AIBU to think the word 'queer'...

[Nik2015]

...isn't acceptable?

There's a channel 4 programme called 'raised by queers'.

Surely this isn't an acceptable term????

I thought the q actually stood for 'questioning'

Oh everyone is queer now op. If you're a straight woman and straight as an arrow you can call yourself queer if you once wore a trouser suit.

But even before that it was reclaimed by gay people.

Queer as folk for example

Do you remember Queer as Folk? I think that reclaimed the word for the community

Cross post with the 'bisexual' that's a romantic with women

lgbtqia.ucdavis.edu/educated/glossary.html

Lesbian
Gay
Bisexual
Transgender
Queer
Intersex
Asexual

Not wanting to derail, but I remember noticing how frequently "queer" was used in totally different context by Enid Blyton (wonders if the modern versions have been updated):

"Your cousins must think you are a queer girl for not wanting your mother to come with you!"

"He's rich, he talks queer, and I think he's mad."

"Tim is behaving queerly!"

Queer often now has a broader definition than the old 'slur for gay people'. Some people still use it to mean 'gay', but I've only seen it used recently to describe people who are somehow off-straight but don't ascribe to another label.

@PratStick - aromantic is on the asexual spectrum. It's actually a term to describe sexuality. So you taking the piss is actually offensive.

I'm coming off this thread now. Full of fools

Pratstick what a nasty, patronising post.

It seems to be commonly used in academia. I understood it had been long-since reclaimed.

Not patronising at all. I think appropriating lgbt culture while not actually getting any of the shit and abuse to make yourself sound a bit more interesting is the shitty thing here.

I've had sex with a woman, I would do it again. I'm not bisexual but a romantic towards women. Im just not in to women and it was a bit of fun. I could get myself a sparkly name for it on the gingerbread spectrum but if you like shagging men you are not asexual.

*I am not 'bisexual but aromantic'

'Do your bloody research'
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

I am truly not be arsey, but what does "bisexual but aromantic to women" mean?

I wouldn't use it except in the original meaning of "strange".

Not because it is insulting, but because it has no other meaning, really. Heterosexual couples nowadays call themselves queer because one or both of them are "gender non-conforming", i.e. pretty normal people who don't conform to every gender stereotype there is.

It is just pointless to use it.

I call lesbians lesbian and gays gay, and if I want to talk about both, I can say "homosexual". Problem solved.

Oh everyone is queer now op. If you're a straight woman and straight as an arrow you can call yourself queer if you once wore a trouser suit.

That's about it, yes.

Thefallen 'aromantic' means you don't have romantic interest. In that poster's case no romantic interest in women. But bisexual.

Oh and apparently he Q can stand for questioning or Queer from everything google gives me. I find that odd for an acronym.

I'm not sure how that works.

how it works is that heterosexual people get to sound more interesting without having to do any of that gay stuff, or risk upsetting their parents.

Heteroflexable is also a term in the queer spectrum. It literally means a straight person who would be open to homosexual sex if they met someone and were interested. Which basically means not a homophobe.

Nope I hate it. I am bi. I'm also black and hate the n word.

Sorry but I don't do reclaimed slurs. If you want to call yourself that, it's on you but I do not. Some people, esp in the 80s and 90s but even now, will have had that word be the last word they ever hear before bigots killed them.

I also think a large part of that titling was for shock factor but it's channel 4 so whats new

I think "Questioning" is more American. They also have U for "Undecided", to make the acronym QUILTBAG.

I'm a gay, lesbian, queer and we reclaimed that Queer so I think it's fine for a title of a programme... straight people probably should still be wary of using I though m, in my experience straight people rarely use it in a positive way so it's touchy. I know loads of women and men who prefer queer over bi or gay or lesbian.

I'd definitely be on a quiltbag spectrum!

fauchelevent I agree - I have some friends who have reclaimed a sectarian slur as their own. I could cheerfully never hear the word said out loud again and I won't call anyone by it no matter how reclaimed it is.

I don't like it either (I'm bi) and I'm old enough to remember when it was in frequent use as an insult (my dad used to say it )

Homosexual is not good either - I believe that was the medicalised term used when it was considered a mental disorder.

It was also originally always lesbian and gay too as the original gay liberation movement was much more radical than now and put women first as we generally used to be second. I often see people say gay and lesbian though.

Homosexual is not good either - I believe that was the medicalised term used when it was considered a mental disorder.

Possibly, but since there's now also the word heterosexual, which is also used rather frequently, I think it can be considered a neutral description.

Interesting thing that about lesbian being first originally. I didn't know that. (With it now being all about the T, I am surprised that the movement ever really prioritised women)