’au 5 juillet 2026 au Muséum de Toulouse. L’historienne Valérie Chansigaud en a été la commissaire scientifique.

Valérie Chansigaud ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Chiens de race : l’esthétique peut-elle justifier la souffrance ? – https://theconversation.com/chiens-de-race-lesthetique-peut-elle-justifier-la-souffrance-275835

February 24, 2026

Les barrages de castors aggravent-ils vraiment les inondations ?

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Pascale Biron, Professeure titulaire, Département de géographie, urbanisme et environnement, Concordia University

Les barrages de castors sont souvent perçus comme une menace pour les biens humains, notamment lors de crues exceptionnelles. Pourtant, les analyses scientifiques montrent que leur impact réel sur les inondations en aval est beaucoup moins important que ne le suggèrent certaines décisions judiciaires.

Les castors (Castor canadensis) sont reconnus comme des ingénieurs clés de l’écosystème, leurs barrages influençant l’hydrologie et la géomorphologie des cours d’eau.

Il existe un consensus scientifique sur l’impact positif des barrages de castors, par exemple en créant des milieux humides à l’échelle du paysage, en augmentant la biodiversité et en générant une hétérogénéité bénéfique pour de nombreuses espèces. Toutefois, lors de précipitations extrêmes, les barrages de castors sont rapidement accusés d’aggraver les inondations en aval lorsqu’ils cèdent.

Je me suis intéressée, avec mes collègues, au sujet des castors dans le cadre du congrès international Wood in World Rivers 5 qui s’est tenu à Gaspé en juin 2024, et qui a mené à la publication d’un article dans la revue Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.

Des conséquences réelles

Deux épisodes d’inondation attribués à des barrages de castors se sont produits à Port-au-Persil, dans la région de Charlevoix, au Québec, à la suite des fortes précipitations liées au passage de l’ouragan Katrina en 2005 et Irène en 2011.

En 2008 et 2017, la Cour supérieure du Québec la Cour supérieure du Québec a condamné la MRC de Charlevoix-Est à verser plus d’un million de dollars aux propriétaires d’un gîte à Port-au-Persil, estimant que des barrages de castors situés en amont avaient contribué aux dommages subis lors de fortes crues. En 2017, les deux parties avaient présenté des experts aux avis opposés : les demandeurs affirmaient que la destruction du barrage aurait empêché les inondations, tandis que la défense soutenait que la rivière aurait débordé malgré tout.

Le juge a donné raison aux demandeurs, considérant que la MRC connaissait le danger potentiel des barrages et avait l’obligation légale d’intervenir pour éviter les risques d’inondation, conformément à l’article 105 de la Loi sur les compétences municipales.

Cet article stipule que « toute municipalité régionale de comté doit réaliser les travaux requis pour rétablir l’écoulement normal des eaux d’un cours d’eau lorsqu’elle est informée de la présence d’une obstruction qui menace la sécurité des personnes ou des biens ». Le bois mort et les barrages de castor constituent une « obstruction » aux yeux de cette loi.

En somme, comme les barrages de castors constituent une menace, ils devraient être détruits à titre préventif. Mais quelles preuves scientifiques étayent ces affirmations ?

Il existe des outils de modélisation qui permettent de bien comprendre les répercussions en aval des ruptures de barrages anthropiques, comme ceux appartenant à Hydro-Québec, par exemple. Ce sont précisément ces outils de modélisation hydraulique que l’ingénieur engagé par la MRC, Jean Gauthier, a utilisés dans son rapport soumis au Tribunal. L’expert était présent au deuxième procès, en 2017.

Une nouvelle simulation

Comme le juge a remis en question son estimation du volume d’eau en amont du barrage, nous avons décidé de contacter M. Gauthier pour lui demander de refaire des simulations numériques à l’aide des outils et des données les plus récents.

Pour évaluer l’impact du barrage de castor sur le niveau d’eau au pont du Chemin Port-au-Persil, nous avons utilisé un modèle simulant la crue résultant des précipitations d’août 2011.

Nous avons réalisé des simulations avec et sans rupture du barrage. Pour évaluer le scénario le plus défavorable, nous avons supposé que le barrage se rompait au moment où la crue est la plus forte. Nous avons également considéré que la brèche (l’ouverture créée dans le barrage) se formait en seulement 10 minutes – un délai très court, comparable à celui d’un barrage en béton – afin de mesurer l’impact maximal possible en aval.

