- Joined
- Nov 22, 2021
Words can say a lot about a situation, view or stance. Putting positive or negative connotations to particular ones hold significant value. Activists notably seem to attempt to use them to depict themselves as superior in some way compared to their opposition or create euphemisms. A few of them are older once undefined concepts or spun off from existing ones. All of this can happen to any language and can effect the culture of a society.
Some examples include:
Homphobia was coined in the 1960s by a psychologist who witnessed abhorrence toward a lesbian friend while preparing to delivering a speech. He suggested that those who harbor prejudice against homosexuals, and not homosexuals themselves, are suffering from a psychological malady, an irrational state of mind. Though heterosexual himself, became a leader in the ultimately successful struggle to have homosexuality removed as a diagnostic category from the DSM, the professional therapeutic handbook. He was instrumental in shifting public perception of homosexuality
Transphobia first appeared as a word in the 1992 and is defined as "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against transgender people" when its usage generally parallels xenophobia (dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.). Arguments have been made that Transmisia would be a better term since the suffix -misia means hatred.
Native Americans were once just called "Indian" or "American Indian" for the most part but the term "Native American" came into widespread usage during the 1960s. Before that "Native American" or "native American' had been used historically by some groups in the USA to mean "Native to America" or "American Indian". The word "Indigenous" started to be used in the 1980s and is defined as "Indigenous specifies that something or someone is native rather than coming or being brought in from elsewhere: an indigenous crop; the Ainu, a people Indigenous to the northernmost islands of Japan.".
Some examples include:
Homphobia was coined in the 1960s by a psychologist who witnessed abhorrence toward a lesbian friend while preparing to delivering a speech. He suggested that those who harbor prejudice against homosexuals, and not homosexuals themselves, are suffering from a psychological malady, an irrational state of mind. Though heterosexual himself, became a leader in the ultimately successful struggle to have homosexuality removed as a diagnostic category from the DSM, the professional therapeutic handbook. He was instrumental in shifting public perception of homosexuality
Transphobia first appeared as a word in the 1992 and is defined as "irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against transgender people" when its usage generally parallels xenophobia (dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.). Arguments have been made that Transmisia would be a better term since the suffix -misia means hatred.
Native Americans were once just called "Indian" or "American Indian" for the most part but the term "Native American" came into widespread usage during the 1960s. Before that "Native American" or "native American' had been used historically by some groups in the USA to mean "Native to America" or "American Indian". The word "Indigenous" started to be used in the 1980s and is defined as "Indigenous specifies that something or someone is native rather than coming or being brought in from elsewhere: an indigenous crop; the Ainu, a people Indigenous to the northernmost islands of Japan.".
