Word: queered
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Even at liberal universities, incidents of hate are not “small, isolated occurrences.” They happen more frequently than people assume, and, as Hastrup concedes, their effects extend beyond individual victims. All minority students, and especially queer students, were sent a frightening message last spring when a fellow student was beaten near a queer dance party on Harvard’s campus. Any one of the hundreds of queer and non-queer students who attended the dance could have been the victim. It is simply unfathomable how Hastrup can label this crime as an isolated occurrence...
...chair of the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA). Thoreson said he began planning the event after observing the similarities between different groups on campus that act as umbrellas for other organizations. “There is a history of racism in the queer community, beyond Harvard, as well as a history of focusing on one identity to the exclusion of communities outside that identity,” Thoreson said. “At Harvard we have mechanisms for solving that problem. After we leave, however, those mechanisms disappear, which is why it is so important to start...
Arguably, the term “homophobia” lacks semantic accuracy when it merely refers to an aversion to gays and lesbians instead of out-and-out fear. The queer rights movement has attempted to introduce more accurate terms—for example, heterosexism, which suggests a bias against queer people similar to the bias that sexism directs toward one sex. “Heteronormativity,” “biphobia,” and “transphobia” have been dismissed as products of a progressive movement with too much time on its collective hands?...
Terminology matters, and it matters to a lot of people. It helps us define ourselves at a time when minority groups—fags, dykes, queers—are often defined, whether we like it or not, by others. The proliferation of terms in the queer rights movement—especially “queer” itself—is due, in part, to a reclamation of the words that proceed or accompany fear and physical violence. Moving beyond these imposed terms, we invent new words like homophobia and heterosexism because these inventions prove more accurate, useful tools...
...semantic debate is an arena in which it’s easy to lampoon the fundamental concerns of the queer community, a community where verbal, physical, and sexual assault are not uncommon and frequently go unreported. We can debate words and make fun of pronouns, but there’s no real reason why we can’t respect each individual’s right to define gender and sexuality. It doesn’t hurt anyone, and it’s literally a matter of life and death for some students. The semantic debate is important...