Alternatives to "homophobia"?

[sonia]

Today I learned from Ableist words and terms to avoid by Lydia X. Z. Brown that the term "homophobia" is ableist, because a phobia is a mental illness and should not be used to mean bias or bigotry.

I did a further search for alternatives, and There Is No 'Neutral' Word for Anti-Gay Bias by Lily Rothman, Dec 2012, suggests "anti-gay bias" or "heterosexism."

I had used "homophobia" four times in my articles over the years. I went back and replaced them with "heterosexism." To me that's an unfamiliar term that doesn't carry the immediate weight and associations of "homophobia." I was usually using it in a list with sexism, racism, etc., so heterosexism does work better than anti-gay bias.

Does anyone have any other suggested terms? The Atlantic article has some interesting discussion of the change in terminology, regarding whether anti-gay bias is or isn't about fear, but it's from 2012. Has the conversation advanced since then?

Oh yeah, and since I'm posting this on National Coming Out Day, by the way I'm bi.

Comments

[rosefox]

There was a bit of a movement a few years back to replace -phobia with -misia (dislike), but from what I can tell, it didn't take. I don't think I ever encountered anyone who both had phobias and felt that terms such as homophobia, transphobia, and fatphobia were offensive or appropriative. That doesn't mean you should ignore the concerns over it, and there's no reason not to do a bit of search-and-replace, but it's probably not something to lose sleep over.

I have phobias and I've been loudly and visibly queer since the early 1990s, and I think there really is such a thing as homophobia. It's a knee-jerk reaction of revulsion in the presence of queer people or at any mention of queer people that looks (from the outside) a lot like my revulsion in the presence of my phobia triggers. However, in my experience, this phobia is far less prevalent than it used to be, presumably because queerness has become much more visible and accepted than it used to be. Homophobia as a term doesn't feel offensive to me so much as dated, a cultural condition for which cultural inoculation is increasingly widespread. That doesn't mean anti-queer bigotry is vanishing, but it feels very different, less about visceral responses such as interpersonal violence and more about social power and control.

I personally don't like heterosexism. A term that's more directly analogous to racism or sexism would be something like the hideously clunky orientationism. But -ism words can feel a little too gentle and neutral for my tastes. Bias likewise doesn't feel strong enough; one can have a bias with a rational basis. When we talk about these biases, we're not talking about personal inclinations based in rationality. We're talking about the often violent oppression of marginalized individuals and groups.

Bigotry is more clearly indefensible, something that should be countered and uprooted. It retains -phobia's connotations of irrationality. So I usually say bigotry. In a list, I'd say "bigotry against people who are nonwhite, queer and/or trans, disabled, fat, etc."

[sonia]

Thank you! I've seen -misia around a little bit, but had no idea what it meant. It has a vaguely positive sound to my ear, so I definitely wasn't getting the meaning from context. I agree that heterosexism isn't quite right as a term, and that homophobia as actual fear used to be more of a thing than it is now (yay).

I like your argument for "bigotry against," although I also avoid using "nonwhite," so... I'll keep thinking.

[rosefox]

The understanding I have is that some Native Americans prefer "nonwhite" to "of color".

https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/p/we-are-not-people-of-color.html

As an Ashkenazi Jew whose grandparents struggled to attain conditional whiteness, I like "nonwhite" because it emphasizes that bigotry is based on who is considered white or not. Since "white" is a porous and flexible category, I think the term used to describe the targets of racial bigotry has to be as well.

[sonia]

Great article, thanks! It doesn't mention "nonwhite," though. "We [Native Americans] are nations and our citizens or tribal members may be people of color, but the most important distinction is our nationhood."

As another Ashkenazi Jew, I hear you about conditional whiteness. "Nonwhite" still centers whiteness, which may or may not be appropriate depending on context and what is being emphasized.

[jesse_the_k]

I'm also a big fan of the word "bigotry" -- what many people call "ableism" I think of as "normate bigotry." (But realistically that word isn't self evident to fly without an explanation.)

I grew up with heterosexism and what I like about it is that anti-gay bigots have frozen ideas about sex roles, and freak out at the idea of feminine men and masculine women.

In terms of moving from margin to center, non-native? non-Black? non-disabled? non-queer?

People of colorlessness?

[sonia]

Thanks for the ideas! I think terms are going to keep shifting, and the most important thing is to keep raising awareness of bigotry.

[adrian_turtle]

I use "anti-gay bigotry" rather than "homophobia." The problem is not exactly that the latter term is appropriative, it's more significant that it's inaccurate. An occasional individual might fear their neighbors' same-sex relationships, but if they behave in a neighborly way it's not a problem for society. It's just an internal thing. We spent years using the word "homophobia" as a euphemism and excuse for "gay-bashing."

Now there are all these people who aren't gay bashers (not like THAT.) They would never raise a violent hand to anyone, maybe not even say anything that looks like hate speech. But they'll politely try to find a somebody who is a better "cultural fit" when they're hiring. And they're appalled at the idea their kid might learn somebody else in the kindergarten has 2 dads.

[sonia]

Thanks!

Whatever we call anti-gay bigotry, I wish people would just quit it!