Double Standards
I work at Banana Republic in Burlington on Church Street and there are several openly gay men that work there. I was astonished one afternoon to hear a particular co-worker whom is one of the openly gay men, to say: "that is so gay...." It took myself a minute to gather my thoughts. I wanted to look right at him and retort..."but your gay...why would you say that? You are insulting yourself!" After a few moments I decided I wasn't going to say anything...but it was strange.
If a straight person were to make that comment, there would be a negative connotation involved and the person would be considered to be making a pejorative comment. But why would someone who is gay, say that? I still am confused to why he made that comment. I think after he said it, he thought: "hm...did I really just say that out loud?"
My point is that I believe it is very easy for people to make these hurtful comments, even when they are a part of the group. There is a sort of double standard here where I am left wondering, "so is it okay for someone to say it if it applies to them, and not for others to say that common lingo-phrase that is so popular among our generation?"
Here is a case where the minority and often stigmatized member of a group displayed this slur...and didn't seem to think twice about how it sounded, or the message it would send.
Once again, we see an instance in which, "where do we draw the line...is a double standard okay?"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I believe that when a member of the group uses such a word, it has a different connotation than when an outsider says it. When someone else says it, the word is oppressive and wrong. When someone uses the word referring to themselves, they are changing the power of the oppressive word into their own empowerment. I call myself fat all the time and that is okay, but if some skinny chick calls me fat, there's gonna be a problem. There is a difference.
I think Brynn makes a good point in noticing that even gay people say 'thats so gay'. I do however disagree with her when she says that describing something as 'gay' in a contemporary context is a pejorative remark. I think that this scenario speaks loudly to the evolution of the word in modern culture. When an openly gay person says 'that's so gay' it leads me to believe that the term gay in this particular context has nothing to do with homosexuality.
Admittedly I have used the word gay to describe things and not once did I use it to consciously demean homosexuals, the term gay in modern American in certain contexts is not synonymous with homosexuality.
I think that there are numerous words in the current modern English vernacular that in some instances cannot be interpreted by their literal definition, and need to be understood within a context by the societal ascribed meaning.
I have always wondered about the double standard as well, where someone can make fun of a minority group becuase they are part of it, but for someone else to do it is crossing the line. although i dont agree with that, im not really in a position to say anything because im not really part of a minority group. at the same time, i think a lot of people who make fun of their own group are doing it as an empowering thing, because they are ok with it, and want to move on from oppression.
Post a Comment