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Le juge ayant remis en question l’estimation du volume d’eau derrière le barrage, celui-ci a été volontairement augmenté pour tester un scénario extrême. Il a été multiplié par quatre (10 000 m³) par rapport au volume initialement estimé sur le terrain (2 500 m³). Enfin, une hauteur de barrage supérieure de 1 m à celle mesurée sur le terrain (3,15 m au lieu de 2,15 m) a également été testée.

Les résultats de notre modélisation indiquent que même avec un volume d’eau quadruplé, l’impact sur le niveau d’eau au pont reste très faible, ce qui confirme que les dommages causés au gîte ne peuvent être attribués à la rupture du barrage de castor. Les simulations soulignent en outre que c’est la hauteur du barrage, plutôt que son volume de rétention, qui contrôle la propagation des ondes de crue en aval.

En réalité, d’autres phénomènes naturels en lien avec les crues torrentielles survenues, comme les glissements de terrain, le transport de sédiments et de bois découlant de l’érosion du lit et des berges (observés le long de la rivière Port-au-Persil en 2011) sont probablement responsables des dommages observés lors des grandes inondations de 2005 et 2011.

De plus, l’étroitesse du pont du chemin de Port-au-Persil pourrait avoir contribué aux dommages causés par les inondations. Ce pont a été reconstruit en 2023.

L’importance des évaluations rigoureuses

Nos conclusions remettent en question la perception négative des barrages de castors et soulignent l’importance d’évaluations scientifiques rigoureuses dans les affaires de responsabilité civile liées aux inondations.

Les implications juridiques de l’article 105 de la Loi sur les compétences municipales du Québec, ainsi que la jurisprudence liée aux évènements de Port-au-Persil qui tient les MRC responsables des dommages causés par les inondations dues à des « obstructions » dans les rivières, créent un risque de démolition généralisée des barrages de castors.

Il faudrait plutôt préconiser des pratiques de gestion fondées sur des preuves et la sensibilisation du public afin de reconnaître les avantages écologiques des castors tout en répondant aux préoccupations liées aux risques d’inondation qu’ils représentent.

Pascale Biron a reçu des financements du Conseil de recherche en sciences naturelles et en génie (CRSNG)

Maxime Boivin est cotitulaire de la chaire de recherche sur les espèces aquatiques exploitées (CREAE) et membre au Centre de recherche sur la Boréalie (CREB). Il a reçu des financements du Conseil de recherche en sciences naturelles et en génie (CRSNG).

Thomas Buffin-Bélanger a reçu des financements du Conseil de recherche en sciences naturelles et en génie (CRSNG)

– ref. Les barrages de castors aggravent-ils vraiment les inondations ? – https://theconversation.com/les-barrages-de-castors-aggravent-ils-vraiment-les-inondations-276141

February 24, 2026

Avalanches meurtrières : pourquoi les skieurs sous-estiment les risques, malgré les avertissements

Source: The Conversation – in French – By Frédéric Dimanche, Professor and former Director (2015-2025), Ted Rogers School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Toronto Metropolitan University

« La montagne n’est ni juste, ni injuste. Elle est dangereuse », disait le grand alpiniste italien, Reinhold Messner. Cette année encore, la montagne lui donne raison. Les conditions climatiques ont favorisé des avalanches meurtrières, notamment à Lake Tahoe, en Californie, mais aussi dans les Alpes.

Selon les chiffres du Système national d’Observation de la Sécurité en Montagne (SNOSM), les décès par accident sur les domaines skiables en France s’élevaient entre 8 et 14 par an, selon les années.

Cette année, en février, nous avons déjà largement dépassé ces moyennes. Malgré les progrès réalisés pour prévenir les avalanches – dont la gestion est depuis 2018 inscrite par l’UNESCO au patrimoine culturel immatériel de l’humanité – elles continuent de faire des victimes.

La situation, particulièrement dramatique cette année, s’explique par la structure instable du manteau neigeux, mais aussi par une mauvaise compréhension des risques perçus par certains skieurs et surfeurs, qui, souvent, déclenchent eux-mêmes les avalanches.

La fascination du hors-piste : liberté, poudreuse et adrénaline

Chaque hiver, des skieurs se lancent hors des pistes balisées, parfois au péril de leur vie. Ces personnes ne sont pas toutes inconscientes ou débutantes dans cette pratique : certaines sont expérimentées, bien équipées de matériel de survie (détecteur de victime d’avalanche ou DVA, pelle, et sonde), et connaissent les dangers. Pourtant, elles décident malgré tout de s’aventurer hors-piste.

