Homophobia Doesn't Exist

Before I get started I want to set the record straight (see what I did there?) and say a) Being Gay should NOT affect your rights as an American Citizen and b) I have no problem with people that love each other whatever their orientation...God knows the world needs more love.

Okay now to my rant. The word 'Homophobia' as it is used is a misnomer. A phobia is by definition a fear of something and I honestly don't think anyone is afraid of roving bands of homosexual gangs plundering the countryside or chasing them around town trying to plant a big wet gay kiss on their cheeks. Homophobia is a word used more as a pejorative than as a accurate description of those that oppose homosexuality and frankly it irks me much like the use of a double negative or any other common misuse of the English language (disclaimer: I am not perfect, but there are certain standards of English that even I expect from my fellow humans and native speakers).

Bottom line is this: Yes, people oppose homosexuality for a variety of reasons, religious, institutional and for being just plain gross. However, calling these people afraid of homosexuals is as ignorant a view as those that hold anti-gay views. Maybe we can use something like homo-averse or homo-not-good in place of homophobic.

Anyway, some of this is tongue-in cheek, but the sentiment is real. *Phew* I feel better now.

/rantoff

reply to post by Metallicus

Bottom line is this: Yes, people oppose homosexuality for a variety of reasons, religious, institutional and for being just plain gross. However, calling these people afraid of homosexuals is as ignorant a view as those that hold anti-gay views. Maybe we can use something like homo-averse or homo-not-good in place of homophobic.

I think it's all bred out of fear and insecurity in ones own life though. If you feel homosexuality will ruin your life, because you believe XYZ, you have a fear of homosexuality.

Now, there are plenty of legitimate claims against the LBGT community, like when they do things in public simply to make a statement, or push for over reaching "rights" that encroach on others. There are plenty of objections that would be the exact same if a heterosexual group attempted the same thing.

The bottom line though, is that someone else's life shouldn't affect your own. And if you think it does, why you so 'fraid?

Homophobia is a psychology term that came about in the 1960s. It not only applies to heterosexuals who have an IRRATIONAL fear of homosexuals, but it also applies to homosexuals who hate their sexuality (or themselves ... depends on which psychologist you ask).

reply to post by FlyersFan


a lot of times the two types of people it applies to are one and the same kind of person.

i'm not saying homosexual emotions make you gay, but if you don't know what to do with them and act irrationally, it certainly won't fix their problem.

even so, i feel that fear is more than just an emotion, and is also a mental factor on how people make decisions and act civilized.

Nothing to do with fear....

Definition; (Oxford Dictionary)

homophobia
Line breaks: homo|pho¦bia
Pronunciation: /ˌhɒməˈfəʊbɪə   , ˌhəʊmə-/
NOUN
[MASS NOUN]
an extreme and irrational aversion to homosexuality and homosexual people.

www.oxforddictionaries.com...

aversion
Line breaks: aver|sion
Pronunciation: /əˈvəːʃ(ə)n   /
NOUN
1a strong dislike or disinclination:
they made plain their aversion to the use of

phobia
Line breaks: pho¦bia
Pronunciation: /ˈfəʊbɪə   /
NOUN
an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something:
she suffered from a phobia about birds

Operative word "or" aversion

reply to post by Metallicus

Another reasom why the name is a misnomer is that "homophobia" does not mean "fear of homosexuals".
"Phobia" is Greek for "fear" and "homo" is Greek for "the same", so "homophobia" means "fear of the same thing".
The word for "fear of homosexuals" ought to be "homosexophobia"- or perhaps, keeping it more consistently Greek, "homophiliophobia".

No! It IS HOMOPHOBIA! Mock men flowing with machismo of false nature, fear! They deny their own latent desire to kiss a big, hairy man and fear those effeminate few that have walked with a swish onto the wild side.

fear is one of those emotions that leads to a lot of other thoughts and emotions.
it's embedded instinctually and precedes just about everything else

I gave you a star an a flag because..........? WTF?

reply to post by HUMBLEONE


maybe you're trying to prove you're not a coward? but even that has right to being a coward

idk what your intentions were, i was just humoring you

Jarring
fear is one of those emotions that leads to a lot of other thoughts and emotions.
it's embedded instinctually and precedes just about everything else

. I like Lust. You know there's not enough lust in the world.....people shtupping all over the place. Lust is another emotion, let it replace fear. Fear is for pussy's.

reply to post by boncho


What extra rights have the LGBT community asked for that would give then more rights than heterosexuals?

Jarring
reply to post by HUMBLEONE

 

maybe you're trying to prove you're not a coward? but even that has right to being a coward

idk what your intentions were, i was just humoring you

. I need to prove not for sodony provides me no interest. I fear not and therefore craven shall never be. So you SWISH an be FABULOUS!!!!!!!

