I know I have this obsession with words. I’ve never particularly liked Queerty.com because it’s posts on transfolk generally border on bad taste/transphobia. The most recent edition sports this headline:
When I think of the use of the word tranny, I think of the words of George Carlin:
[kml_flashembed movie="http://lads.myspace.com/videos/vplayer.swf" width="430" height="346" fvars="m=598001949;type=video"/]The point being, if you are a transgender person and you say tranny, it’s acceptable because the intent isn’t negative or hateful. But if your not, it’s a bigoted and derogatory thing to say. My son is gay, and I hear him call his gay friends “homo and fag” all the time. I know he’s not homophobic, BECAUSE HE’S GAY!
“You throw that football like a girl!” The previous sentence has no “fag,” no “queer,” or any other “bad word” in it. But the connotation is that being a women are weak, frail, and unable to physically throw a football. It is the person saying the words and the context that they are used that make them “good” or “bad” words.
While I don’t suggest that anyone should use words like fag, tranny, or any other “tainted” words, I don’t think that when they are used by someone in target group the word is supposed to represent, they aren’t meant to hurt.
As always, context is king.
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and i agree with those who think that gay people can use “fag” in a homophobic way. again, it’s context. and really hard to pin down, especially in print. but…you get a vibe, from some people.
…oh, well, case in point, if you missed him: the Very Manly Satanic Anti-Gay Androphile.
http://www.ninepearls.com/article/337/call-me-rod-mcmanlypants
and i agree with those who think that gay people can use “fag” in a homophobic way. again, it’s context. and really hard to pin down, especially in print. but…you get a vibe, from some people.
…oh, well, case in point, if you missed him: the Very Manly Satanic Anti-Gay Androphile.
http://www.ninepearls.com/article/337/call-me-rod-mcmanlypants
Yeah, thanks for this. I’ve been unsure of the status of “tranny”–I get that it’s casual and often used offensively, but I wasn’t sure whether it had reached the point of, say, “dyke” –which I’m okay with friendly non-lesbians using in the right context; it’s hard not to say “The Dyke March” otherwise.
for whatever reason, “fag” doesn’t strike me as nearly as mainstream’d yet.
whereas “queer,” depending on your generation and locale (mostly, i think), is pretty much at the point of “descriptive, not a slur.”–although, again, you ask some people and it’s -highly- offensive and we shouldn’t be using it at all.
hm.
Yeah, thanks for this. I’ve been unsure of the status of “tranny”–I get that it’s casual and often used offensively, but I wasn’t sure whether it had reached the point of, say, “dyke” –which I’m okay with friendly non-lesbians using in the right context; it’s hard not to say “The Dyke March” otherwise.
for whatever reason, “fag” doesn’t strike me as nearly as mainstream’d yet.
whereas “queer,” depending on your generation and locale (mostly, i think), is pretty much at the point of “descriptive, not a slur.”–although, again, you ask some people and it’s -highly- offensive and we shouldn’t be using it at all.
hm.
“Internalized oppression is something that I’ve seen and heard and done to myself and other women. We all do it if we have any sort of relative privilege. And a homosexual person using a slur is, IMO, a form of it, with or without context.”
Typically though it’s not the same kind of hatred and the intent isn’t to harm you. No? There are degrees to everything. I don’t think it’s positive to use these slurs, but I don’t think has anything close to the same kind of hatred and vitriol attached to it that someone not in the target has.
“I won’t call transgendered friends “trannies” b/c I don’t like being called a “bitch” or whatever other slur could be used to describe me, I don’t like to hear my friends refer to themselves using words and frases that The Man has coined.”
If this were a church, I’d be screaming amen right now.
Slut is a word that I won’t use, because I believe it’s filled with patriarchal judgment of women’s sex lives.
“But I’m a radical feminist, so I gotsta be crazy, huh?”
Is that a requirement now?
Seriously, I’m glad you’re here. The ruling class has always oppressed the minority by dividing them and causing division among them.
Even though I might not agree with you, as long as the discussion is civil and positive, it can move us forward together.
Oh, and welcome!