Alors, pourquoi skier hors-piste malgré les dangers et les recommandations des professionnels ? Le ski hors-piste fascine, que ce soit en station ou en ski de randonnée bien au-delà des pistes. En effet, il représente le plaisir, la liberté, et l’aventure, dans des sites d’une grande beauté. La poudreuse, aussi appelée pow ou peuf, est dans les rêves de tous les amateurs de glisse : elle offre des sensations rares, exaltantes et recherchées. Elle procure un plaisir intense pour qui sait la maîtriser… et elle peut rendre accro.

Mais le risque est invariablement présent en montagne. On définit souvent le risque par deux critères : (1) la probabilité que quelque chose de néfaste se produise, et (2) la gravité des conséquences. On peut évaluer ces critères rationnellement, avec de l’information fournie par sa propre expérience, ou par les bulletins d’estimation du risque d’avalanche (BERA). Mais la compréhension des risques n’est pas simple.

Pourquoi prenons-nous des risques en montagne ?

Lorsqu’une couche de neige fraîche recouvre les pentes, elle agit comme les sirènes d’Homère, ensorcelant le skieur et l’attirant vers une zone dangereuse et parfois fatale. Mais pourquoi prendre des risques qui peuvent être funestes ? Les chercheurs en psychologie, en sociologie et en neurosciences ont tenté de répondre à cette question et plusieurs théories permettent de comprendre ce comportement.

L’envie de sensations fortes. La première explication vient de la psychologie de la personnalité. Certains ont un besoin plus fort que d’autres de vivre des expériences intenses. On appelle cela la recherche de sensations fortes (ou sensation seeking en anglais). Cette quête de sensations fortes mène à la prise de risque. On peut bien sûr associer à cela la recherche de plaisir dans l’activité.

L’illusion de la maîtrise. Les skieurs expérimentés développent souvent une illusion de maîtrise : ils connaissent le terrain, ils ont déjà skié en poudreuse, et ils ont confiance dans leur matériel, le trio indispensable de secours. Or, les avalanches sont des phénomènes complexes où même une faible erreur d’appréciation peut être fatale. Le danger est d’autant plus grand que la confiance est élevée. De plus, se munir d’un DVA, d’une pelle et d’une sonde (et éventuellement d’un sac à dos airbag) n’empêche pas l’avalanche de se produire. Elle surprend même les guides et moniteurs de ski.

L’influence des réseaux sociaux et de la culture du freeride. Le rôle des réseaux sociaux est devenu important dans la popularisation du hors-piste. Des vidéos montrant des descentes spectaculaires dans de la neige fraîche attirent de nombreux amateurs vers des zones non sécurisées et parfois dangereuses. D’après un article américain, les messages et vidéos incitent des personnes sans expérience à suivre des itinéraires dangereux, entraînant une augmentation des interventions de secours.

Les contenus générés par les utilisateurs peuvent créer une perception biaisée des risques : les vidéos et photos spectaculaires et les commentaires de skieurs suggèrent que l’aventure hors-piste est accessible à tous, sans insister suffisamment sur la nécessité d’une formation adéquate, d’un équipement adapté, et d’une connaissance avancée des conditions nivologiques locales.

Sous-estimation du danger et heuristiques cognitives (raccourcis mentaux). Les chercheurs qui étudient le comportement des victimes d’accidents d’avalanche soulignent des biais psychologiques dans la prise de décision. Par exemple, la familiarité avec une pente ou un accès facile peut amener un skieur à sous-estimer le danger d’un itinéraire simplement parce qu’il a déjà skié au même endroit sans incident ou parce qu’il y a déjà des traces de descente. Cette tendance à atténuer la perception du risque, même lorsque les conditions d’enneigement ou météorologiques changent, explique souvent pourquoi certains skieurs s’aventurent hors-piste sans évaluer correctement le danger.

Dynamiques sociales et culturelles. Les dynamiques de groupe jouent aussi un rôle clé. La pression des pairs et le désir de ne pas être perçu comme peureux jouent souvent dans la prise de risque. Ainsi, des décisions dangereuses peuvent être prises collectivement, mais sans réel débat. Aussi, montrer ses compétences à descendre une belle pente de neige engendre de la reconnaissance parmi ses pairs et incite à la prise de risque.

