The title says it all. In a sort of way that (not trying to be offensive) black people say n**** to each other.
Personally, I don't like it. I also don't like using the derogatory n-word or others of a similar nature.
My friends and I use it all the time. Whenever anyone does anything stereotypically gay, one of the others will say "Fag." or something of the sort. I find it hilarious. If someone attempts to use that as a slur with me, my response is usually "Really? Is that the best you have?" And a friend of mine, who is a shift manager, had someone come into his store and say "I don't want to talk to the fag." His response is "Well, the fag's in charge, so how can I help you?" It was pretty disarming for the guy. This word only has negative power if we give it power.
^This. I mean, I honestly don't see the big deal behind any words that are considered "curse" words or derogatory words. In the end, they're just words. They're a bunch of letters someone stuck together, and at one point a lot of them were used to mean something completely diffferent. Only now they have negative connotation because we gave it that connotation. So bottom line. Doesn't really bother me.
I very much agree with the: "This word only has negative power if we give it power.". I also use it in jokes with people of like nature, and have simply agreed in cases it's been used against me.
I just want to point out the irony in this thread's title. The word "queer" itself is still seen as derogatory by many :lol:
^^ I second that. I personally find it hilarious and use it often with my friends, and i'll even call myself "faggot". Just like queer, it's almost like we take the words they try to use against us and repurpose them, which i love.
I use the word, and other common slurs directed at gay males, when referring to myself in jest. They sound amusing to me, and I haven't found them offensive when directed at myself. However, I never use them to refer to others.
I'll use gay as an insult, honestly to just rile people up. So, I guess I'm a bit of an edgelord in that sense I don't use faggot, though. It's like queer, in that I find it uncomfortable to use.
I think it depends in which generation you grew up in. Both queer and faggot are still slurs in my book.
Personally, I don't like that word because it represents a lot of hatred to our community, but I respect that some non-straight people like to use it in a way to normalise it. Anyhow, as I said, I prefer not to use it. I feel bad when people use that word (which is different in my native language, obviously), but I think some people don't realise of the impact that it has.
Although I think I understand the logic behind reclaiming a word, in practice when i hear faggot it makes my gut hurt. Especially if someone's calling another person one
The word should be returned to the original meaning. Cigarettes. I'm not a smoker, but it still annoys me when words get misused like that.
My friends and I normally don't use the term - even as a joke, because a lot of the time other people think it's okay to use it, but the way in which they use it is degrading and mean. Some people can't tell the difference between lighthearted name-calling between friends and using these types of terms as a derogatory slur.
I can laugh about it if the word is used among friends in an ironic way, but I personally prefer not to use it.