Trying to be sensitive to my students over the years, I have repeatedly told them that I would rather have them say things like, "That is so gale" rather than have them say "that is so gay."
I read an interesting article at Good magazine that said several things about this word, including:
"The dislike of “gay” is an awful lot like the dislike of “retard”—both words, when used insultingly, are hated for reasons that are very compassionate. But language is an amoral beast that operates and evolves on its own, and “retard” is just one of many terms for someone of low intelligence—like “idiot” and “moron”—that moved from medicine to slang. You can’t stop language change, and I think that’s OK. It’s more important to take care of people who are retarded than to police every use of the word “retard”—even when it’s used by morons.
"Similarly, with so much real, horrible homophobia in the world, trying to censor the “lame” sense of gay is a waste of energy and a losing battle. Fighting losing battles is retarded. And kind of gay.
"
Your assignment: explore in a 1-page essay what the meanings of this word are and whether or not it is harmful. You must quote once from this article and either support or refute the quote. Use standard MLA, and be sure to include a proper works cited entry at the end. Due no later than than December 1st.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
No comments:
Post a Comment