Quote: Worlds Apart "So, the other thread was rather annoying to me, as it basically consisted of a large number of straight people saying how homophobia wasn't a problem.
The statement 'I have the right not to be offended by homophobic abuse' coming out of the mouth of a straight person is meaningless. Of course you have the right to not be offended - why would you be? Just as a white person wouldn't be offended by the use of the N word towards them, just as men are not offended by misogyny, so straight people are not hurt by homophobia.
Sexism, Racism, Homophobia, Transphobia & Ableism are all vile. They seek to take a characteristic of one person and use that against them, to isolate them from everyone else by flagging up one part of them that is seen as 'unnatural', 'wrong' or somehow to be valued less. This only works because society is built on a set of unquestioned assumptions about how people are, and how they behave.
It's for that reason we can's just ignore it. 'Can't we all just get along and not care' is a way of excusing the priveliged position some people find themselves in. If we don't talk about sexuality, people will consistently assume that I'm straight. My sexual identity becomes something I have to hide or conserve because nobody questions the assumptions held by the vast majority of society.
I understand that for many people this seems like a fuss over nothing, and that Zak's use of 'F****t' wasn't a problem. Please take some time to appreciate how well off you are, that abuse like that isn't directed at you, explicitly and implicitly, on a daily basis. That your sexuality is considered the norm in society, that no-one will abuse you in the street simply for holding your partners hand.
The video below is about race & gender, but the point it makes is equally applicable to the problem of straight privelige and heteronormativity we see in society today.
rlhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v
Privilege is invisible to those who have it. '"
Good job on posting this. Though i would slightly dispute the idea that white people aren't 'offended' by racism and men aren't 'offended' by misogyny. I am a white man and get offended by both when i hear them. I assume you mean more 'are not personally impacted by...'
But all this 'played like a girl' / 'don't be a woman about it' stuff that is said in sports and a lot on here on the other thread is just as bad as it is implying that it is unacceptable to display such qualities.
The job i do, 86% of its members are female and if i said on here what the job was, i suspect a decent sample would say things like 'get a proper job', or 'that's not a man's job' or those sorts of things.
It is essentially insecure members of a 'ruling majority' (whether that be white vs ethnic minorities, hetero vs homosexual, able bodied vs not) feeling threatened in some way about their own deficiencies so then try and belittle those in a smaller group to make them feel better about themselves.