Cerveau et dopamine. Les neurosciences montrent que l’attrait du risque a aussi une explication biologique. Le cerveau est programmé pour rechercher la récompense, et quand on prend un risque sans conséquences néfastes, le cerveau libère de la dopamine, ce qui procure un intense plaisir, et peut expliquer l’exposition au danger. Ainsi, le freerider devient accro à cette émotion et recommence pour retrouver ce plaisir, en laissant au second plan une analyse rationnelle du risque et de ses répercussions.

Mieux comprendre pour mieux prévenir

Les skieurs ne sont pas tous inconscients. Leurs choix s’expliquent par un ensemble de facteurs psychologiques, sociaux, et biologiques. Mais leurs actions mènent parfois à des tragédies. Comprendre ces mécanismes ne sert pas à juger, mais à mieux prévenir.

Mieux informer sur les risques, adapter les campagnes de sensibilisation, exiger le port d’un équipement de sécurité et ouvrir le débat sur la gratuité des secours en montagne constituent des pistes possibles. Plutôt qu’interdire l’accès à cet espace de liberté qu’est la montagne, il s’agit sans doute de renforcer une culture du renoncement et de la responsabilité.

Frédéric Dimanche ne travaille pas, ne conseille pas, ne possède pas de parts, ne reçoit pas de fonds d’une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n’a déclaré aucune autre affiliation que son organisme de recherche.

– ref. Avalanches meurtrières : pourquoi les skieurs sous-estiment les risques, malgré les avertissements – https://theconversation.com/avalanches-meurtrieres-pourquoi-les-skieurs-sous-estiment-les-risques-malgre-les-avertissements-274785

February 24, 2026

Human activity is making the Arctic’s waters louder

Source: The Conversation – Canada – By Philippe Blondel, Senior Lecturer, Department of Physics, University of Bath

As Arctic sea ice melts, human activity is making the ocean louder, impacting marine wildlife that rely on sound. (Unsplash/Hubert Neufeld)

Climate change is having a profound impact on the Arctic. We know that the region is warming significantly faster than the global average, resulting in the melting of sea ice and disrupted habitats.

But climate change is also affecting the Arctic in ways few people may consider. It is making the Arctic Ocean a noisier place. For the region’s wildlife, this increasingly noisy environment is having profound impacts on their lives.

Anyone who lives in an urban environment knows how tiring it can be. Living next to busy roads is exhausting, with constant noise, day in, day out. The same is true in the Arctic Ocean, where melting sea ice is making way for increasing human activity. This is even more important in water, where animals use sounds to communicate, to navigate and to find prey, or avoid becoming prey.

Recent research on fish sounds explains how sound can be used for marine conservation. We should avoid introducing loud sounds in the oceans because it changes the soundscapes the animals have evolved to live in, and because it affects them directly. And just like air pollution, sound pollution knows no borders.

Ocean observatories can record these sounds and tell us how loud they are, how long they last and how they affect their surroundings. This is important because the world is changing rapidly, especially in the Arctic, and human impacts are increasing.

Newly published research, conducted by colleagues and me, used 10 years of underwater observations from 2015 to 2024 to quantify the impacts of ships and other sources of loud sounds in Iqaluktuuttiaq (Cambridge Bay), Nvt., on the local environment and to examine the best ways to measure their effects on local soundscapes. We found some surprising facts, making us look (or rather, listen) to the Arctic in different ways.

Sound is essential underwater

Studies show that ambient sound levels in the Arctic seas are currently very low, and that marine life will therefore be more sensitive to any increase. Ships are the second loudest source of underwater sounds after seismic prospecting and pile-driving. As the Arctic opens up to human activities, ships are bound to be a big part of it.

But it is not only ships. We found that loud sounds include many other sources: snowmobiles, machinery, aircraft. These sounds vary with the season. In winter, when there is full ice cover and no ships, snowmobiles can affect sound below the ice.

In summer, when there is little to no ice cover, many of the loud sounds come from smaller vessels that are not legally required to carry GPS transponders. They are not picked up by satellites, but they are sizeable contributors to sounds underwater. Other sounds come from machinery, and even from aircraft flying nearby. Like shipping, these sounds should also be part of monitoring and regulating underwater noise in the region.

Because many smaller ships do not use satellite transponders, modelling sound impacts from satellite tracking is an insufficient way to gauge how much noise human activity is generating. That means assessments of underwater noise must be based on actual measurements in the field.

