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Pastimes : THE SLIGHTLY MODERATED BOXING RING
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To: Solon who wrote (11434)5/1/2002 12:41:40 PM
From: TimF  Read Replies (2) of 21057
 
"Again homophobe and homophobia. They are sometimes used outside of their dictionary definition of "Fear of or contempt for lesbians and gay men.""

When and where? The definition which was posted and referred to often was: >b>"irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals"

JC pointed out a few examples. I don't think I can remember them all but one was a quote from some publication that called anyone who disagreed with the idea of homosexual marriage a homophobe. People who express the idea that homosexual activity is a sin (not that it should be illegal, just that it is in their opinion morally wrong) are often called homophobes.

DUH? Of course it was deliberate. The medical profession coined the word to refer to people who felt and expressed a strong aversion toward homosexualsIt was and is believed by mental health professionals that homophobia is created by an irrational fear of ones sexuality, even when the overt behaviour is one of hostility or discrimination. Fear is the root, but the fear often results in brutal and unprovoked aggressiveness.

Exactly. The word is intentionally coined to imply that fear is always the root. People may hate for other reasons besides fear, they may discriminate against without really hating, and they may take actions that are portrayed as being unfairly discriminatory without necessarily being unjust or unfair, but people in any of these categories are lumped together. It could be because of laziness, but I think it is so that all people in any of these categories can be tarred with being the same or almost the same as the worst of those in any of these groups. The phobia part adds to this attack as it implies irrationality and a motivation mostly from fear, when there may or may not be any fear and the person attacked as a homophobe may or may not be irrational.

What is this paranoia about?

I think that talking about how the word is imprecise and used to attack people does not amount to evidence for paranoia.

It is applied as it is meant to apply--see above. It describes those who have an irrational fear of homosexuality which may also express itself as aversion or discrimination. Those who do not have these problems are not homophobic, and nobody is claiming that they are.

If that was the only way it is applied I would not have any problem with it. Limit it to an irrational fear of homosexuality and I think it would be a very good and well used word.

But it is not the only way it is applied. Even the dictionary definition that someone posted (not sure if it was you) didn't limit it to that. It included aversion or discrimination whether or not it was an expression of fear. And the word is used in cases that aren't covered by that dictionary definition as JC pointed out and I mentioned earlier in this post.

Tim
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