Feminist Friday

So...I'm totally psyched to write this post today. My topic (to be revealed in a few) is something that has bugged me for YEARS and now I finally have the chance to discuss it in an open forum for all of our loyal readers (Hi Megan! Hi Erin!)!

I'll just get to it: I hate it when people use the words "gay" and "fag" in a derogatory way. My students use it ALL THE TIME and I always say, "please don't use that word that way." They don't get it, though, and (I'm pretty sure) they never will. In fact, I'm almost certain that I am 100% alone here. My friends use it, but they're not homophobic. I have an ex-boyfriend who used to state pretty vehemently that he didn't want to get married b/c his gay best friend couldn't legally get married (his opinion has since changed; now he is looking for marriage! it's all he wants!). My brothers (Hi Phil! Hi Park!) use it, and I'm sure they're not afraid of the man-on-man lady-on-lady love. They do, however, use it more frequently when I say "hey, could you not use that word that way?" Pure sibling love (ewww, that sounds wrong).

What really, really bugs me, though, is how it's so not ok to use the n****** word (quick side-note: in my 8th grade gifted class we made radio-plays. My group's was about a run-away-slave, and somehow I played the role of the master. At one point in the play I had to say the n****** word, and the first time I did it I was so timid about it that my teacher totally got mad at me and said that if I wasn't going to do it right then I couldn't do it at all. So I did it. And I still feel bad about it....anywho!), but it's totally cool to use "gay" and "fag"! What gives! AND! AND! What about bitch? Although the use of bitch is much more prevalent than it may have once been (I didn't really cuss until I was 20 years old, so what do I know, although I did call my lil' bro a "little shit" once when I got back from GHP), it's still not 100% ok to use it. I'm pretty sure that if my students used it, they'd get the proverbial bitch slapped out of them by their teachers and administrators...but fag and gay are ok? I just don't get it. Why are they more mainstream than other slanderous words? Why did Dog the Bounty Hunter get in HUGE trouble for using the n* word, but it's ok to throw around gay terminology like nobody's business. Is it just me? Why, world, why?