• festnt@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      2 hours ago

      actually yeah most people i’ve met irl don’t even know what queer means, so i have to explain it every time it comes up. but gay is universally known so people will just use it as a slur

  • TheLeadenSea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    201·
    2 days ago

    You do you, everyone can call themselves what they like! I personally don’t like ‘queer’ as it has connotations of otherness and strangeness and I don’t like the idea that LGBT+ people are strange just for existing - we’re a natural and normal part of human variation.

    • compostgoblin@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      17·
      2 days ago

      That’s fair, and totally makes sense! I tend to like it as a descriptor for myself right now, because I can use queer as a catch-all that is faster and easier than “transfemme nonbinary pansexual”

      • erin@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        7·
        2 days ago

        We’re the same flavor of queer! I do the exact same thing. Easier than needing to clarify several different identities to the curious but well-intentioned cis-straight person I’m talking to.

    • Thurstylark@lemmy.todayEnglish
      161·
      2 days ago

      I appreciate that, and you Identify however you want too.

      But I want to communicate otherness and strangeness. In a world that continually tries to force cis and straight as default, I want to confront people with the reality that their assumptions are bullshit. I don’t want them to gently put it down and move on, I want to smash it with a sledgehammer.

      And as bullshitty as it is to need people in this position, it provides cover for those in the closet, and those who want to fly under the radar. I’m the queer cousin. I’m the weirdo that wears skirts and makeup sometimes. I’m the one that will enforce pronouns for those who can’t for themselves.

      I’m fucking weird and I love myself. Using “queer” as my label says “You can’t use this to hurt me, because it is me. You can love my weird too, or take a fuckin’ hike.”

      And as long as this weirdo is normal in their life, they can get used to it, and then it won’t be weird anymore.

    • Thurstylark@lemmy.todayEnglish
      5·
      1 day ago

      I was so sheltered as a kid, I didn’t even understand why the rest of the kids were not willing to call it “smear the queer” when we were playing lol

      now i are one

  • Apytele@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    4·
    2 days ago

    The official linguistic term is “The Euphemism Treadmill” and refers to things like retarded->special needs->intellectually disabled and sociopathy->borderline personality disorder->emotionally unstable personality disorder (although the latter is also somewhat reflective of advancement / evolution in our understanding of the disorder).

    • kittenz@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      4·
      1 day ago

      FYI borderline and sociopathy are actually two different things it’s not just euphemism. Borderline is also extremely treatable despite popular media representations

      • Apytele@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        4·
        1 day ago

        Yes I have it and also have been working inpatient psych for 10 years. Sociopathy is no longer used because that constellation of symptoms got worked into the cluster b PDs along with psychopathy’s closest modern analogue–antisocial. As I said, it’s also more reflective of the overall understanding of those presentations over time as psychology / psychiatry have evolved, including an understanding of how to treat them. It’s always been very important to me to understand where we’ve come from to better know where we’re going.

  • moosetwin@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    I still see fag used to degrade people for being gay online, when I see that I like to use it to refer to myself as a weird show of solidarity

    unconventional usage of the term solidarity

    I am bisexual, and as such am using the term ‘solidarity’ to refer to what wiktionary calls ‘mutual support within a group’