Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site bbncc5.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!bbnccv!bbncc5!sdyer From: sdyer@bbncc5.UUCP (Steve Dyer) Newsgroups: net.motss Subject: Re: Nomenclature - Gay/Homosexual/Lesbian Message-ID: <384@bbncc5.UUCP> Date: Thu, 15-Aug-85 12:16:34 EDT Article-I.D.: bbncc5.384 Posted: Thu Aug 15 12:16:34 1985 Date-Received: Mon, 19-Aug-85 07:46:14 EDT References: <3486@decwrl.UUCP> <10900001@ada-uts.UUCP> Organization: Bolt Beranek and Newman, Cambridge, MA Lines: 30 > > Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the term, "Negro", is considered > to be insulting because its actual meaning is "slave". > > If that's the case, I see nothing wrong with "homosexual" as an adjective; > I don't mind being referred to as a heterosexual man, and if I were gay, > I don't think I'd mind being called a homosexual man. After all, > "homosexual" means, in my own terms, "sexually prefers persons of the > same gender," right? > Both are disliked by certain people, but not because of their dictionary meaning. "Negro", after all, is a simple cognate via Spanish of the Latin, "black", but its relative disuse these days comes from its association with its earlier use by non-blacks in an overwhelmingly racist society. In the same way, the word "homosexual", aside from its offensiveness to linguists, being an unwieldly juxtaposition of Greek and Latin stems, is a relic of late 19th century attitudes about human sexuality. It has a rather stodgy, dusty clinicalness about it which is inappropriate for everyday use. You might not mind being called "heterosexual" when the occasion calls for it (as in the rare case to identify someone as NOT-"homosexual"), but gay people end up living with the term all day long. There seems nothing wrong with calling people the way they wish being called. "Black" has replaced "negro" in most American English, and "gay" for "homosexual" is making inroads. -- /Steve Dyer {decvax,linus,ima,ihnp4}!bbncca!sdyer sdyer@bbnccv.ARPA