One would think gay men would abolish this word from their self-descriptive vocabulary and quickly chastise anyone that used it as well. Yet gay men can be seen calling other gay men sissies all the time. “Stop being a sissy!” they would say to try to push away any signs of feminine behavior. It was even more psychologically damaging when heard coming from a parent or father figure.
It is a word used by heterosexual bigots for decades to imply that a boy or man wasn’t living up the performance expected by his gender role. Most gay men come out of the womb knowing the potency of this word. This is one of the oldest gay epithets known. Which words am I referring to? Let’s look at 5 of them. The same applies to gay terms, gay terms that gay men are seen using daily on Twitter, causal conversation, blogs and even University classrooms, are all still offensive. The word is just as offensive and potent as its always been. Its because the “redefining the definition” excuse is all bullshit. They seem to like being mistreated and humiliated.Īre gay men also embracing the offensive words to take away their power when used by racists and homophobes? If that’s the case, why are the words still just as abrasive decades later? If African Americans have “redefined” the word “Nigger”, why did Paula Dean get such a backlash in 2013? Why can’t Justin Bieber say, “Whattup, Nigga” when addressing his boss Usher Raymond? What are Gay people’s excuse for the terms they use? I log into websites and message boards daily and see words used amongst gay men that if said by a non-gay person (more specifially a heterosexual man) would be unbelievably offensive. So Black people have chosen to attempt to use the word in a way that takes away its power. Some say the wound created by that brutality will take much more time and therapy to heal. It can be argued that Black Americans’ use of the word “Nigger” as a casual descriptive term of endearment is the result of the unimaginable trauma caused by American Slavery and the subsequent period of Jim Crow Laws. Many people do not think race should be compared to sexuality in any way, but I think there are some correlations here. Self-Hatred is a serious matter and I don’t want to take this lightly. I can’t think of any other groups of people that consciously chooses to use immensely offensive words to describe themselves. It appears that the only group of people on the planet that internally hates themselves more than African Americans are Gay Men.