Do you find the term "homo" offensive?

brianlux

This is a sincere request to find out how people younger than myself (which most of you are) respond to the term "homo".  My generation finds it offensive.  Maybe yours doesn't. I'd like to know.  I will make the poll anonymous so you can choose to reveal your feelings about the word as you please.

PJ_Soul

I only find it offensive if it is being used in an offensive/derogatory/negative context.... But really I think it's up to gay people to decide if it's offensive or not, on a case-by-case basis. What I think really doesn't matter either way. In any case, I've never used the term at all - it just isn't in my natural vocabulary, really. I've always just said gay. And I really don't hear others saying it either. Not sure if it's regional or what... Of course I heard it in only negative terms in the 90s and stuff, but that was a super duper homophobic decade, so....

Gern Blansten

I lied in the other thread....it's offensive

brianlux

Gern Blansten said:

I lied in the other thread....it's offensive

I saw what you did there and thought it was a joke.  I laughed! 

F Me In The Brain

I don't find much to be offensive. 
Depends on how it is used....it certainly can be if used in a certain way.  (And it can be used in a way that I find funny as well.)
Words live within the context they are used, I feel.

rgambs

I don't think there are many contexts in which homo is not deliberately meant to be offensive.
Most people who use words like homo and debate PC do so with the intent to be antagonistic.  They want to be offensive because they are bitter and grumpy.
I say that as someone who is prone to bitterness and grumpiness.

dignin

I don't need to be gay to know it's offensive.

F Me In The Brain

People can find anything offensive. 
Do you have any male, gay, friends?  Listen to how harsh they can be.  Homo is on the tame side.  They are joking the same way that I joke with my 250+ pound friend by calling him a fat bastard and hiding food when he comes over.  (Or pointing out that some of my patio furniture chairs have tags on the bottom stating there is a 200 lb limit...so he needs to sit elsewhere.  "The ground doesn't have any limit.")   
Could be that I am friends with assholes, no matter where they are on the sex spectrum. 
Context.

mcgruff10

F Me In The Brain said:

People can find anything offensive. 
Do you have any male, gay, friends?  Listen to how harsh they can be.  Homo is on the tame side.  They are joking the same way that I joke with my 250+ pound friend by calling him a fat bastard and hiding food when he comes over.  (Or pointing out that some of my patio furniture chairs have tags on the bottom stating there is a 200 lb limit...so he needs to sit elsewhere.  "The ground doesn't have any limit.")   
Could be that I am friends with assholes, no matter where they are on the sex spectrum. 
Context.

I think you are describing locker room talk.  
But yes, I find the word "homo" offensive.

oftenreading

People could find anything offensive, but some things are much more likely to be found offensive, generally because they are meant to be offensive and both parties know that. In the case of friends joking with each other, both parties know that offense isn’t intended. 

F Me In The Brain

mcgruff10 said:

F Me In The Brain said:

People can find anything offensive. 
Do you have any male, gay, friends?  Listen to how harsh they can be.  Homo is on the tame side.  They are joking the same way that I joke with my 250+ pound friend by calling him a fat bastard and hiding food when he comes over.  (Or pointing out that some of my patio furniture chairs have tags on the bottom stating there is a 200 lb limit...so he needs to sit elsewhere.  "The ground doesn't have any limit.")   
Could be that I am friends with assholes, no matter where they are on the sex spectrum. 
Context.

I think you are describing locker room talk.  
But yes, I find the word "homo" offensive.

Ha!  In the true sense of the term, I could make an argument for such talk.  In the Trump-ian sense...umm, no.

My friends....we rip one another constantly.  Perhaps that is because we are all jerks. 

mcgruff10

F Me In The Brain said:

mcgruff10 said:

F Me In The Brain said:

People can find anything offensive. 
Do you have any male, gay, friends?  Listen to how harsh they can be.  Homo is on the tame side.  They are joking the same way that I joke with my 250+ pound friend by calling him a fat bastard and hiding food when he comes over.  (Or pointing out that some of my patio furniture chairs have tags on the bottom stating there is a 200 lb limit...so he needs to sit elsewhere.  "The ground doesn't have any limit.")   
Could be that I am friends with assholes, no matter where they are on the sex spectrum. 
Context.

I think you are describing locker room talk.  
But yes, I find the word "homo" offensive.

Ha!  In the true sense of the term, I could make an argument for such talk.  In the Trump-ian sense...umm, no.

My friends....we rip one another constantly.  Perhaps that is because we are all jerks. 

I'm sure we are all the same when hanging out with our friends.

KC138045

Any of you homo's touch any of my stuff, and I'll kill ya!!!

rgambs

oftenreading said:

People could find anything offensive, but some things are much more likely to be found offensive, generally because they are meant to be offensive and both parties know that. In the case of friends joking with each other, both parties know that offense isn’t intended. 

Bingo.

stuckinline

I find it offensive.

KC138045

I personally don't find it offensive but I certainly wouldn't say it in certain company.

unsung

Is homosexual offensive?

rgambs

unsung said:

Is homosexual offensive?

Objection, leading the witness.

rgambs

Everyone knows where you intend to go with that, so no need to bother.  It's still offensive when it's clearly intended to be.

dignin

F Me In The Brain said:

People can find anything offensive. 
Do you have any male, gay, friends?  Listen to how harsh they can be.  Homo is on the tame side.  They are joking the same way that I joke with my 250+ pound friend by calling him a fat bastard and hiding food when he comes over.  (Or pointing out that some of my patio furniture chairs have tags on the bottom stating there is a 200 lb limit...so he needs to sit elsewhere.  "The ground doesn't have any limit.")   
Could be that I am friends with assholes, no matter where they are on the sex spectrum. 
Context.

Well yeah, I say offensive things to my friends all the time...and they throw it right back. But that's my friends and in a private setting, it wouldn't be appropriate to say those things to strangers and in public....because they are offensive.

HughFreakingDillon

for me, context matters. I would have said "alwasy offensive" in the 80's. Now, I view it more as just a descriptive term, like I said in the other thread, no different than shortening heterosexual to just hetero. 

totally depends on how it's used. But yeah, MOST of the time it is used in a derogatory manner.