Val McDermid ad on alibi-use of word "queer"

54 replies

CervixSampler · 26/06/2021 11:56

This might not be the right board so I apologise for that but I've no idea where to post this. Posters here will be knowledgable though so I figured it was my best bet.

I was enjoying my guilty pleasure of an episode or two of Father Brown and a cup of tea yesterday and an advert caught my attention as I fast forwarded through as I thought I recognised Val McDermid, so I watched with interest as she's one of my favourite authors. It was perhaps linked to Pride month and Val McDermid was talking about the need for there to be more queer people on our screens.

I get confused by acceptable use of language and I thought that 'queer' was deemed offensive. My mum uses it instead of the word 'odd' to describe something strange, not people, and I always inwardly wince as in my teens and twenties it was not an acceptable word to use. Although there was the show Queer As Folk 🤷🏼‍♀️

Is it an acceptable word to use to describe those from the LGBTQ+ community? I'd have to watch again but Val McDermid definitely used all those letters but I might have missed an A out, not sure. Or is it just acceptable within that community?

I always worry about causing offence and struggle to work out what is ok and what isn't and get anxious about getting it wrong (being assessed for ASD).

OP posts:

EmbarrassingAdmissions · 26/06/2021 12:25

"Queer" seems to have been fully integrated and accepted in the LGBTQI community. It’s up to them- It’s not a word I would use.

Acceptable to some, loathed by others as a term that doesn't apply to them when they self-describe their sexual orientation as lesbian, gay, bisexual and don't seek to engage in queer theory or gender ideology.

KimikosNightmare · 26/06/2021 12:18

I haven't read Val McDermid having been warned about the sickening levels of violence in her books.

"Queer" seems to have been fully integrated and accepted in the LGBTQI community. It’s up to them- It’s not a word I would use.

Val McDermid btw signed the counter response to the letter by authors supporting JK Rowling.

DaisiesandButtercups · 26/06/2021 12:12

I think that many people find the word offensive whilst many have embraced it so it is very confusing.

To me it means odd, unusual but also has an element of sinister and creepy or spooky. Something unsettling. I wouldn’t use it to describe gay men or lesbians because to me it seems offensive.

However there is Queer Theory which is the theory that all normative social values should be challenged and overturned because they are all inherently oppressive, and perhaps those who call themselves “queer” consider themselves proponents of queer theory. If you look it up you’ll find much more detail about but it generally seems to go along with wanting to abolish the family, the police, all institutions and authorities, the accepted meanings of words, established science etc, it is similar to some strands of anarchy and aims for the complete and unfettered freedom of the individual and individual choice. In a world where everyone is behaving that way, it seems to me that we end up with a chaotic and terrifying “might is right” situation but perhaps I misunderstand something about the theory or human nature or both…

CuriousaboutSamphire · 26/06/2021 12:06

She has long been keen in getting more LGBT+ writers into print. Decades of speaking about it.

If she wants to use queer as term to describe that cohort I suspect she can without much comment as it includes herself

nationalcentreforwriting.org.uk/article/val-mcdermid-introduces-her-selection-of-10-lgbtqi-writers/

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