Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:23 am Post subject: An Exclusively Male Term for "Gay"?
It used to be that in colloquial terms, male homosexuals were gay and female homosexuals were lesbian. But nowadays, many lesbian women refer to themselves as gay. Being the Aspergian nitpicker that I am, it bothers me that there is a female-specific adjective but no longer a male-specific one. Or is there? (No slurs please).
Also, am I the only one who, whenever a woman says or posts "I'm gay", feels tempted to reply "no you aren't! You're lesbian"? It bugs me a lot for some reason, especially since I see the same trend in the German language as of late. Gay men don't call themselves lesbians, so why would women hog this most masculine of all terms?
Is this perhaps a feminist assault on the last exclusively male bastion? I'm kidding of course But it really bugs me because I'm a pedant who likes language to be neat and orderly. If there no longer is a male-only adjective, I'm afraid we will have to make one up in this thread or I'm going to explode. Alternatively, the word "lesbian" should be erased from all dictionaries. I'm fine with a gender-neutral adjective, but women don't get to have two
It's probably because, like in many other areas of our language, 'male' is the neutral/default setting. ie, 'gay' = person, 'lesbian' = female specific.
Joined: Oct 31, 2010 Posts: 30470 Location: Hertfordshire, UK
Posted: Sat Feb 11, 2012 9:34 am Post subject:
It's not something I'd like to see return for too many reasons to list, but in 18th C. England "Molly" referred to an effeminate male, usually homosexual.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_house _________________ Giraffe: a ruminant with a view.
It's probably because, like in many other areas of our language, 'male' is the neutral/default setting. ie, 'gay' = person, 'lesbian' = female specific.
You're fighting for a lost cause, here.
Thanks, that makes sense Too bad that there is no Greek island that is famous for a gay poet. I mean gay gay, not gay like Sappho.
Joined: Oct 17, 2009 Age: 45 Posts: 5754 Location: Vancouver, BC
Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 11:19 am Post subject:
Tequila wrote:
It's certainly possible but all the terms I can think of that are male-only are derogatory and homophobic.
Well then, it's time for us to repossess those.
In all seriousness, we will never get one of the perjoratives to take a coequal place with, "lesbian." And I'm okay with that. So lesbians get one more descriptive word than we do. I'm perfectly content to rely on the unambiguous term, "gay man," to stand as its male-exclusive substitute.
Language--especially a mongrel like english--is never neat and orderly. We can't even adopt one consistent orthography, a clean and regular system of conjugations or a standardized one-to-one correspondence of sounds and letter patterns. And you're hoping for parallel vocabulary? I admire your romanticism, but I despair of any possility of success. _________________ --James
It's certainly possible but all the terms I can think of that are male-only are derogatory and homophobic.
Well then, it's time for us to repossess those.
In all seriousness, we will never get one of the perjoratives to take a coequal place with, "lesbian." And I'm okay with that. So lesbians get one more descriptive word than we do. I'm perfectly content to rely on the unambiguous term, "gay man," to stand as its male-exclusive substitute.
One more descriptive word? There is also "sapphic", and some lesbians proudly call themselves dykes (although it would never occur to me to call them that). That's five terms already if you count gay and homosexual. I thought men should have at least one that they don't have to share But gay man works I guess. After all, there is no special adjective for bisexual men either.
Quote:
Language--especially a mongrel like english--is never neat and orderly. We can't even adopt one consistent orthography, a clean and regular system of conjugations or a standardized one-to-one correspondence of sounds and letter patterns. And you're hoping for parallel vocabulary? I admire your romanticism, but I despair of any possility of success.
It's a lot more orderly than German That's why I like the English language so much.
Language--especially a mongrel like english--is never neat and orderly. We can't even adopt one consistent orthography, a clean and regular system of conjugations or a standardized one-to-one correspondence of sounds and letter patterns. And you're hoping for parallel vocabulary? I admire your romanticism, but I despair of any possility of success.
It's a lot more orderly than German That's why I like the English language so much.
But at least German is highly literal, without all of the Latin mixed in.
Joined: Feb 26, 2006 Posts: 26047 Location: Lancashire, UK
Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 4:41 pm Post subject:
I want to have a do at Germany, visit, have a few swallies, enjoy the local atmosphere. I suspect I'd like the Germans very much indeed. Whereabouts are you from in Germany, CrazyCatLord?
But it really bugs me because I'm a pedant who likes language to be neat and orderly. If there no longer is a male-only adjective, I'm afraid we will have to make one up in this thread or I'm going to explode. Alternatively, the word "lesbian" should be erased from all dictionaries. I'm fine with a gender-neutral adjective, but women don't get to have two 
Too bad that there is no Greek island that is famous for a gay poet. I mean gay gay, not gay like Sappho.
I'm not sure if he would like the idea.
