Quote reblogged from Unpretty Boys' Club
“Words:
“Language itself is an instrument of self-oppresion. Because it is not value-loaded we use the term ‘homosexual’, but reluctantly, since it is a nineteenth-century medical definition. It is fast becoming replaced by ‘gay’-a word chosen by ourselves. Heterosexuals chide us for using what they see as a euphemism, but there can be no euphemism for ‘homosexual’, since a euphemism essentially replaces an offensive word.
“One would hardly guess this from the argument in favor of ‘homophile’, which is that ‘homosexual’ emphasises sex. If the substitution of the mild suffix ‘-phile’ (as in ‘Anglophile’) means anything at all, it is that a homophile is one who feels more comfortable with persons of the same sex-what used to be known as ‘a man’s man’. But serious analysis flatters the word. ‘Homophile’ is simply an evasion of the fact that it is by their sexual love that homosexuals are defined; to evade this panders to the sexual guilt that permeates and perpetuates our oppression.
“How clearly our self-hatred is revealed in the words we use. How easily ‘queen’ becomes a term of abuse: “That silly old queen,” we say. Even those women who show a preference for the company of gay men we disparage with names like ‘fag hag’. Until recently ‘queer’ was a word used by all gay people. We were so conditioned to believe in our abnormality that we never questioned the way the word defined us as sick or abnormal.”
Source: thefeedback
