@charlotteclymer Linguist Dr. Valerie Fridland wrote an amazing book ("Like, Literally Dude") about this. I read it at @grammargirl 's recommendation.
Self-appointed "language purists" have been using their own arbitrary standards of language to demonize and dismiss the language of historically vulnerable groups (women, children, people of color) for centuries. It has nothing to do with caring about language and everything to do with preserving a societal hierarchy.