The phrase "lived experience"

[ifitpleasesandsparkles]

Where has this come from? Why don't people just say "my experience". You have to be alive to have experiences. It's tautologous and sounds pretentious. Your life is your life and it's full of experiences. How can you have an unlived experience?

It's a pretty old term that has an obvious application. Dunno why it annoys you so much!

It’s quite a useful description in certain sectors but I agree it’s annoying outside of those contexts and is becoming a thing. The examples given by pp make good sense but people also use it when they don’t really need to because they have a feeling it’s the latest thing to say.

I think you needand a cup of tea, love. Upset? Over that

The phrase ‘lived experience’ serves to distinguish between those who have actual first-hand experience of something from those who have only read about that thing in books.

Obvious examples include privileged, privately educated Guardian journalists writing hand-wringing articles about the working class or middle-class academics who have never met a prostitute writing books about sex work.

It works for me as l work in mental health but l can see why it might irritate others

It’s probably the equivalent of saying “childcare issues” to me, from my experience means you don’t want to do something at work and you’re trying to get someone else to do it. Yep you might not like weekend shifts but then why did you sign up for a 24/7 job?

I've only ever heard it within voluntary organisations so far. It doesn't matter how long one's worked helping people with specific difficulties or in dire situations, if you've not actually lived that life, you can't ever quite understand what it's like. So most NGOs try to have those people represented on their staff or their boards of trustees. Because they need those voices to help guide their work.

I can't think of any other wording that would work without being a long and unwieldy sentence. They've lived the experience. Not watched it or heard it, or shared it for a few hours a week. They've lived it.

And tautologeous doesnt sound in the least pretentious ? ? 😄😁🤣😂😂🤣

@ifitpleasesandsparkles

What about personal experience or first hand experience?

Lived experience makes me want to gag.

There is a difference though. For example, I could talk about my experience of poverty.

My personal experience of poverty might be watching a docudrama about deprived areas in the world. Or my first hand experience might be volunteering at a homeless shelter. Neither of these are the same as lived experience.

So I do think the phrase makes a difference.

@Ingridla

I think you needand a cup of tea, love. Upset? Over that

Maybe you're right. I'm crying as I write this. But I've never had the lived experience of a cup of tea so maybe you can live that experience for me.

@ifitpleasesandsparkles

What about personal experience or first hand experience?

Lived experience makes me want to gag.

Because neither of those necessarily mean that you have experienced those things yourself.

Lived experience means you have.

@HeyGirlHeyBoy

I prefer it to 'speak your truth' or 'stand in your truth'. I feel mortified if anyone uses those phrases!

Jesus Christ. Stand in your truth? That's a new one for me!

@StrawberrySquash

It makes sense to me if talking about personal vs professional experience. e. g. lived experience of being an alcoholic vs someone who has worked with people with alcohol problems.

But I think it is often used to shut down debate. I have lived experience of being a woman and might refer to that when discussing sexism with a man. But if I say 'You can't say x, you're denying my lived experience' then I'm not really acknowledging that I am but a single data point, and I'm not actually addressing the points he has made. Although we shouldn't deny that that my lived experience as a woman will give me a certain perspective.

Yes, this is the kind of thing that's most gag-inducing. Using your "lived experience" to try to shut up other people. You can't possibly talk about trans issues as it's not your lived experience. I despise this line of thinking.

"Lived experience" is up there with "own voice author"

It’s very post-modern. An effort to make feelings about a topic as valid as observable fact; an alternative source of knowledge, if you like.

It can have quite sinister implications, in a way, as it privileges the politics of identity over observable truth and the scientific method.

@littlepattilou

YANBU.

This annoys me as much as 'this is my truth......'

(When all they mean is this is how I see it...)

Youre annoyed they used 4 words instead of 6?

@BitOfFun

It’s very post-modern. An effort to make feelings about a topic as valid as observable fact; an alternative source of knowledge, if you like.

It can have quite sinister implications, in a way, as it privileges the politics of identity over observable truth and the scientific method.

Bingo!

Thank you for putting that so beautifully. There is a move recently to put personal experience at the forefront of everything and separate everyone out into their categories of identity.

I have only ever heard "lived experience" from people who are completely twisted up in identity politics.

I shouldn’t think so- the objection is more likely to be about how pretentious it is as a phrase.

The type of people who use this phrase come across as very "me me me."

I used it for the first time yesterday! I was trying to establish if a pontifical poster, who was berating an OP who was asking for advice, had any experience of parenting a teen with SN. I knew she didn't and was trying to get across that unless you have lived in that situation you can't lecture someone who does.

For me, it's a form of internet shorthand - just as in RL I wouldn't say DH, DD, playdate or parenting but I do on MN.

tautologous

Would over exaggerate and global pandemic be examples?

@notthemum

And tautologeous doesnt sound in the least pretentious ? ? 😄😁🤣😂😂🤣

No, it's a completely normal, widely used word.

I have only ever seen it used as others have said, usually by mental health professionals ( because that’s my area) to signal that they either a mental health difficulty themselves or are a carer/family member. For example, I have lived experience of psychosis. I haven’t seen it in the way you find irritating OP.

It is annoying, yes. Of course a frequent visitor has “experience” of the prison system, just not the same experience as that of an inmate. People just need to be specific. If an organisation needs to speak to someone who has been incarcerated, that’s all they need to say.

What irritates me is when people insist their “lived experience” (in other words their wholly subjective experience) automatically trumps any research or other position on the subject, or just makes them right about whatever they have to say. It doesn’t.

I used it in my line of work and it's the best description to use. We shouldn't stop using it because it has been hijacked by certain groups to score points.

" If an organisation needs to speak to someone who has been incarcerated, that’s all they need to say."

It tends to be a bit more complex than just wanting someone who has experience of X. There could be a list. So an easy way of setting out what is needed is to say 'we would particularly like volunteers (etc) to have lived experience of xyz. It's good when putting together advocacy groups and the like. People interpretate' first hand experience' way too loosely.

Like others I work a bit in charity/grant writing and you often see this on applications - “encourage applications from people with lived experience of sexual abuse/fuel poverty/whatever issue”. I can’t get worked up about it, it’s as opposed to professional experience imo.