I Hate the word Homophobia.

[sheshe2]

[closeupready]

1. Pretty much.

K&R

[progressoid]

2. Morgan FTW.

[Ken Burch]

3. In my mind, I'm hearing Morgan read that in his "kindly narrator" voice.

Well put...the only slight quibble is that, most of the time, hate is just fear with a gun.

[AverageJoe90]

4. Two Thumbs up. nt

[Recursion]

5. It was invented in the 1960s under a psychological theory that is not particularly relevant anymore

The idea at that point was that "normal" men were mildly anti-gay. Being gay was "disordered". But there was another "disordered axis" of extreme anti-gay animus, which was explained as fear of one's own latent innate homosexuality -- ultimately, an attempt to blame anti-gay animus on gay people, I suppose.

My understanding is that this theory is largely discredited, and that in fact anti-gay persons are gay at roughly the same rate as everyone else. Even under that rubric, the name is misleading, it should be "autohomosexualiphobia" or something.

[Nine]

10. It may be discredited by psychologists but it's still prevalent in popular culture.

It's a theory I hear quite frequently. "Senator So-and-so really seems afraid of gay people. Whaddya wanna bet he's got some latent homosexual tendencies himself? Har, har, har!"

Never been a fan of the notion.

[OwnedByCats]

6. I don't think it's a phobia

At least for the vast majority I don't believe it has anything to do with fear. It's just straight up bigotry IMO.

[Behind the Aegis]

7. It is bigotry, for sure.

However, this is the sociological use of "phobia" not the psychological use. The former includes in its definition issues other than fear, including dislike, hate, and repulsion. You are also correct there are some who really are afraid of gays, though rare.

[Crunchy Frog]

8. Phobia doesn't just mean fear.

pho·bi·a


/ˈfōbēə/


noun

noun: phobia; plural noun: phobias



1.



an extreme or irrational fear of or aversion to something.

"he had a phobia about being under water"


synonyms: fear, irrational fear, obsessive fear, dread, horror, terror, hatred, loathing, detestation, aversion, antipathy, revulsion; More


complex, neurosis;

informalthing, hang-up

"fear of spiders is just one of his many phobias"

[Bluenorthwest]

9. As good as it is, this quote is not actually from Mr Freeman

nt