Long-term measurements

Deploying instruments at sea, especially in the Arctic, is challenging and expensive, and therefore generally possible only for short periods. Ocean Networks Canada has been measuring sound in the oceans around Canada for 20 years.

They have installed ocean observatories around the country, in particular in Iqaluktuuttiaq. In partnership with local communities, they aim to provide the scientific measurements necessary for evidence-based actions and initiatives.

Their Ocean Data Portal is a dream come true for scientists: 64,000 sound measurements per second, for years on end, complemented in season with local ice profiling. We also used local weather data from Nav Canada, satellite charts of regional ice cover from the Canadian Ice Service and ship tracks from the Arctic Ship Traffic Database operated by the Arctic Council.

As there is so much data, and because we wanted to contrast two very different seasons, we focused our studies on the months of May, when there is full ice cover and no shipping, and August, when there is little to no ice and more shipping activity.

a ship docked at a port — Arrival of a cruise ship in an Arctic harbour. Ships are major contributors to underwater noise in the region.
(Philippe Blondel)

We did this for 10 years in a row and analyzed the sounds loud enough (more than 10 decibels louder than the weekly background) for long enough (over one minute), identifying where they came from and what frequencies they extended into. There were many surprising sounds.

For example, we could hear footsteps on the ice and snow, the unsuccessful revving up of an engine, followed by something that sounded like kicking, and walking back on snow and ice. These sounds were not loud enough to be an issue. More often, we could hear noise from machines, either on boats or on shore. This sometimes lasted for a long time.

What surprised us was hearing aircraft every now and then. The sounds of the propellers, presumably passing close to our hydrophone. There were many other sounds, including those of marine wildlife, but we focused on sounds loud enough to possibly impact these animals because they were too loud or lasted long enough to be a nuisance.

Our research shows that impactful sounds in this part of the Arctic vary between summer and winter. In summer, where the water is mostly open, this noise can extend to higher frequencies over one kilohertz. Conversely, in winter, when there is no shipping and ice cover isolates the waters below from a lot of sounds, these loud sounds show a span of frequencies lower than one kilohertz. These variations with ice cover and in the frequencies to monitor should be included in the future Arctic baselines.

Improving data collection

Regulations often focus on frequency bands associated with large ships in deep waters (third-octave bands centred on 63 hertz and 125 hertz, to be precise). The European Marine Strategy Framework Directive is often cited as a model, used in Canada and elsewhere. Using the right frequencies is important when considering baselines.

Canada and other Arctic countries are ideally placed to collect the evidence that can define an Arctic marine strategy framework directive. This becomes more urgent as the climate changes, the Arctic opens to human activities and pressures on Arctic resources grow.

Together, we can make a more sustainable ocean. There is much to do, and I am looking forward to working more with Canadian scientists and Arctic communities.

Philippe Blondel receives funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the UKRI Horizon Europe Guarantee. Access to the Arctic Ship Traffic Database used in the underlying study was funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, as part of the United Kingdom- Arctic Council Working Groups – Research and Engagement Scheme 2024/25, working with the Arctic Council Working Groups, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the NERC Arctic Office. Philippe is sometimes consulted by Ocean Networks Canada on technical matters related to passive acoustic monitoring.

– ref. Human activity is making the Arctic’s waters louder – https://theconversation.com/human-activity-is-making-the-arctics-waters-louder-275197

February 24, 2026

Mocking people for their class is discrimination – so why don’t we treat it as such?

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Toni Beardmore, Lecturer in Human Geography, Aberystwyth University

One in four professionals have been mocked or singled out in the workplace due to their accent. Shutterstock/Roman Samborskyi

Many people can recall moments when they have been mocked, judged or subtly excluded because of where they are from, how they speak or because they seem out of place in certain settings. These moments rarely look like overt discrimination. Instead, they might take the form of jokes, assumptions or signals that someone doesn’t belong.

Class-based discrimination might be dismissed as harmless banter or attributed to personality clashes, but research on social interactions shows that what is labelled banter can quickly cross into harmful or exclusionary behaviour.

One reason for this is that class discrimination frequently operates through culture – in the everyday norms and expectations that shape how people are perceived and included – rather than through explicit rules, such as those that define unacceptable conduct. It is therefore rarely recognised as discrimination in the same way as sexism or racism. This makes it both harder to challenge and easier to overlook, even though it remains widespread.

