Reply To: Are we Islamaphobic?

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SteveInCO wrote:

Oddly, no one makes this complaint about the term homophobia, which one would think (by inspection) means “fear of homo[sexuals]” rather than “hatred of homo[sexuals]”. I first heard this term in the early 1980s (it may have first been introduced back then) and my thought bubble was…wrong suffix! The problem is though, it’s hard to construct a satisfactory term by putting miso- and homosexual together. Miso-homo-ist? Miso-homo-y? They don’t precisely roll off the tongue.

It too is the term that has stuck. And just to be clear, mislabled or not, I think what we refer to as “homophobia” is both real and deplorable. Your point about “Islamophobia” being constructed to push a false equivalency to “homophobia” is well taken. The two things are not equivalent, for the reasons you gave.

Steve, I’ve made the point many a time that “no fear, no phobia,” but common usage now accepts that if you don’t fear gays but only strongly dislike or hate them or their sexuality, you are homophobic.

Sad. Words should mean things.