Why is it....?

Discussion in 'Lesbian' started by EclecticMariJayne, Jul 17, 2004.

  1. EclecticMariJayne

    EclecticMariJayne Member

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    Why do females have GAY, and LESBIAN but men appear to have only GAY to describe their sexual "preference"? (Without getting into normally-considered hateful slang terms.)
    Curious. Any thoughts?
     
  2. Defence_mechanism

    Defence_mechanism Member

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    something to do with political correctness perhaps?

    maybe because when the word "gay" started to refer to homosexuals as opposed to 'happy' people only really talked about gey men... oh i dont know!!
     
  3. butterfly

    butterfly Member

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    Because gay describes homosexual, and lesbian describes female homosexual...I don't know, maybe no one knew female gays existed at first....
     
  4. SageDreamer

    SageDreamer Senior Member

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    I'm sure there are women on this forum who can give an even better answer than I can, but I do have some feelings on the subject.


    The word "lesbian" comes from Lesbos, the Greek island where Sappho first wrote about love between women. A man who loves men isn't a lesbian, unless he is a Greek guy from Lesbos. On that island, technically speaking everyone is a lesbian.

    The word "homosexual" means same sex, but too many people thought it meant that it referred to someone who loves men. The Latin "homo sapiens" refers to humans, and so some people thought "homo" meant "man." Not quite.

    In the early days of the gay movement, some women felt that the word "gay" made people think of gay men, and that another word needed to be used to point out that, "hey, women can be gay too!" There was a sense that lesbians were oppressed as women in addition to being oppressed as homosexuals.

    Many years ago there were more special words to point out that a person doing something was female. Amelia Earhardt was a female aviator, and they would refer to her as an aviatrix. A woman who was a poet was a poetess, and a female murderer was a murderess. These words (and others like them) are still in the dictionary, but I haven't heard them for years.

    Long before my time, there was a word "urning" that referred to gay men. I'm not sure where it came from. I don't feel any special need for an extra word for gay men.
     
  5. Personface

    Personface Tennessee Jed

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    That's what I would say too. It's just a way to distinguish.
     
  6. Snowdancer

    Snowdancer Member

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    Just one of those rare things I accepted without question. My curiosity now perked I did a few web searches & here's what I found.
    Snowdancer
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    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay
    Gay

    Gay, in addition to meaning "joyous" or "glad", also means homosexual.

    The word gay has had a sexual meaning since at least the nineteenth century (and possibly earlier) – in Victorian England, female and male prostitutes were called "gay" (because they dressed gaily). Eventually, "gay boys" (renters) became used as a term for any male homosexual. In the United States, the term may have arisen from the hobo community: a young hobo, a "gay cat" or "geycat", often had to befriend an older more experienced hobo for education and survival. Such a relationship was implicitly sexual, hence the term "gay cat" came to mean "a young homosexual".

    A quote from Gertrude Stein's "Miss Furr & Mrs. Skeene" (1922) is possibly the first traceable use of the word, although it is not altogether clear whether she uses the word to mean lesbianism, or happiness.
    They were ... gay, they learned little things that are things in being gay, ... they were quite regularly gay.

    Noel Coward's 1929 musical Bitter Sweet is the first uncontestable use of the word, in the song Green Carnation, four overdressed, 1890s dandies sing:
    Pretty boys, witty boys, You may sneer
    At our disintegration.
    Haughty boys, naughty boys,
    Dear, dear, dear!
    Swooning with affectation...
    And as we are the reason
    For the "Nineties" being gay,
    We all wear a green carnation.

    Coward uses the 'gay nineties' as a double entendre.


    The term can be used exclusively or inclusively. The exclusive meaning refers only to men who prefer sexual or romantic relationships with other men. The inclusive meaning refers to both men and women who prefer sexual or romantic relationships with their own sex (though there is some disagreement about this, hence the term "lesbians and gay men" – see homosexuality). Whether bisexuals are included in either of those meanings is a matter of debate (see bisexuality).

    It has been claimed that "gay" was derived as an acronym for "Good As You", but this is a folk etymology.

    The word "gay" is also used in juvenile slang to express derision or mockery. For example, "my computer is acting gay", or "that hat is so gay". The derogatory implication is usually that the object in question is inferior, weak, effeminate, or just stupid. In some parts of the United States, this slang is very common among young people, many of whom do not link their usage and the homosexual usage. Another spelling, "ghey", is sometimes found on the Internet and is supposedly used either to insult without reference to homosexuality or to bypass chat room censors. See also: fag.

    According to the Safe Schools Coalition of Washington's Glossary for school employees: "Homosexual: Avoid this term; it is clinical, distancing and archaic. Sometimes appropriate in referring to behavior (although same-sex is the preferred adj.). When referring to people, as opposed to behavior, homosexual is considered derogatory and the terms gay and lesbian are preferred, at least in the Northwest."

    ===================================================

    http://members.aol.com/drlatrans/feb02coyote.html
    Educated Coyote, where does the term “gay” come from? - Confused Hominid.
    Confused:
    The derivation of “gay” to mean homosexual is uncertain. We do know that it has been used for at least a century as a code word for homosexuality. One story has it that “gay” in its current sense was originally Royal Navy slang, but some evidence suggests that story is -forgive the pun- all wet.

    =====================================================
    http://www.able2know.com/forums/a2k-post586572.html
    According to The Oxford English Dictionary:

    gay: Of a person: homosexual. Of a place: frequented by homosexuals.

    slang.
    1935 N. Ersine, Underworld & Prison Slang, 39 Geycat,... a homosexual boy.

    1951 E. Lambert, Sleeping-House Party vii. 74 In a way it was an odd threesome. It occurred to me that Esther rather hung round our two gay boys.

    1955 P. Wildeblood Against Law i. 23 Most of the officers at the station had been 'gay' ... an American euphemism for homosexual.
    Ibid. iii. 105 The place [sc. a prison] is packed with gay people who are in for something else.

    1963 A. Heron Towards Quaker View of Sex iii. 24 These may form the 'queer' society; these will frequent 'gay' bars.

    absol.
    1966 A. Firth Tall, Balding, Thirty-Five xv. 194 Would he ever dare, even if he wanted to, join the shrill freemasonry of the London gay?

    1968 Globe & Mail Magazine (Toronto) 13 Jan. 6/1 A coffee shop frequented by the gay.
     
  7. Defence_mechanism

    Defence_mechanism Member

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    actually, the island was a myth and it supposedly only had women on it. therefore every woman on the island was a lesbian. sappho lived there, hence sappho being a lesbian.
     

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