HUMBLEONE

Jarring
fear is one of those emotions that leads to a lot of other thoughts and emotions.
it's embedded instinctually and precedes just about everything else

. I like Lust. You know there's not enough lust in the world.....people shtupping all over the place. Lust is another emotion, let it replace fear. Fear is for pussy's.

lol
lust and fear go hand in hand, especially when it comes to cowardice. sometimes it can be hard to face your fears and be brave, rather than be tempted into cowardice. but even bravery has its own temptation.

i'd say there's too much lust, it's more of a driving force to survival than fear is these days by a long shot.
the organism of society is so far deep into its lust for progress that fear is only used as the coward's tool to make the most profitable decision in their advancement.

Besides, fear is lust, as are all instinctual desires. I honestly don't think it's possible for humans on this world to be free of any lust being that they cannot undo any impurities they once had.

flammadraco
reply to post by boncho

 

What extra rights have the LGBT community asked for that would give then more rights than heterosexuals?

There was a story awhile ago, off the top of my head regarding a discrimination case.

Similar to how a push for "racial equality" can go too far and lead to inequality. Like when a white on black is a hate crime, but black on white gets anything distinction.

It really boils down to seeking favouritism in the eyes of the courts, or government.

In any case,

that was only the my first sentence you quoted, I was speaking more about this:

Occasionally, someone will try to tweak me by saying, 'come on John, if it weren't for the activists, you couldn't write or speak as you do'. Well, alleluia baby! And if it weren't for the Suffragettes, I probably wouldn't be here today either. Any successful movement must have a beginning and an end, and must focus on worthwhile goals. In 1967, Pierre Trudeau supposedly liberated us when he said "the state has no business in the bedrooms of the nation". Subsequently, matters of privacy and discrimination were laudably and necessarily dealt with in the early 1970's. But today, the bedrooms of the nation are in everybody's faces. Today, it's all about benefits, privileges, social engineering, nihilism and redefining normalcy.

pfox.org...

The first thing you can do to promote equality, is simply treat other people like people. Throughout my life I've met people from all races, creeds, colours and of many different orientations. But the only ones I remember for their "label" are the ones that let that define them.

YA Know what? I want the word gay back. Gay used to mean happy, buoyantly happy, now homosexuality. I loved gay! It was my special happy word! Buoyant, I felt buoyantly happy whenever I uttered it. I liked being gay then, not now, brings me visions of Al Pacino in "Cruisin" and is a repulsive drag. I want the word gay back. You guys in the gay community can have.....awesome? Yeh, why don't you take awesome? Or in the UK take "brilliant"?

The first thing you can do to promote equality, is simply treat other people like people. Throughout my life I've met people from all races, creeds, colours and of many different orientations. But the only ones I remember for their "label" are the ones that let that define them.

This is spot on...people that allow themselves to be defined by a label or who force others to define them by a label are the only ones who are remembered by that label.

reply to post by boncho


I agree with you that some people use their "Label" for their own ends. I've seen this for all creeds. In the UK, you can only take your employer to an employement tribunal after two years service...... UNLESS your part of an ethnic group, and the list includes everyone apart from a "white heterosexual male". I believe this is discrimination.

HUMBLEONE

Jarring
reply to post by HUMBLEONE

 

maybe you're trying to prove you're not a coward? but even that has right to being a coward

idk what your intentions were, i was just humoring you

. I need to prove not for sodony provides me no interest. I fear not and therefore craven shall never be. So you SWISH an be FABULOUS!!!!!!!

i don't think there is anything to gain by trying to prove you have no fear. it is much a mental deduction to convey simple meanings in your language as it is an emotion that provokes an action whether it be temptation or courage.

there is no point in claiming you have no fear other than to convey some sense of bravado, which most of the time has cowardice buried somewhere within its intentions, regardless of whether or not it was of the same fear in the original idea in which you claimed no fear in.

typically with fear comes knowledge, and if you have no fear of something, it is probably because you haven't found the reason to be fearful of it.

The brave have fears because they know them and face them with dignity.
Cowards don't have fears because they run away from whatever they acknowledge gives them fear.

key word is dignity.
the people who tend to think of fear as weakness tend to be very unintelligent and self-righteous, who build strength out of cowardice. It's hard for some people to accept defeat so they tend to build themselves successfully besides the point.

I can agree to some extent that people (at least some) are not actually afraid of gay people. Since a phobia is having a literal fear of something. Opposition to something doesn't always mean fear.

But as someone said earlier, it may be used for people who are gay, but are afraid of their gayness. And there's a sense of guilt and self-loathing that it brings. Mostly due to the way society views homosexuality for the most part.

Also, some people that may have homosexual tendencies may use anger or a sense of fear in order to deal with gay people. They are insecure about their own sexuality that they feel the need to compensate for it by making themselves look like they are far from being gay.

So Homophobia could be a proper term in some cases. But I can agree that people throw that term around a little too often. It seems to be a bit of a reactionary term these days. In some instances, bigotry would be a better descriptive word than homophobia.