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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (73768)	9/2/2003 12:45:40 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 82486

It is pretty worthless as a word....... It took me a while to appreciate the "medicalization" sensitivity. I had just never thought of it as a medical term, although it clearly has that form. Now that I know, I will be more careful. Did you notice that article I posted about the AMA treating bullying as a public health issue? I wonder if they're going to "medicalize" that, too. With regard to homophobia as it's commonly used, I would imagine that some portion of those who get all exercised about homosexuals fit the latency/nutty mold and the term is appropriate. For others, not. The problem with the term would seem to be that it too broadly applied but that is hard to avoid. The difficulty is that there isn't a alternate word for the broader aversion to homosexuality and opposition to destigmatization, say on religious or cultural grounds. So, in the absence of an alternative, the word with the medical implications is used, which it's associated sting. I think it's best to avoid "deviant" in this context. There are legitimate alternatives to inflicting that particular sting.

To: Neocon who wrote (73768)	9/2/2003 10:39:03 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

People who, for example, bring up pedophilia whenever homosexuals are mentioned (and such people abound) are examples of people who are at least a bit antsy and over the top about homosexuality. Such oddly disproportionate fear, in the face of the huge number of heterosexual offenders, certainly can be used to justify use of the term homophone in many instances. It is a very valuable word. The people who don't like it, skirt close to the edge of it. Racist, too, is a very good word- and the people who don't like it, often are racists.