Blogger Queer Beacon takes issue with the use of "gay" as a putdown, now ubiquitous among the high school set and even defended by Details magazine. But doesn't abandoning "gay" for "queer" play into all this?
More. A Google search shows that bloggers Jane Genova and Johnny have also taken issue with Details (but the actual style piece by "Dominick Wimple" isn't online).
3 Comments for “So Uncool.”
posted by Ray Eckhart on
An Alison Bechdel cartoon from 2001.
posted by Northeast Libertarian on
“doesn’t abandoning “gay” for “queer” play into all this”
Who actually advocates this course of action, other than a very small contingent of people?
You might try and argue that “abandoning ‘gay’ for ‘homosexual'” plays “into all this” too.
“Gay” was an insult when I was in grade school in the early 1980s. . . long before the “queer” 1990s. It’s part of the cultural lexicon which grows out of homophobic attitudes which are deeply ingrained in American society. Rather than play PC-wordgame wars, we’re better served tackling the underlying homophobia.
posted by Bobby on
Well, because I watch South Park, sometimes even I use “gay” as an insult. Especially since I don’t relate well to most gays. However, “queer” is by far more offensive than gay, and “fag” is the worst of all, I don’t care in what context you use it.