Homophobia in 140 characters or less

[Taeryyn]

So, Slap Upside the Head linked to this site, NoHomophobes.com, and I thought I'd share it with you.

What it does is keep track of gay slurs or other derogatory language that are being used on Twitter, and the idea is to raise awareness about (and put an end to) casual homophobia.

As I type this, there have been about 20,000 tweets mentioning "f*****t" today, and the counter is steadily ticking upwards. It's also tracking "no homo", "so gay", and "dyke".

I don't actually use Twitter myself, but I figured that this was interesting enough even for those of us who don't tweet.

-Are you surprised by how often these terms are used?
-How much of it do you think is casual? For example, people just not thinking or caring about the language they're using, as opposed to people who are actually trying to be insulting or hurtful.
-How often do you encounter casual (or outright malicious) homophobia on Twitter? If so, to what degree does it bother you, if at all?  

[Purple Robot Queen]

I'm inclined to believe that much of that usage is out of casual, unconcerned use of language. Of course I can't confirm that, though.  

[loonaboots]

-Are you surprised by how often these terms are used?

in all honesty?
no, i'm not. and mainly, it's because of the school i am at, and the school i transferred from, although mainly the one i used to go to.
at the school i go to, it's mostly people not thinking- one girl said "if you have a tumblr, you's gay." it's small stuff like that, but it's still pretty casual. people will also say "that's so retarded," "you're so gay," "you're retarded," and a bunch of stuff like that without thinking, too.
and at the school i used to go to, it was much, MUCH worse- people would say it blatantly, and knowing that they said it. we would have all these seminars on things like not saying homophobic things (they should really get on biphobia, acephobia, and all that, too), and to not say anything that would be classified as albeist- although they only said "don't say 'retarded,' it's rude and offensive." and people would literally leave the room and the first thing they would say was:

"dude, that was so retarded. how gay was the person saying that?"
"so gay."

seriously, i probably heard that at least five times, if not double that amount for each one. .-.
the best part is that they have a gsa and all these "safe space" signs with rainbow backgrounds.

so safe. /sarcasm

-How much of it do you think is casual? For example, people just not thinking or caring about the language they're using, as opposed to people who are actually trying to be insulting or hurtful.

most of it is probably casual. once you start, it can be a bit of a habit- i tend to drop swear words here and there a lot. so if you start saying homophobic stuff, it most likely will become a habit eventually. but much of it is in fact intentional. although a lot of it is very much intentional.

in short, 78% intentional, 22% non-intentional.

-How often do you encounter casual (or outright malicious) homophobia on Twitter? If so, to what degree does it bother you, if at all?

well, i just joined twitter and i follow three people. i have never encountered it yet.

also, completely random, but one of the tweets that showed up on the counting the tweets thing only said "i call it our zen time." XD

 

[noigel]

"Do homosexuals know they can be gay without acting like faggots?"
WTF. surprised  

[noigel]

This amazing yet very sad at the same times. Just goes to show you: EVERYTHING you put on the internet is available to everyone.  

[NocturneKefka666]

I would not reccomend making a drinking game out of that site,you will get alcohol poisoning!!!  

[Taeryyn]

NocturneKefka666

I would not reccomend making a drinking game out of that site,you will get alcohol poisoning!!!

rofl

A gangster rap music drinking game, though, could be a fun idea. Drink every time someone says "b***h", "gay", "f**", or "no homo".  

[NocturneKefka666]

Taeryyn

NocturneKefka666

I would not reccomend making a drinking game out of that site,you will get alcohol poisoning!!!

rofl

A gangster rap music drinking game, though, could be a fun idea. Drink every time someone says "b***h", "gay", "f**", or "no homo".

Drink of choice?  

[lenon01]

-Are you surprised by how often these terms are used?
Honestly? No, although it's still a bit of a shock to see it in numbers.

-How much of it do you think is casual? For example, people just not thinking or caring about the language they're using, as opposed to people who are actually trying to be insulting or hurtful.
There seems to be a percentage of people who are using it in ways that aren't supposed to be hurtful, and the selection 'so gay' probably have a percentage of actual gay people using it in an 'I'm so gay that x' kind of way, but the fact that they're using slurs that are known for being homophobic doesn't really help their case.

-How often do you encounter casual (or outright malicious) homophobia on Twitter? If so, to what degree does it bother you, if at all?
I don't have any social networking anything, really, but it would agitate me to no end.  

[lenon01]

Also, I was looking at the posts and I saw one where the word 'dyke' was used as the kind that is used as a ditch for water or whatever that is.
mrgreen  

[TigerLilyChick]

Wow, looking at the posts, I saw one that said "Can you tell [insert first name here] that she looks like a dyke with that haircut?"

I'm not surprised that people use these terms that often (for a while, my high school administrators said they would suspend anyone who used the word "gay". I think it's because someone used that word to offend a kid who is actually gay) and people use these word casually, but the post that I just mentioned was used to intentionally hurt someone.  

[ForeverDreamWithinADream]

-Are you surprised by how often these terms are used? Not, really. I lost faith in humanity long ago. Well not completely, but seen how cruel and hurtful people can be.
-How much of it do you think is casual? For example, people just not thinking or caring about the language they're using, as opposed to people who are actually trying to be insulting or hurtful. Depends. I think some is just lack of not thinking without meaning to hurt anyone. That "No Homo" saying was based of a meme/joke and been going around a lot. They probably think it is just funny. not realizing that people (I think it came from the Yu-gi-oh abridge video) would find it hurtful and some just won't find it funny. Some words are used so often, it used causally, still doesn't make it less offensive or hurtful.
-How often do you encounter casual (or outright malicious) homophobia on Twitter? If so, to what degree does it bother you, if at all? I don't use Twitter. It depends on what is being said and their intent behind it. Calling someone a f*g or dyke is just rude and usually said to someone as a insult. I been called one before at some mall and it was hurtful.



lenon01-I think they meant dike. sweatdrop Sounds similar, but have different spelling and meaning. They probably hear and see the other word so often that they don't even know the difference.  

[castrillo]

I think most of it is casual tbh, not saying that justifies it but I mean, I'm pretty sure they'd have high numbers if they looked up n*gger as well.

Plus. the twitter community is ratchet anyways. 50% of those tweets were probably by fellow LGBT haha.  

[PeachPunk]

That's a bit scary and funny at the same time. But i think it would be better if they included more gay slurs (there's a lot of them) and kept track of the ones on other social networking sites as well, like Facebook, Tumblr, etc.  

[lenon01]

Playboy Karasu Uchiha

lenon01-I think they meant dike. sweatdrop Sounds similar, but have different spelling and meaning. They probably hear and see the other word so often that they don't even know the difference.

Oh? Well that's new.
I have actually never seen 'dike'. Even when referring to ditches or whatever those are, I've only ever seen it spelled 'dyke'.

That's really odd.