WHY IS IT THAT GUYS THAT ARE HOMOSEXUALS ARE GAY AND WOMEN WHO ARE HOMOSEXUALS ARE LESBIANS,, AND THEY SAY LESBIAN AND GAY ARENT THEY ALL JUST GAY?? OR ARE LESBIANS NOT GAY BUT JUST WANT TO LOOK LIKE ONE???
2006-07-07 11:42:22 · 10 answers · asked by scottfamilytribe 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Cultures & Groups ➔ Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender
Well, it all comes down to playing with words. And as a linguist I try to be correct and precise with the language I use.
All homosexuals - male or female - are homosexual. Full stop.
The word "gay" means happy, jolly, joyful, joyous and carefree. It has been hijacked in recent years by (predominantly male) homosexual pressure groups as a replacement for the word "homosexual", which - for some strange reason - they seem not to like very much. Now a lot of people misuse the word "gay", which has even a negative effect on literature written before the homosexual PR offensive (e.g. the operetta "The Gay Hussar" is not about a homosexual in the Cavalry, but many young people today think it is).
The word "lesbian" is derived from the Greek island of Lesbos, which is located in the Eastern Aegean Sea. There the Greek poet Sappho lived and ran a school for girls in the 6th century BCE. Many of her poems are about her passion for her students, termed in antiquity "gynerasty", the female counterpart to the male "pederasty". Sappho's association with love between females led to the current meaning of the word "lesbian", as well as to the rarer used word "Sapphism".
I hope this will clear up all linguistic misunderstandings.
2006-07-07 21:09:12 · answer #1 · answered by Sean F 4 · 5⤊ 2⤋
For the record, "gay" meaning homosexual is not a recent event.
Also, "gay" is an adjective, not a noun.
I won't get into the politics of the words that weren't specifically mentioned, but my understanding is as follows:
"Gay" used to mean pretty much "non-straight". Men and women, bisexual or strictly what we would today call "gay".
People realized that women are oppressed and invisible. Lesbians face a very special invisibility because no one ever talks about them. Even most opponents of gay rights tend to focus on the male (because that evokes disgust in the primarily male patriarchical audience, whereas lesbians aren't so easy to portray as "bad" or "yucky", because they're instead "hot").
I think it was the early 90's, then, when the switch started to take place. Queer Nation came along, and spelled it out pretty well: people associate "gay" with male, so why not go with it and just also talk about "lesbians" (a word which DID already exist, but wasn't used as frequently). Since then, we get "Gay men and Lesbians".
2006-07-09 02:04:28 · answer #2 · answered by Atropis 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The words homosexual and lesbian are the victorian terms given by doctors who diagnosed it as an illness. The word gay came about in I think it was th 60's when there were protests for equality and banners read G.A.Y which was abb. for Good As You and so it sort of stuck!
2006-07-07 19:01:34 · answer #3 · answered by Karen S 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Does it really matter? That's like saying why are people who are overweight called fat and, why are people who are underweight called skinny. Nobody should have a label attached to them. We are who we are and that's that. If anybody needs to ask dumb questions about it, perhaps they should take a deeper look at themselves. If you had any understanding of homosexuality you would also realise that most "lesbians" do not look like men. Perhaps it intimidates you, and even if they do look like men then that is their personal choice and it shouldn't be anybody elses business
2006-07-07 19:02:47 · answer #4 · answered by funky_shambles 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We are all homosexuals, or gay people, but ask the same question of men and women generally... why are there different names for men and you add two letters for women?
2006-07-07 19:05:46 · answer #5 · answered by blueowlboy 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
a very interesting point. I presume because there is a special word for gay women (lesbian - from lesbos and all that greek historical stuff).
Gay men also have special names, but they are usually insulting!
2006-07-07 18:51:06 · answer #6 · answered by The Drunken Fool 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its just a label, like the "classes" of gaydom. Some people use them and feel comfy with them, some don't care. Gay is a general term, but it does get applied to men more, just a language thing I believe.
2006-07-07 20:18:22 · answer #7 · answered by Mithrandir_black 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gay is an umbrella word for GLBTs as well as the word for "gay" There are different meanings of the various types of sexuality.
Gay - male sexually attracted to males
Lesbian - female sexually attracted to females
Bisexuals - sexually attracted to both sexes
2006-07-07 19:23:42 · answer #8 · answered by michellesm 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well - I'm straight and I don't care what they call me. So they can call themselves what they want as far as I'm concerned. The trick is 'Are they all good people'. - Generally - Yes the same as straights.
2006-07-07 18:53:22 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are all just labels, lesbian, bi, straight, gay, or whatever.
2006-07-07 19:34:48 · answer #10 · answered by MindStorm 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