Since when did an environmental science reading assignment develop a sexual preference?
My biggest pet peeve is when people misuse the word "gay." Somehow it's become an insult in our culture and is widely used amongst young people. Thinking I wouldn't hear it used in this way anymore once I got to college, I was unfortunately wrong.
The word "gay" is a word that has had many meanings throughout history. When searched on dictionary.com, the definition comes up as: 1. having or showing a merry, lively mood: gay spirits; gay music,
2. bright or showy: gay colors; gay ornaments.
3. given to or abounding in social or other pleasures: a gay social season.
4. licentious; dissipated; wanton: The baron is a gay old rogue with an eye for the ladies.
5. homosexual.
6. of, indicating, or supporting homosexual interests or issues: a gay organization.
None of these have a negative connotation whatsoever, so how did it develop one? The word "gay" is one that is just barely accepted by the homosexual community themselves; it's not even politically correct.
The word "fag" is a whole different story. This is an incredibly offensive word to every gay man (excluding the rare case that they're joking amongst themselves). To joke around with your friends using these harmful words only make you look like an uneducated child.
This is not the only word that has been somehow transformed into a "joke" or insult. I have even heard someone insult someone else by calling him or her a "Jew." I mean, really? There isn't anything remotely funny or insulting about being Jewish; it's just a religion. The trend seems to be that any group of people that have been faced with societal turmoil in our nation's history somehow gets dubbed as a word to use in an insult.
It started, as far as I know, with calling someone "gay," "fag," and other offensive words for a homosexual individual. Then, it spread into calling each other "Muslim," due to the war in Iraq. Now, I have no idea why people started calling each other "Jews," but I think I may have a modern television show involving a cartoon family named the Griffins to blame for that one.
Queerty.com quoted the New York Times' Judith Warner, "It's really about showing any perceived weakness or femininity - by being emotional, seeming incompetent, caring too much about clothing, liking to dance or even having an interest in literature."
Really, when I see someone macho guy calling one of his bros "gay," I interpret it as him having an issue with his own sexual identity, and I'm not the only one who thinks this when I hear it. Allow me to quote Shakespeare: "Doth protest too much." This basically means that when you protest something so much and so vehemently, it becomes evident that you're really trying to just convince people else wise.
It goes back to the days when you would call a girl "ugly" on the playground, when really you just had a huge crush on her. It's the exact same concept with calling one of your buds "gay." Internally you're thinking, "Well, I'm a little confused and scared about my own sexuality, so I'm going to point fingers at someone else to avert away from my own self-doubt." Though, if you do it enough, everyone will just start looking right back at you.
And now, most recently, a common insult is to accuse someone of having AIDS. I cannot even begin to address how immensely disgusting this is to me, that someone would use something this serious as an insult. Since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s, nearly 600,000 people have died in the United States alone. Who's laughing now?
It's so incredibly easy to throw these words around when they don't describe you, but put yourself in a homosexual's or Muslim's shoes. What if it became the next big insult to call someone a blonde? Or maybe the next big joke is to insult someone by saying they're in a sorority or fraternity? It could happen to any group of people.
I would just really hope that this is a habit that my fellow students can grow out of before they throw their caps in the air on graduation day, because in the real world, no one will be laughing along with your "fag" jokes.
