[ dictionary: glossary ]
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Warning: this is a loaded term.
Use of this term may cause miscommunication,
as it has different meanings based on who is saying it, and who is
hearing it. |
[
ho mo fo bee-ah
]
[ ]
[ - ] Literally: 'fear of sameness' (f.
the Greek words homo = 'the same', and -phobia (fobos)=
'fear of') ;
common usage is, instead, from an abbreviated form of "homosexaphobia"
(a portmanteu
of 'homosexuality' and 'phobia')
Homophobia is a neologism
coined to reflect a theory that violence towards homosexuals was rooted
in an irrational fear of homosexuality,
which in turn was a result of the "homophobic's" own homosexual
urges.
Specifically, the word ''homophobia'' was first coined by psychologist
George Weinberg in his book ''Society and the Healthy Homosexual'' in 1972.
A possible precursor was ''homoerotophobia'', coined by Dr [[Wainwright
Churchill]] in ''Homosexual Behavior Among Males'' in 1967. Rapidly
adopted and propogated by gay-normalization / gay-rights activists
and advocates
(groups and individuals), the term is now a commonly heard term in
the discourse on "gay rights".
Unlike [[agoraphobia]] and some other [[phobia]]s, homophobia is
not a psychiatric term. There is no such thing as ''clinical homophobia'',
as it relates to homosexuality.
The meaning of the term is ambiguous: it's meaning often overlaps
with other gay-normalization terms such as '''heterosexism''', '''straight
supremacism''' and '''gay-bashing'''.
The current definition of homophobia in a common dictionary [1] is:
1. Fear of or contempt for lesbians and gay men.
2. Behavior based on such a feeling.
The term has especially come to mean "any discrimination
against homosexuals" in almost all public discourse (despite
that fact that not all descrimination
against gays (or "GLBTs") is based on a phobia.)
The word is also sometimes used to mean 'any disapproval of
homosexuality,' up to and including any statement which implies that
heterosexual behavior
is better than / preferrable to homosexual behavior (see below).
It can also mean, more specifically, "any discrimination
against, or persecution of, gays, lesbians, transexuals, etc..
When used in this way, the "consequences of homophobia"
potentially include ''internalised homophobia'' or violence.
Despite its common usage, many people have a problem with the term.
Some feel that it is not logically formed.
Others feel that it is an emotive word that is deliberately used for
[[propoganda]] (advocacy) purposes. For example,
some gay-rights advocates at one point equated "homophobia"
with ''straight supremacism'', a term meant to compare
hetrosexual bias to [[white supremacy | white supremacism]].
Proposals for resolving the issues with the term have included:
- Reserving the word "homophobia" for its
less controversial usage as an "irrational hatred or fear of
homosexuality",
and referring to general opposition to or dislike of homosexuality,
or to persecution of, or violence towards, homosexuals using some
other
words or phrases.
- The use of a more morphologically correct term, such as sexualism:
Most people who discuss the idea of prejudice against homosexual
people use the term "homophobia"
as a parallel to racism (bias or preference
of one race to another, and resulting discrimination) or sexism
(bias or preference of one sex to another, and resulting discrimination).
Sexualism
(bias or preference of one form of sexuality to another, and resulting
discrimination) has therefore been proposed as an alternative which
is more morphologically parallel, and which does not have the association
with phobia. "Heterosexism" has also been proposed, but
is morphlogically unsound, as it would mean "bias or preference
of one form of homosexualism to another." (The term "homosexualism"
is a rarely-used synonym of homosexuality.) Queer Theory uses the
terms hetero-centric or heteronormativity to refer to a similar
(but not equivalent) concept; a societal presupposition that heterosexuality
is normal.
