In the wake of Don Imus' "nappy-haired ho's" faux pas, Russell Simmons, co-founder of hip-hop label Def Jam and creator of Phat Farm fashions, has suggested that 'clean' versions of recordings exclude three words currently deemed acceptable – 'ho'', 'nigger' and 'bitch'. His proposal follows a summit meeting of music industry heads last week in New York.

The FCC's regulations for acceptable broadcast language doesn't include a checklist of forbidden words, but in the aftermath of the Janet Jackson areola incident, radio and television stations have been more mindful of criticism. However, the FCC regulations (caution: link contains strong language) consider sexual and scatological references, not cultural and racial slurs.

What Simmons is proposing is a voluntary self-regulation of cultural/racial slurs commonly used by black musicians in reference to those of their own race. Supporters of the initiative point to the degrading impact of such references on both those described and the much-wider audience for hip-hop. Simmons should also expect a backlash from artists who see this as a restriction of their artistic freedom.

I suspect that in the hip-hop world these words have been used so long and often that their stigma has been blurred. However, it's obvious that outside that community, they still can be very hurtful. And when fools like Don Imus start casually adopting these terms, perhaps it is time that artists consider the damage such words can cause to the image of black women.