Homophobia
Posted by Buddy on 22 Feb 2006 at 07:47 pm | Tagged as: General
Just a random rant. I’m sick of the word “homophobe” and its derrivatives. The suffix “-phobe” implies fear. Irrational fear, actually. But bigotry isn’t fear. I think they need to find a new word.
Do you call a racist an afrophobe? Or a hebrewphobe? Do you call a sexist a vaginaphobe? I think not. Just because someone’s prejudiced doesn’t mean they’re afraid.
Why do I mention this? this is why. I’ve never personally been called a homophobe, sexist, or racist (actually, one person called me a racist, but prolonged discussion revealed him to be the true racist). Anyway… carry on.
I’ve gotten a few hits from your site within the past month, so I figured I’d comment.
In my own personal experiences, when someone is prejudiced, it is because they either don’t understand or don’t want to understand whatever the subject at hand is [whether it be gay, black, jewish etc]. The unknown does create a fear. Not necessarily the type of fear like one has of snakes or spiders or something like that, but a fear, nonetheless, that fosters intolerance.
I think, depending upon the type of actions we’re speaking about, we can label something as either homophobia or bigotry. But it all depends, I suppose.
I understand, but I’d still prefer it if we’d just call it what it is: Bigotry. The word has more stigma attached than homophobe, so people would be more likely to respond with change. If someone calls a person a homophobe, they’ll just assume they’re part of some “gay agenda” or whatever it is I’ve heard it called, and they won’t take it personally. But almost nobody wants to be called a bigot.
Anyway, thanks for dropping by. My tiny little blog can use all the hits it can get. I enjoy your blog on a regular basis (and have the same behavior regarding jeans).