Homophobia
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This article about lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender issues Also see the article on Sexual orientation |
Homophobia (from Greek homós: one and the same; phóbos: fear, phobia) is a term used to describe irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuals. It can also mean "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals". Homophobic is the adjective form of this term used to describe the qualities of these characteristics while homophobe is the noun form given as a title to individuals with homophobic characteristics.
The usage of the word homophobia in its modern form is controversial as it may be used pejoratively against those with differing debatable value positions.
Coinage
Psychologist George Weinberg introduced the first scholarly use of the concept homophobia in his 1972 book Society and the Healthy Homosexual, published one year before the American Psychiatric Association voted to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. Weinberg's "term became an important tool for gay and lesbian activists, advocates, and their allies." He describes the concept as:
a phobia about homosexuals..It was a fear of homosexuals which seemed to be associated with a fear of contagion, a fear of reducing the things one fought for-home and family. It was a religious fear and it had led to great brutality as fear always does.
Conceptualizing prejudice against gay and lesbian people as a social problem worthy of scholarly attention was not a new concept, but Weinberg was the first to give the problem a name.
The construction of the word is comparable to xenophobia, a much older term referring to individual or cultural hostility to foreigners or outsiders. However it fails to make sense etymologically, as the Greek 'homo' means 'the same', so, literally, 'homophobia' means a fear of things that are the same. The word homophobia was also used early in the twentieth century, albeit rarely. It then had the meaning of "fear or hatred of the male sex or humankind." In this use, the word derived from the Latin root homo (Latin, "man" or "human") with the Greek ending -phobia ("fear").
Despite its general shortcomings etymologically, the word can be used to describe the fear of a heterosexual that they will be approached romantically by someone of the same sex. It also can describe the apparently fear-based reactions of recoiling from unintentional close contact with another male or of being in close proximity to other males in certain situations such as while in the restroom. These are typically fear-based reactions, but the fear is usually that of the societal stigma of being labelled homosexual. However a disinterested third party might view these reactions and simply conclude that the person displaying the reaction is afraid of others of the same sex, hence, homophobic.
The word first appeared in print in an article written for the American Screw tabloid, May 23, 1969 edition, using the word to refer to straight men's fear that others might think they are gay. A possible etymological precursor was homoerotophobia, coined by Wainwright Churchill in Homosexual Behavior Among Males in 1967.
The first time it was formally used in its modern sense in the press was not until 1981 when The Times reported a General Synod vote where they refused to condemn homosexuality
- Also see the page [ Homophobia ] on Wikipedia
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