Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Fear, hatred, or mistrust of lesbians and gay men.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A strong dislike or fear of homosexuals, especially to an unreasonable degree.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Fear, dislike, or hate of homosexuals.
- noun obsolete, individual occurrences A
pathological fear ofmankind .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun prejudice against (fear or dislike of) homosexual people and homosexuality
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Certain people have suggested that the term homophobia is inappropriate because it marginalizes those that are opposed to gay marriage.
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The term homophobia, like the term xenophobia, has larger social implications than simply what is happening on the individual level.
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Indeed, homophobia becomes nearly synonymous with homosexuality, a realization that has spurred recent efforts to discard the term homophobia in favor of heterosexism, a political move that favors the materialist account over the psychoanalytic one. (emphasis added).
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Indeed, homophobia becomes nearly synonymous with homosexuality, a realization that has spurred recent efforts to discard the term homophobia in favor of heterosexism, a political move that favors the materialist account over the psychoanalytic one. (emphasis added).
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Use of the term homophobia to describe prejudice against gays thus seems to imply that such prejudices arise from unfamiliarity or fear.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Another Word I Will Gladly Continue To Use: 2007
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This brings up the second problematic aspect of using the term homophobia to describe violent or prejudicial action towards someone perceived to be gay or who does not conform to cultural expectations of sexuality.
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This brings up the second problematic aspect of using the term homophobia to describe violent or prejudicial action towards someone perceived to be gay or who does not conform to cultural expectations of sexuality.
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That is, the term homophobia was first used to describe the likes of Terry Mark Mangum.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Another Word I Will Gladly Continue To Use: 2007
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The term homophobia implies a fear of homosexuals.
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Also, while I appreciate your reluctance to use the term homophobia to describe certain people who might be allies, I disagree with your argument here.
amagnano commented on the word homophobia
From Camille Paglia, "Crisis in The American Universities."
Let me go on. I have a whole list here of reforms. I'm going to sound like Martin Luther! A couple of things. The abuse of language has got to stop. Throwing around words like racist and homophobic and so on. Now, homophobic has a specific psychological meaning. It means someone who's obsessed with homosexuality, so that you go out and maybe kill or maim someone who is homosexual because of your own inner fear that you may be having homosexual impulses. It's a true phobia. We cannot allow the word homophobic to be constantly used for anyone who says, "I don't like gay people" or "I think homosexuality is immoral, according to the Bible." We cannot be misusing this word.
December 12, 2006
Prolagus commented on the word homophobia
The big fat gay collab!
Don't miss the French version, perhaps even better.
May 27, 2009
reesetee commented on the word homophobia
Ha! Pro, that needs a NSFW label!
May 27, 2009
kevinz_sanity commented on the word homophobia
This 'definition' for homophobia is incorrect. Phobia means fear, not hate or mistrust.
The second 'definition' includes the qualifier 'to an unreasonable degree'. This is a foolish definition, as there is no reference for what is reasonable. The object of this slander shall argue that their opinions ARE reasonable, thus rendering the use of this term as incorrect by definition.
"Antipathy for homosexuals" would correctly be labeled 'homoantipathia'.
"Dislike/hatred of homosexuals" would be correctly labeled as 'homomiso'
As this site is about words and correct definitions (not politics, presumably) the definitions ahould be correct and accurate.
March 5, 2023