However, some people believe that these alternatives are not more
acceptable than the loaded-term "homophobia", as the debate
over the acceptance of homosexual behavior is not conceptually equivalent
to the historical debates over race or gender prejudice. The terms
themselves are part of the debate, as the assumption (by association)
of a term like 'sexualism' is that social equality for homosexuals
is desireable and needed (in the same way that sexism and racism
are used with the assumption that gender and race equality is desireable
and needed). (Regardless of your own views on the subject, there
is a sizable portion of the U.S. population that do not believe
homosexuality should be normal, accepted, and viewed as equally
desireable to society as heterosexuality.)
There is a charge that "homophobia" is one of a set
of emotionally-charged or carefully chosen words (or phrases) that
were created by Gay activists as part of the overall goal of normalizing
and/or legitimizing homosexuality. Essentially, this argument claims
that gay community gains the upper hand in the debate because they
get to create the terms used in the debate. These words include:
homophobia (ad hominem)
Gender theory, gender studies (often a euphemism
for Queer theory)
Heteronormativity (queer theory term)
Heterosexism (queer theory term)
Homosocial
Heterophobic ("Veteran gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell described
the plans as "heterophobic" and "retrograde".")
etc.
[ - ] Commentary
/ past versions from the Wikipedia article on the term (all comments
have since been edited out of the article):
- The theory or charge of widespread
"homophobia" is based on implications such as:
'anyone arguing against homosexuality as "equivilant in status
and value
to hetrosexuality" (in other words, anyone exhibiting bias in
sexual preference)
must be suffering from a form of mental illness.'
- It has been observed that the terms
''homophobia'' and ''homophobic''
have been used to blur the difference between those who actively fear
and loathe homosexuals
and those who merely disapprove of homosexuality. The assumption is
that this blurring is deliberate,
perhaps done in order to shame the latter into abandoning their disapproval.
It is believed by some
that use of the term is an ad homin attack (ad homin means, essentially,
'Discredit the person to discredit their argument').
- Some defenders of the term have stated
(in many forums) that they believe the term is not illogical or misused,
as they believe any opposition to homosexuality is "irrational"
and must be rooted in fear (though, technically speaking,
meeting these two criteria does not alone define a phobia.")
- Homosexuals or "Gay rights"
activists rarely attempt to defend their thesis that everyone who
finds homosexual behavior
distasteful or morally wrong is being irrational, preferring instead
to label the other parties 'homophobic'." Alternatively,
the claim is made that "[intellectual arguments against homosexuality]
have, as a rule, been added afterwards [by homophobes] to try to
give the homophobia a nicer and more respectable framing."
[1]
Etymology
The word homophobia is a neologism first coined by psychologist George
Weinberg in his book Society and the Healthy Homosexual in 1972. It
can be broken down into the Greek words homo meaning "the same"
and phobia which means "fear". It may be seen as a portmanteau
of homosexual and phobia. A precursor was homoerotophobia, coined
by Dr Wainwright Churchill in Homosexual Behavior Among Males in 1967.
Usage of the term
The term homophobia usually implies irrational hatred and fear of
homosexuals or homosexuality itself. Some people, especially in
the gay rights movement, use the term to mean any sort of disapproval
of homosexuality, whether subtle or explicit, unconscious or conscious,
completely unreasoning or in some way principled. These advocates
make no distinction between the two usages and consider all opposition
to homosexuality irrational.
-
Some researchers believe that a more accurate term for negative
attitudes toward homosexuals would be "homosexual-prejudice",
(or "homo-prejudice"), since the connotations for this
prejudice is similar to that regarding race and gender.
+ [http://archives.thedaily.washington.edu/1995/102795/hp.html]
- {{ to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Homophobia&diff=next&oldid=1188992 }}
See
also:
John Boswell; Judith Butler ; Patrick Califia; Coming to Power; Gerhard
Anna Concic-Kaucic ; Samuel R. Delany ; Queer literary interpretation
; Queer studies ; Queer theory ; Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick ; John Addington
Symonds
[1] The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth
Edition
Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
[2] The Emotional
Origin of Homophobia, Niclas Berggren (a gay author for "The
Independant Gay Forum")
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