I would sit the teenager down with a few bed time stories about the history behind the word. Different contexts does not make the use of a word okay. If I called a friend "a ****ing ******" I would be prolonging and maintaining the use of the word. Even though I wouldn't have meant it in a homophobic sense, I'm still using a phrase that is hurtful to a lot of people. What if another friend in our presence overheard me calling my friend a ****** in a vicious tone, what if that person was struggling with his own sexual feelings? How would that affect that person? We need to think about what we're saying instead of thinking in simple terms such as "Oh the context is right, I'm safe using this word."
I would sit your friend down with a few bed time stories on semantics and syntax, with a little crash course on English for good measure. As a youth I was prone to using similar statements. As are many today. But 99% of the time it has nothing to do with homosexuality. You'd call someone a "f*g" for cutting you in line, not giving you their class notes, refusing to tell you a secret, not sharing a video game controller, etc etc. By now, it has as much connection with the gays, as it does in acting like a *****ebag.
Do I need to explain how these situations have
zero relation to homophobia, and thus
should not considered be derogatory remarks against gays when used under those contexts? Do you want society to apologize for applying new meanings to these once frowned upon terms? You should take your own advice and read up on history. Word meanings have and will continue to change for eras on end.
They want "certain terms to remain negative" because they are still very much negative terms. For every time you call someone gay in a lighthearted sense, there is someone else in the world using the same term to bully another person. We can't clamp down on such things because of people like yourself who talk about context when using unacceptable words. Because you want to be able to use a word freely that word still lives on as a weapon to use against people in a hateful way. That may make me PC, whatever, I don't care.
You're PC. And apparently you're also very ignorant. You want to conjure up your own meanings for a word in every situation and context, that is solely on you. You want to take a term of endearment as a derogatory remark -- hey, have fun with that. I'll laugh it off and move on with my day.
I currently have a 90 year old (not exaggerating) Psych professor who still uses the word 'gay' in its original use of describing a merry mood. Some students laugh when he utters it, but we all know he means well. It'd be an understatement to say he's from a completely different generation. If there were a homosexual student in the class who actually took offense to his usage, I would not hesitate to call them a sensitive moron.
There is a big difference between recognizing the history of terms, and meaningful intent. You don't have to focus on one at the expense of the other.
Okay, what about the words gay and ******. I've already covered that nicely so thank you.
Gay and f****t join the ranks with "b***h", "s**t", and "f**k" as words with multitude of meanings in today's society. To relegate each only to their negative connotations or histories, and
nothing beyond that, is pure ludicrous.
You don't want to be objective, fine. I'll leave you be. You should have exited the discussion the moment you threw impartiality out the window.
Some people just shrug it off with "it's just a word" and all that, but f*** and s*** are "just" words, too. That doesn't mean it's not inappropriate.
I sometimes wonder how people with this mentality function outside. Language can be twisted to fit any particular action or behavior. I'm interested where you live where words and statements are
always good, or
always bad.
