Homophobia is what people used to be called if they thought there was anything immoral about homosexuality. That struck a lot of these people as odd because a phobia is a fear, and one need not fear something to be morally opposed to it. So those who were being called homophobic denied being homophobic on the basis that they had no fear of homosexuals.
But then the accusers explained that a phobia need not be a fear. It can merely be an aversion. One example I heard where a phobia is not a fear is the word, "hydrophobic." This word is sometimes used of materials that resist water, like when you wax your car, the surface of your car becomes hydrophobic. And there are clothes that can be treated so that water beads off of them. They become hydrophobic.
It seems to me that if "phobic" or "phobia" is used in that sense when people are called "homophobic," then all straight people are homophobic because they don't want to have relationships with members of the same sex. If that's what homophobia means--an aversion to sexual or romantic relationships with members of the same sex--then it seems to me that if you're straight, you ought to embrace the fact that you're homophobic, and people should stop using it as if it's an insult.
6 comments:
Arbitrarily altering a definition to try to make a point seems disingenuous.
Here is wikipedia's definition of homophobia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophobia), which seems to match colloquial usage:
> Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward
> homosexuality or people who are identified or perceived as being lesbian, gay,
> bisexual or transgender (LGBT).[1][2][3] It has been defined as contempt, prejudice,
> aversion, hatred or antipathy, may be based on irrational fear and ignorance, and is
> often related to religious beliefs.[4][5]
Obviously, by that definition, your negative attitude that homosexuality is immoral can reasonably be included in the definition.
If thinking something is immoral is enough to call it a phobia, then anybody who is a moral realist is going to have all sorts of phobias, which seems silly to me. We don't make up "phobias" to refer to every moral principle we have. "Homophobia" is a special case. Let's be honest. "Homophobia" is a made up word designed to cast dispersions on people who think it's immoral. It's not a mere description; it's just name calling designed by people who are unwilling or unable to argue. The idea is that if you can make a name with a negative connotation stick, you won't have to argue. Emotion does all the work for you. It's a fallacy of manipulation and distraction.
"Homophobia" is a made up word just about as much as "Xenophobia" is. It might not apply to you, and I hope that it does not. If you treat LGBT people with respect, and especially with brotherly love, regardless of your thoughts on the morality of such a thing, then I would say that the pejorative does not apply to you.
It is troublesome, though, that you want to deny the validity of the existence of the word. By extension, one could be lead to believe that you might think existence of the unjustified mistreatment and prejudice toward these people is not really a problem.
>If you treat LGBT people with respect, and especially with brotherly love, regardless of your thoughts on the morality of such a thing, then I would say that the pejorative does not apply to you.
That is interesting. I suspect you're in the minority on that one. Most people who use the word, homophobia, use it to refer to anybody who thinks homosexuality is immoral, regardless of how they treat homosexuals.
I don't deny the existence of the word. I'm only pointing out what I think the motive was for inventing it. It wasn't simply to put a label on a condition the way we have words like "agoraphobia" or "hydrophobia." It was invented for the purpose of being pejorative so that it could be used, in Liu of an argument, to cast dispersions on people for holding a disagreeable point of view on morality. A lot of words are invented for the sake of convenience--to codify a concept under a single word for ease of reference. But that's not the case with "homophobic." If it were, there'd be no reason to call people homophobic every time you encounter them. The words is used in name-calling. It's a pejorative, and I think people should just be honest about that.
I do think homosexuals have been treated unfairly, unkindly, and unjustly and still are. That has nothing to do with my attitude toward the word, homophobia.
You are completely correct, that the word has found a home recently as a way to insult others and falsely accuse them of being hateful. And that in and of itself is evil.
I admire your faith, brother. Bless you for your compassion.
Thanks. And thanks for checking out my blog. I don't get many visitors these days.
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