Sorry if this is in the wrong section, or is just totally unrelated to anything at all. It's just been annoying me for a while. Does the term 'homophobia' mean is afraid of -like normal phobias- homosexual people, or the irrational dislike of? If it's the latter, I feel that there should be a different term for it. Because I think that it is possible for people to fear homosexual people, without feeling resent towards them. Or something. I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here, just clearing up a definition, really. Thanks for reading this, and I hope you can make sense out of it.
LOLOL. That was actually quite clear. But what I'm trying to say, not everyone can fear homosexuals. So for some it does start with fear, and others just hate/misunderstanding? :/
hmm i always just viewed homophobia as a mixture of fear,ignorance and intolerance although i think the word can be applied to just one of those too..
Homophobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, and in some cases transgender and intersex people and behaviour. Definitions refer variably to antipathy, contempt, prejudice, aversion, and irrational fear. Homophobia is observable in critical and hostile behavior such as discrimination and violence on the basis of a perceived non-heterosexual orientation.
I think that originally it only applied to the extreme and irrational fear of Homosexuality, but over time it has also been adopted to apply to those who intensly dislike, hold contempt, prejudice or have an aversion to Homosexuals aswell, often without a valid reason.
I think Yoda's right on this one. It's not necessarily "fear" in the sense that gay people can do things to them, rather it's because they fear that side of them because society's long since rejected it - if that makes sense? A study done by Alfred Kinsey, back when society was extremely homophobic (thus making me think the results are much more than recorded) showed that 33% - 46% of all males are bisexual to some degree. Thus, the reason why bisexuals have been shown to cause more of a stir - we're the "bridge" that shows how connected both of these sides can actually be. Thus, depending on how flimsy a person on either side is - biphobia comes from both factions, which I think comes from people not wanting to believe they could have some of the other within them because it would mean some gay people can "choose" a life without stigma attached and some straight people could be stigmatized. Wording might be off, but overall point's hopefully there.
encyclopedia britannica defines homophobia as an irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals.
The term "phobia" doesn't only describe fear. The definition is actually "a strong fear, dislike, or aversion to something".
