1. strange or odd from a conventional viewpoint; unusually different; singular: a queer notion of justice.
2. of a questionable nature or character; suspicious; shady: Something queer about the language of the prospectus kept investors away.
3. not feeling physically right or well; giddy, faint, or qualmish: to feel queer.
4. mentally unbalanced or deranged.
5. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive .
a. homosexual.
b. effeminate; unmanly.
6. Slang. bad, worthless, or counterfeit.
–verb (used with object)
9. to jeopardize.
–noun
10. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive . a homosexual, especially a male homosexual.
11. Slang . counterfeit money.
7. to spoil; ruin.
8. to put (a person) in a hopeless or disadvantageous situation as to success, favor, etc.
9. to jeopardize.
10. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive . a homosexual, especially a male homosexual.
11. Slang . counterfeit money.
—Idiom
12. queer the pitch, British Informal. to spoil the chances of success.
Dear LGBT activists,
STOP using this word to describe yourself! To me, other gay people, and homophobes; the word queer is a derogatory term! There is nothing good about the word. Stop using the same word the people who are working against us use as an insult!
If you're wondering, this is what sparked this small rant:
Dear LGBT activists,
STOP using this word to describe yourself! To me, other gay people, and homophobes; the word queer is a derogatory term! There is nothing good about the word. Stop using the same word the people who are working against us use as an insult!
If you're wondering, this is what sparked this small rant:
11 comments:
'Queer' was the word that I most often heard when I was a teen and I despise it to this day. It is like saying that homosexual activity is 'not natural' which is absolute bullshit. 'Queer' is to homosexuals as the N word is to blacks; just plain derogatory and offensive. I also think it is wrong to embrace the 'gay' word cos it reinforces the myth or image that all homosexuals are weak and effeminate, not masculine. There are plenty of weak and effeminate heterosexuals but they never mention that. I think labelling people is generally offensive and people who do that should remember that what goes around eventually comes around. bfn - Wayne
I think the reason homosexuals use the Q word about themselves is to take the sting out of it. Sort of, "You can't hurt me by calling me queer, because it's what I call myself." Use it often enough and it stops being a big deal.
I'm not saying they're right, but I think that's the idea. It's been used that way at least since I was going to Pol. Sci. conventions in the early 1970's. Gay academics came up with an area called "Queer Studies."
Oh dear, not the "queer" debate...
Here's my spin from the world of academia
"Queer" as I most often use it, is an umbrella term for anything that could be considered different from the "norm," especially with regards to sexuality and gender expression. It is a reclaimed word, yet it is more than that. It is another way to identify along with homosexual, bisexual, gay, lesbian, etc etc. I for one do not like the term homosexual, I think it's almost offensive, or at the very least sterile, medical, and very limiting. I don't like bisexual for the very same reason.
I choose to identify as "queer" precisely because I don't want to be associated with a label. Without going into the specifics (for it's far too complicated and confusing and I have only a cursory knowledge of it) Queer theory developed as a response to LGBT Studies, which worked to say that LGBT identified individuals were just like the rest of "normal" society. Queer theory proposes the opposite, everyone is a bit "queer." Queer theory works to show that everyone is a bit different and in those differences we can see our shared humanity, we're all just as different from the "norm" (and who knows what that really is) as anyone else. For me, being queer means that I can love who I want regardless of their gender expression and orientation and they can love me and it's ok. If they person happens to be a girl, cool, a guy, a-ok, someone outside the gender norm (i.e. gender-queer) awesome.
All this being said, I understand how the word still has a lot of hurt and anger buried within it. I wouldn't go around calling everyone queer, and wouldn't want someone to call me that without knowing who I am.
I choose to be "queer" no one else. Likewise, no one can tell me I'm not queer, for that is taking my identity out of my hands.
Perhaps once we realize that we are all unique in our shared humanity, these artificial dichotomies in society will melt away, that's getting a bit ahead of things, but I can dream eh?
Anyway, that's my counter-rant.
Matt
It has to do what how people identify themselves. Some people don't identify any of the LGBT identities as we know them so thus they call themselves queer. I understand it might be offensive but I think it is starting to get reclaimed.
I agree with RC. Homosexual is pretty lame term. It is too medical and mechanical. Also it makes it seem like it is all about sex. On a side note, polls show Americans tend to support "gay rights" over "homosexual rights." From a messaging standpoint gay is the better term.
I, too, don't like the word queer. It makes me uncomfortable, honestly. When I was a kid, queer was used primarily as a pejorative regarding LGBT folk. I can understand the concept of "reclaiming it," but I don't go along with it.
On the other hand, I have no problem with the word gay. Unlike wayner, to me gay doesn't have connotations of weak and effeminate. Then again, I think he is quite a bit older than I, so that likely has a lot to do with it.
@Lightning - And I'm younger than you are, it is partly a generation thing as well.
Yep!
@ Lightning Baltimore; It has nothing to do with being a 'generational thing'. The word 'gay' has STRONG connotations of being weak and effeminate (not that there is anything wrong with that!). That is why jock type guys get extremely upset if someone even hints at the gay word. The word 'gay' equates with not being masculine and heterosexuals love to use it as such. Call me homosexual or 'homo', but I consider 'gay' to be ultimately a pejorative. It all has to do with keeping homosexuals 'in their place'. bfn - Wayne
Great post, esp. the last part! Re-blogged it!
It's not very often that I have 3 comments on one post, but I saw something on CNN news today that reinforces my dislike of the 'gay' word for a homosexual. It concerned a 5yr old boy who dressed up as his favourite girl character on 'Scooby-Doo' for Halloween in school. His mother got a lot of flak for this cos it might make her boy 'gay'. CNN kept talking about the 'gay' issue concerning the boy dressing in girl's clothes. This is the myth that I hate most about homosexuality cos most homosexuals are just as proud of their masculinity as any high school football jock. This is a way for heterosexual people to 'put down' homosexuals. Guys who identify most strongly with girls and want to dress like them are transvestities or transgendered, often not homosexual; many cross-dressers are heterosexual. So when CNN talks about boys who dress in girl's clothes as being 'gay', this illustrates the problem with homosexuals embracing the 'gay' word. Check some of the many homosexual websites out there; most of the guys I see are muscular, big-dicked, and very masculine, and as I have said before some you could mistake for lumberjacks. bfn - Wayne
@ Wayner — I think the negative connotations you perceive in the word "gay" are either a Canadian thing or, more likely, merely your own personal take on the word. In my experience, the word is the term of choice when one wants to describe a man as homosexual in a matter-of-fact way without using the more clinical and academic sounding "homosexual." Of course, when used by one who is homophobic, it is as disparaging as any other word that could be used; and there has been an unfortunate recent trend among high school kids to use it in a general sense of disapproval when referring, not to a person but to an action or statement. But it is the word of choice most gay men use to self-describe, with no negative connotation in their minds.
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