ABSTRACT
When considering the relationship between verbal and physical harm, people often adhere to two positions. Some people deny any connection between symbols and bodily injury, a stance that completely severs links between what is said and done. Others collapse a distinction between physical and verbal harm so that a mere word induces injury of its own accord. This chapter shows that both ideas are inconsistent with communication theory and inadequate for understanding gendered and raced violence. Communication research demonstrates that words have extensive impact on human relationships, well-being, and behavior, and these findings contest the first idea that words do no harm. Communication scholarship also shows that the second idea (i.e., words magically transform the world) fails to account for history, social structure, and materiality. By drawing upon critical race, postcolonial, trauma, and organizational theories, the chapter provides an overview of nuanced approaches between these two extremes. It draws these theories together with concrete examples from empirical research on verbal abuse, gaslighting, intimate partner violence, and humans' physiological responses to speech..
