Homophobia

**Homophobia**, also sometimes referred to as **homomisia**, is the hatred of, dislike of, fear of, mistrust of, aversion to, discomfort with, discrimination against, and/or prejudice against homosexuality or gay people. This word is sometimes used to encompass bigotry towards anyone who is attracted to the same gender or sex, regardless of whether this attraction is exclusive or not (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and so on). This word can also be used to encompass bigotry towards people in the LGBTQIA+ community overall, as well as any specific identity within that spectrum. Words to describe more specific forms of homophobia exist, such as lesbophobia.

## Etymology

The word "homophobia" is derived from the word "homosexual" (which comes from *homo-* meaning "same") and *-phobia* (meaning "fear of"). The word "phobia" has been historically used in the context of clinical psychology, specifically to describe anxiety disorders in which one experiences intense irrational fear. This developed as a way to describe hatred, and not necessarily fear, through a series of events stemming from Weinberg:

> This concept of irrational need to avoid LGBTQ people was then co-opted by Weinberg in the late 1960s, when homosexuality was classified as a mental disorder, by drawing from his personal interactions with colleagues and acquaintances that fit the clinical definition for phobia, i.e. they were avoidant of people who were gay or who they suspected to be gay out of anxiety and fear. Since then, homophobia has been adopted by politicians and social commentators as a catchall term for something highly specific and unusual. Other terms such as Islamophobia or xenophobia was later coined to describe irrational fear towards other communities.
>
> - Diversity Pride, "The Misia Pledge"

The word "homomisia" is derived from the word "homosexual" (which comes from *homo-* meaning "same") and *-misia* (meaning "hatred of"). This word, alongside other words with the -*misia* suffix, was proposed as an alternative to the word "homophobia" due to the problems the *-phobia* suffix presents:

> [The word "homophobia"] relies on and reinforces the harmful stigma against mental illness; It inaccurately attributes oppression and oppressive attitudes to fear rather than to hate and bigotry; It removes the accountability of an oppressive person by implying their actions and attitudes are outside their control.
>
> - Suny Brockport, "Anti-Oppression"

## Notes

1. ↑ Homomisia is pronounced HO-mo-MIZ-ee-u.
2. ↑ The "fear of" definition only applies to homophobia, and does not apply to homomisia.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 What is homophobia?. Planned Parenthood.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Homophobia: psychology and society. Britannica.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Homophobia Definition & Meaning. Merriam-Webster.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 LGBT Resource Center (May 2010). Homophobia. University of Houston.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Resnick, Ariane (2022-12-20). What Is Homophobia?. Verywell Mind.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 The Misia Pledge. Diversity Pride.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 Anti-Oppression. Suny Brockport (2022-07-08).
8. ↑ lesbophobia. European Institute of Gender Equality.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 homo-. Wiktionary.
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 homosexual. Wiktionary.
11. ↑ homophobia. Wiktionary.
12. ↑ -phobia. Wiktionary.