Armed wh a mera and an overdraft, I ma a documentary about what young people mean by ‘gayns’ and why olr people fd so upsettg
Contents:
THE 'GAY' WORD: WHAT DO MEAN WHEN YOUNG PEOPLE E NEGATIVELY?
* gay bad slang *
When I was growg up, I noticed somethg about the word “gay”. A word that origally meant happy and reee beme a ntral label to scribe homosexualy, and end up beg a term ed to ppot somethg people don’t like, fd embarrassg, or want to distance themselv do this mean that young people are more homophobic than ever before?
He says: “We fd schools have high levels of sual homophobic language, and high rat of homophobic bullyg.
” However Durham soclogist Mark McCormack argu the way the word “gay” is beg ed do not rry homophobic tent. “But ’s very hard for people who heard ‘gay’ as beg solely homophobic, like I did growg up, to see that n mean somethg different to a different generatn.
GAY SLANG 101
“The problem wh sayg ‘that’s so gay’ is that even though you and your iends might know you’re not beg homophobic, if you’re g a public or semi-public space, other people might see you as homophobic, ” he jt my stunt overdraft as my budget, I cid to make a documentary explorg how this piece of language had evolved, and speak to people both gay and straight to see how they felt aboutthe word takg on a negative gay people I spoke to were ntent wh the word evolvg, while there were straight people who were outraged. Younger people, whom we might have expected to have more awarens of what means to intify as gay bee of media verage, were often the mographic fendg the negative e of this olr people I spoke to felt strongly that should not be allowed to be ed negatively. The language we e, nscly or subnscly, n reflect our feelgs towards “rgh, that’s gay” reveals a lack of llective unrstandg of what means to intify as gay.
Equal marriage legislatn may suggt that society has advanced s thkg, but there remas a gap s grasp of gay inty, culture and the week leadg up to the premiere of my documentary, The Gay Word, s trailer was shown a London cema.
Staff noticed how the dience’s body language often shifted and beme awkward on jt seeg the word gay projected on Soho, I hand out stickers promotg the film and reactns were mixed.