@ChooChooDennis...
I understand your point. You are free to apply whatever demeaning and insulting terms to yourself that you want to and that will "lessen" the impact of the words. Except it only works when you're a member of "the group" and use it on yourself or another member. To follow your logic, it should be "OK" to use the "n-word" freely by now because people have been calling themselves that for decades. Clearly, that isn't the case. I'd say people are more sensitive to it than ever.
Making a joke out of insulting or demeaning behavior just encourages it.
