lesbians don't like being called lesbians as they are not lesbians

[2shoes]

I wouldn't want to have to decide who is right, would you?

littlebella I agree and read an article about this a couple of weeks ago where the island lesbians were actually very pleased that the sapphic lesbians had made their island so popular, spent loads on booze and accomadation etc and had made the island cool and fun, except in the height of summer when apparently they were proper hooligans and the men got a bit nervous.

pmsl at nervous lesbian men

Sorry, it's comical. Go on nightynight, admit it, it is.

to be honest I have more of a problem with the usage of the word gay which I have always used to describe chuntney ferrets. The thought of some whippersnapper using it to describe a light-hearted attitiude sickens me to my core

Chuntney Ferret sounds like the name of an uptight village in Buckinghamshire

sorry what is chutney ferrets? do you mean you dont like gay being used to mean happy or you do?

I just think that the word gay should be used in its proper context to describe people who are good with colours. Not 'merry' which could apply to anyone drunk

But it is only called Lesbian in English.
Cant the English Language just agree to call the People of Lesbos, Lesbonians?

good with colours? I have never heard the word used like that!! Can you give me an example? I am so curious!

LOL cyteen!

I first read the headline as:
"Lesbian outrage on lesbos".

You know, not Lesbos the island but "lesbos". With a long -o as in Rolos. Or ASBOs.

Reminds me of the fabulous Pillow Talk with Doris Day and Rock Hudson and Rock pretends to be a gay (!) or at least disconcertingly camp interior decorator and says to fashion designer Day "Tell me about your job.
lt must be exciting,
working with all them colors
and fabrics and all."

Lordy, all those years ago (25! god, I'm old) when I came out the needs of Lesbos islanders weren't high on my mind, I have to admit. Certainly no intent to offend. I was rather more aware of all the names being applied to me that I certainly wasn't happy with.

Surely no one can seriously think that the lesbian community should be focusing its efforts on making sure that nobody refers to us by the most common inoffensive name that we have?

Still laughing at bluewolf's post...

Yes Bluewolf. My old favourite hangout was described in Lonely Planet as a Gay Place. Meaning Merry. Didnt mind, it was in the eightys when anybody of interest was either gay or bi, so we did get looooots of interesting people up snoggin at the bar, such as Randy Crawford..... Oh for a famous snog, eh?

Ach, Hester, tsk tsk. You are oppressing the poor people of Lesbos. It is your fault that people titter when they mention where they come from. I hope you are thoroughly ashamed!

Randy Crawford is gay???? [boggled/naive emoticon]

nah, she isnt gay. But she stunned my by snogging my gay friend, and he was a man. First time I wished I was in his shoes.

nah, she isnt gay. But she stunned my by snogging my gay friend, and he was a man. First time I wished I was in his shoes.

Do you mean Cindy Crawford, the supermodel, married to Rande Gerber?

You have obviously lived life in the fast lane, QS

Oh, no, see you don't!
Thought that would be more newsworthy though!

Lol Hester, long long time ago.

Misdemeanor, yes I guess it would be! I have her postnatal work out video. She is the most stunning new mum I have seen!

LOL, I am now confused. Who is gay - Randy or Cyndi?

MsDemeanor, thats not the point. What other people call themselves is affecting how the people of Lesbos are called, that is the impact it has on them.

Ive got a better idea. Lets stop calling gay women lesbian, and start calling them english instead. English = gay female. Because clearly English people have no objections to a word that means a nationality as well as a sexuality, whereas Lesbian people apparently do.

Its just wrong! Like calling Downs syndrome people mongol, or conjoined twins siamese. Nationality, sexuality, medical conditions - these are all deeply personal attributes of a human being, and language demands a separate word for each of them.

Oh don't be so daft! It is NOT remotely like calling people with Down's syndrome (the preferred terminology tbh) mongols. You are all arse about tit. You imply that this would be offensive to Mongols, and that's the opposite point. If people from Mongolia had demanded that people with Downs Syndrome never referred to themselves as Mongols because it brought 'disgrace' upon the Mongol people, would you be saying the Mongols were right? Or if people from Siam (now Thailand) opposed the use of Siamese for conjoined people because they thought they were disgusting freaks, would you support them? Because that's exactly what you are arguing now.
As Hester says, lesbian is one of the few non-derogatory words for women who love women, it's been in use for nearly 300 years, and is used all over the world. How exactly do you seriously propose to stamp it out now, and more importantly WHY would you want to?

Because the people of Lesbos are unhappy about it? and because it's ambiguous?

you dont like my suggestion of replacing it with english?

and to answer your question, it should be changed because its ambiguous, mongol, siamese, lesbian and any other nationality adjective that is linguistically misused.