Research on accent bias particularly illustrates this. A 2022 report by the Sutton Trust found that one in four professionals have been mocked or singled out in the workplace due to their accent. Among senior managers from working-class backgrounds, almost 30% had experienced this treatment in the workplace. Similarly, almost a third of university students reported the same in education settings. In social settings, these figures rise to almost half in both professional and student groups.

These findings matter because they show that class-based stigma doesn’t disappear with professional or educational success. Regardless of economic or social mobility, class-based cultural markers such as accent continue to shape how people are perceived and treated.

Research shows that class inequality is not just about material assets and occupation, it’s embedded in more subtle ways. It shapes our confidence our self-worth and our sense of our place in society. This is sometimes referred to as the hidden injuries of class. These injuries arise not from cultural differences themselves, but from the stigma and exclusions attached to them. This covert dimension of class helps explain why class discrimination is often felt, but less often addressed as such.

Discrimination that defies definition

Part of the challenge is that social class is hard to define. Unlike income and occupation, it is not a single measurable attribute. Class is fluid and contextual, shifting across spaces and relationships. Someone might feel working class in a professional space but middle class at home, and vice versa. A person might occupy spaces associated with a higher class, but hold cultural markers associated with groups historically excluded from them.

This fluidity means that class is noticed but not easily stated and measured. It’s signalled through accent, vocabulary, tastes, humour, norms and values and it shapes how people are judged, without those judgements being widely recognised as discriminatory.

Due to class being signalled through cultural markers, subtle judgements about people’s background are often tolerated. Class-based mockery also remains unusually acceptable. While explicit comments about race, disability or religion are widely recognised as harmful, remarks about someone sounding “common”, “too posh” or “out of place” often pass without challenge. This normalisation helps sustain class discrimination by framing exclusion as a personality difference.

Why it matters

The consequences of class discrimination are far from trivial. When people are made to feel out of place at work or in education, it shapes whose voices are taken seriously, who is encouraged to network, who is seen as promotion-ready and who is treated as if they belong. Over time, these patterns produce inequalities in progression, leadership and representation. Because these processes rarely break policy, they remain difficult to challenge through existing frameworks.

This is part of a broader challenge: legal and institutional systems tend to work best when disadvantage is visible, stable and clearly measurable. Class resists these criteria. It shifts across contexts, operates through culture as much as economics, and is often felt before it can be named. The hidden injuries of class, therefore, fall through the cracks between personal experience and institutional accountability.

One reason for this is that, unlike race, gender and disability, social class is not a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. This means there’s no formal duty to monitor class-based disadvantage or discrimination.

This gap has prompted growing calls from professional bodies and advocacy groups to take socioeconomic background more seriously in equality policy. But translating lived experiences of class into fixed legal categories remains difficult, given how fluid class identities are.

Whether or not class becomes formally recognised in law, the underlying issue remains. Many people continue to experience exclusion, stigma and disadvantage linked to background rather than ability or achievement, often in ways that remain invisible to institutions.

Understanding class discrimination therefore requires moving beyond income statistics or occupational categories alone. It means paying attention to how class is lived: how people are read, judged and positioned in everyday interactions. It also means recognising that some of the most enduring inequalities operate not through formal barriers, but through judgements about who belongs and who does not.

Naming these processes does not solve them, but it does make them harder to dismiss. Recognising how class shapes everyday experiences of belonging is a necessary step toward understanding inequalities that persist even when formal barriers have fallen.

Toni Beardmore does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. Mocking people for their class is discrimination – so why don’t we treat it as such? – https://theconversation.com/mocking-people-for-their-class-is-discrimination-so-why-dont-we-treat-it-as-such-275649

February 24, 2026

The Supreme Court’s ruling leaves Trumponomics facing major challenges

Source: The Conversation – UK – By Steve Schifferes, Honorary Research Fellow, City Political Economy Research Centre, City St George’s, University of London

The decision by the US Supreme Court to rule most of Donald Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs illegal will have far-ranging consequences for the president’s economic agenda. Although the administration will find other ways to increase tariffs, their usefulness as a weapon of economic warfare will be diminished. And the issue – among the most unpopular of the president’s economic policies – will cause him serious political damage.

Trump’s first move following the ruling has been to impose a 15% tariff on all imports. Imposed under a little-used law, the tariff rate is fixed and time-limited to 150 days before needing congressional approval. It would take only a few Republicans to block its extension. And the midterm elections are looming.

