Removing “Insert Word”-phobic from SJ Language
~*TW For Discussion of Violence and Mental Illness and Ableist/Heterosexist Slurs*~
Okay, so I did come out around the late 90’s/2000’s when it was still hip to say homophobic and transphobic. Here’s a few things: I have anxiety, and phobias related to PTSD. I didn’t think about it in this concept before, but a few things clicked for me and perhaps it will for you:
1. Using terms like homophobia and transphobia would open up the ‘gay panic’ defense in litigation against people who kill transgender or gay individuals. Because -phobia means fear of, and many people are aquitted of assault/murder charges due to a response caused from fear (for ex: woman kills husband who held a knife to her throat, and is acquitted). While I do believe that some cases of hate crimes are because of fear/misunderstanding, they do not qualify the status of a phobia. People who are afraid of needles will avoid any situation possible related to needles. They don’t actively seek out or engage with someone who has a needle standing right beside them. They would not kill someone who is having a needle right next to them when they can easily walk away.
2. Because of the nature of -phobia words, it would imply that bigotry is a mental illness, thus saying that it is perfectly okay for someone to be an ignorant fuck, because they have a mental illness. Bigotry and racism are taught, not ingrained in us since birth but developed over time from conditioning. And again, by claiming it is a mental illness, means that people don’t need to be charged with hate crime acts; they are simply suffering from a mental illness and was provoked and can be charged on the lesser crime of manslaughter or aggrivated assault and seek parole or a mental hospital ward. People who commit hate crimes should be punished.
3. So what can we use instead of these pretty common words? Note: If I see anyone fucking arguing about the fact these “aren’t real words”, I will hunt you down and punch you in the god damn throat. Just because it isn’t in the white cis-straight ablebodied man’s dictionary, doesn’t mean shit.
heteronormative - the idea that heterosexual behavior is the norm and thus default; i.e. all the characters in a book/tv show/movie are straight and having male-female interaction/flirtations/relationships.
heterosexist - in place of homophobic; someone who calls someone a “faggot”, that person is being heterosexist.
cisgender - the prefix of someone who is identified at birth as male or female and feels in place/comfortable with being their assigned gender and sex. The opposite of transgender.
cissexist - in place of transphobic; when a ciswoman or cisman is making a ruckus because a transwoman is in a woman’s bathroom, they are being cissexist.
