(October 29, 2010 at 9:40 pm)Skipper Wrote: Homophobia, despite ending in "phobia" isn't an irrational fear of gay people though is it?!!? Thats not what the word means! It is a prejudice, an unfounded, bullshit, narrow minded prejudice.
True phobias aren't just about fear. I should elaborate - I mean true psychological phobias, of which homophobia is one. Phobias are about a mix of troubling emotions. They manifest themselves as fear, but contain strong elements of anger and real grief. They are almost always about a situation in one's external reality, which usually reflects something going on internally that threatens the cohesion of the personality of the individual. At some level, homophobes always have a fear of some bisexual or gay feelings that they have at some level experienced. That level need not always be very obvious. Stereotypes about gay or bisexual people tend to get in the way of finding that.