Using a flat-rate tariff means that some countries that settled earlier and got a better deal – including the UK – are now worse off, while others that had a higher tariff rate imposed on them have, at least for now, benefited. It also could mean that those that pledged to invest hundreds of billions in the US economy – including Japan and the EU – may now question whether their commitment still stands.

Trump’s ability to threaten instant retaliation to any country that crosses him will also be constrained by the other two legal routes he can use to raise tariffs. Both provisions would require time-consuming, detailed investigations into specific industries or countries, and rates once fixed cannot as easily be changed.

The domestic political fallout from the Supreme Court decision is also substantial. Two thirds of the US public disapprove of Trump’s tariff policy, with large sections believing that his tariffs are inflationary.

Democrats are already calling for the money raised to be returned to consumers. And businesses, including small firms hit hard by the tariffs, are suing the government. If the US government can no longer rely on the income from tariffs – which rocketed to US$287 billion (£211 billion) this year – it would put further pressure on the fast-growing federal budget deficit. This is already US$2 trillion and projected to rise to US$3 trillion by the 2030s, as a result of Trump’s large tax cuts.

Nor have Trump’s tariffs achieved their objectives. The trade deficit was slightly larger in 2025 than the year before, with US$1 trillion more goods being imported than exported. Tariffs have not boosted jobs: manufacturing employment fell by 80,000 and unemployment is up to 4.3% compared to 4% in January 2025.

The bigger problem for the president is the overall performance of the economy. The Republicans have only a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, and most observers are predicting that the Democrats will gain control in November. Trump’s ratings on his performance on the economy have been slipping, with 55% now disapproving. And 65% disapprove of his handling of inflation.

He now faces an uphill struggle in the State of the Union address to convince the public that the economy is back on track under his leadership.

Weak growth and high inflation

There is still debate over how much the tariffs have contributed to inflation, but the US economy is only growing at 2.2% a year, its slowest rate since 2020.

Inflation is the main concern of US voters, with figures putting the rate at 2.9% – well above the Federal Reserve target of 2%. Estimates by economists suggest that companies are increasingly passing on the cost of tariffs to consumers, which may well be driving inflation. Recent job figures may have provided some more positive news, but voter worries about high prices may be hard to shift.

a white male shopper looks at a box of eggs in the supermarket. — Inflation is the number one issue worrying US voters.
WKanadpon/Shutterstock

Trump’s next battle is for control of the US Federal Reserve. This independent agency sets short-term interest rates and manages the US currency – Trump wants it to sharply cut interest rates to boost the economy. But Fed chair Jerome Powell is reluctant to cut rates too quickly when inflation is not yet contained.

Powell’s term is due to end in May, and the president has nominated a new chair, Kevin Walsh, who backs his policy of more interest rate cuts. But he will need to convince a majority of the other 11 members of the Fed’s Open Market Committee to go along with these.

Trump, as well as being openly critical of Powell, also fired (in an unprecedented act) Fed governor Lisa Cook, a supporter of Powell who was appointed by President Joe Biden. This decision is being challenged in the Supreme Court, and in a preliminary hearing several judges appeared to be sceptical of its legality – including Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative who voted in favour of Trump in the tariff case.

Financial markets could wobble if Trump succeeds in taking political control of the Fed. Its independence is seen as vital for ensuring non-partisan and credible management of interest rates and inflation. But if Trump does force the Fed to cut rates further, this could add to the inflationary pressures and damage the Republicans’ path to retaining power in the midterms.

After one year back in power, Trump’s failure to deliver his promised transformation of the US economy (and especially to tackle inflation) is having serious political consequences that could damage his freedom of action. The Supreme Court’s ruling has thrown US tariff policy into turmoil and weakened the president’s ability to dictate to other countries on both economic and political issues.

If the Supreme Court also backs the independence of the Federal Reserve, Trump’s bid for complete control of US economic policy will face another major setback. But the most important limit on the president’s powers would be a defeat for the Republicans in the midterm congressional elections in the House of Representatives, leading to a divided Congress that will no longer rubber-stamp Trump’s policies.

Steve Schifferes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

– ref. The Supreme Court’s ruling leaves Trumponomics facing major challenges – https://theconversation.com/the-supreme-courts-ruling-leaves-trumponomics-facing-major-challenges-276792