i appreciate your honesty and openness on wanting to understand. this has been a pretty divisive topic in the LGBT community in the past few decades but to boil it down a LOT it can be loosely summarized as:
- the term "queer" was commonly used as an insult against LGBT people pre-2000s. - however, some LGBT people would use the term to describe themselves. the terms "dyke" and "fag" were used very similarly, in that they are offensive terms that some lesbians and gay men used for themselves. - post-2000s the term "gay" became more of a commonly used insult than "queer," although this change can also be regional thing. - as a newer generation of LGBT people began to understand their identities some found that the commonly understood labels of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender did not fit with their experiences/identities. - these people looked for a general term meaning "not heterosexual and/or not cisgender," and for them the term "queer" meant that. in doing so they would "reclaim" it, turning it from an insult to a word that means their identity or community. - however, for some other people the term "queer" is irrevocably associated with its pre-2000s usage as an insult, and dont feel comfortable being called that.
a lot of this is centered around the american gay rights movement(s) and obviously has different definitions for different people, especially outside of the USA. some don't think it's a slur, some do, some don't care too much either way. its a lot of identity politics that have been spread out over many years and many people and therefore i'm sure that there are some people who will disagree with my explanation.
tl;dr its a word that means a lot of things for different people, so just respect how people say they want to be called.
Good summation. Anyway, yeah, that was my thought: people generally don't have to indicate 'don't do something that would be unambiguously culturally regarded as calling me a slur', but if, at least in some cases, cultural norms aren't on your side and someone could innocently call you something that you'd consider hurtful, a warning might be merited in that case.
Queer studies originated as the academic term in the 1990s (coined by a lesbian), as did 'we're here, we're queer, get used to it'. It was not exclusively a slur pre-2000s - it was reclaimed long before the latest generation of LGBTQ. Some of the earliest evidence we have of it being a preferred personal term is from the 1930s, and as a community term from the 1980s. That's ~40 years.
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anonrerising2022-08-02 07:34 pm
Re: not trying to stir anything
(Anonymous) 2022-10-13 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)- the term "queer" was commonly used as an insult against LGBT people pre-2000s.
- however, some LGBT people would use the term to describe themselves. the terms "dyke" and "fag" were used very similarly, in that they are offensive terms that some lesbians and gay men used for themselves.
- post-2000s the term "gay" became more of a commonly used insult than "queer," although this change can also be regional thing.
- as a newer generation of LGBT people began to understand their identities some found that the commonly understood labels of lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender did not fit with their experiences/identities.
- these people looked for a general term meaning "not heterosexual and/or not cisgender," and for them the term "queer" meant that. in doing so they would "reclaim" it, turning it from an insult to a word that means their identity or community.
- however, for some other people the term "queer" is irrevocably associated with its pre-2000s usage as an insult, and dont feel comfortable being called that.
a lot of this is centered around the american gay rights movement(s) and obviously has different definitions for different people, especially outside of the USA. some don't think it's a slur, some do, some don't care too much either way. its a lot of identity politics that have been spread out over many years and many people and therefore i'm sure that there are some people who will disagree with my explanation.
tl;dr its a word that means a lot of things for different people, so just respect how people say they want to be called.
Re: not trying to stir anything
(Anonymous) 2022-10-13 10:00 pm (UTC)(link)Re: not trying to stir anything
(Anonymous) 2022-10-14 11:55 pm (UTC)(link)Re: not trying to stir anything
(Anonymous) 2022-10-20 10:07 am (UTC)(link)