Major congrats to Britney & Glory Johnson (and a bit of surprise)

[meyers7]

LOL...OK...I have now decided to embrace the word. Wow, you are right...it was just that easy.

You don't have to embrace it. But you can decide what effect it has on you. (didn't say it was easy)

As my signature says Wolves do not concern themselves with the opinions of sheep. Or in your case you could use I don't concern myself with the opinions of idiots (i.e. those who would use words derogatorily towards you). You control the effect.

The next time some redneck in a bar calls me a "queer" I will stand up, put my hands on my hips, and say "you are right! I am a queer.

Or you could put your hands on your hips and say "what are you? straight?"

Now, do you and your friends want to beat me up now or wait until I am walking to my car in the parking lot?"

Not talking about getting beat up, that's a whole other issue. I was just talking about words.

 

[UConnChapette]

Congrats to the Boneyard, and this thread specifically -or at least the evidence strongly points that way. Last week I had no problem accessing the BY from work. Today? No can do. Site has been banned because it has been detected to contain material that is offensive. I am guessing the appearance of the Q, F and D words got picked up by the filters. I found the words offensive before. I now find those words doubly offensive.

 

[easttexastrash]

You don't have to embrace it. But you can decide what effect it has on you. (didn't say it was easy)

As my signature says Wolves do not concern themselves with the opinions of sheep. Or in your case you could use I don't concern myself with the opinions of idiots (i.e. those who would use words derogatorily towards you). You control the effect.


Or you could put your hands on your hips and say "what are you? straight?"


Not talking about getting beat up, that's a whole other issue. I was just talking about words.

I am still curious, in all honesty, about other terms that groups have decided to "reclaim" and "detoxify." Maybe I can see an example of some other words and think "yeah, I can see how that helped."

Based on this thread, is it safe to say that most believe that the Washington "Redskins" controversy is also a situation where Native Americans should "reclaim" and "detoxify" the word "Redskins?"

 

[Zorro]

Well, being an admitted blatant h e t ero, I really have no dog in this fight, but it does occur to me that gay and lesbian do not lend themselves to adjectively preceded imprecations as much as to F, Q and D, and also H, F, and P and several others. Somehow "you g d gay person" just doesn't seem to have much bite to it. Seriously, though, isn't it the manner in which the word is used, rather than the choice of words per se, that pretty much determines its offensiveness or lack thereof? Seems to mat any of the above could be offensive, if delivered in an antagonistic or insulting way, and maybe (at least almost) vice versa.

 

[ndmb]

I am still curious, in all honesty, about other terms that groups have decided to "reclaim" and "detoxify." Maybe I can see an example of some other words and think "yeah, I can see how that helped."

Based on this thread, is it safe to say that most believe that the Washington "Redskins" controversy is also a situation where Native Americans should "reclaim" and "detoxify" the word "Redskins?"

Well, the difference between this and the Redskins lies in the fact that the owner of the team is a white guy perpetuating a slur. If it was a group of native americans that felt the term better described them, it'd be entirely different. FWIW, I think there's a thin line between the "only you can make yourself offended by a word" mantra of the last two pages and apologism for bigotry. I hear you when you say that the word queer will never mean anything other than a slur to you, and I think that's OK. Frankly, if the word had been used against me the way it's been used against you, I might feel the same way. During the times in my life when I've been dating a man, the word gay was thrown at me in a negative way far more frequently than the word queer was (this is also probably a generational thing), so that word doesn't have the same visceral, emotional reaction for me. There is no simple answer here, because we're talking about the connotations of a word.

I think that the word queer has a ton of value, because of it's inclusive and unifying nature, because it doesn't exclude all of the people who don't fit under LGBT (intersex, asexual, gender-queer, pansexual, etc.), and because it doesn't reinforce a gender binary, but that doesn't mean that you have to like/use it. I think that the world is big enough to encompass both of our perspectives here.

 

[RadyLady]

yeah, and I don't like being referred to as a "breeder"...but I digress.

Anyway...

Say, have any of you heard that BG and Glory Johnson are getting hitched? Congrats to the happy couple~~~~

 

[Vowelguy]

You don't suddenly accept a word that was used in such a hateful and hurtful way for so many years.

Suddenly?
Even I, who is hardly on the cutting edge, first heard someone talk about reclaiming "queer" 20+ years ago. (I'm pretty sure it was on the original Arsenio Hall show!)

 

[easttexastrash]

yeah, and I don't like being referred to as a "breeder"...but I digress.

Anyway...

Say, have any of you heard that BG and Glory Johnson are getting hitched? Congrats to the happy couple~~~~

To clarify, I said that some gays use that word and I also said that I don't.

I didn't even know that they were a couple? When did this news break?

 

[Vowelguy]

To go back on a tangent, what I find interesting about the marriage is that as far as I know it will be the first time a married couple competes against one another in a professional team sport.

Yeah, that's why this is particular big news IMHO. A couple competing against each other in mixed doubles tennis would be the closest comparison, but I'm not sure if that's ever happened.

 

[easttexastrash]

Suddenly?
Even I, who is hardly on the cutting edge, first heard someone talk about reclaiming "queer" 20+ years ago. (I'm pretty sure it was on the original Arsenio Hall show!)

Ahhh...the original queer. He does have a head shaped like a triangle. We should paint it pink and let him lead the queer parade.

 

[BooRadley]

FWIW, I think there's a thin line between the "only you can make yourself offended by a word" mantra of the last two pages and apologism for bigotry.

It takes a good deal of personal bias to so totally miss the difference.

Boo

 

[ndmb]

It takes a good deal of personal bias to so totally miss the difference.

Boo

And exactly what bias is it that you think is in play here?

 

[kat0189]

LOL. Well, that was fun. It is nice to know that you would never intentionally offend anyone.

BYE, FELICIAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

 

[Zorro]

yeah, and I don't like being referred to as a "breeder"...but I digress.

Anyway...

Say, have any of you heard that BG and Glory Johnson are getting hitched? Congrats to the happy couple~~~~

Glory, halelujah! Or hallelujah, Glory! And Britney. Live long and prosper. Both y'all. There's too little love in the world, imho.

 

[HuskyNan]

This horse was beaten, dead, buried, then was dug up and beaten some more.

Incidentally, I would appreciate people addressing their grievences with me via PM and not on the board.