Homophobia and transphobia aren't clear-cut, separate concepts
The Bilerico Project
Filed by: Alex Blaze
September 3, 2010 12:00 PM
http://www.bilerico.com/2010/09/ive_been_saying_for_a_1.php (http://www.bilerico.com/2010/09/ive_been_saying_for_a_1.php)
I've been saying for a while that perhaps the word gender-bender (if not the concept) of "homophobia" should be replaced since it doesn't really describe the whole of the concept. I'm not making the Amelia Bedelia argument that homophobes are not necessarily "afraid" so then the word doesn't apply (does hemophilia mean someone really loves blood?), but that it says nothing about biphobia and transphobia and queerphobia, all of which are about the fear and disgust people feel towards transgressions of gender and sexuality rules and the resulting anger. While it's important to understand the distinctions between gender and sexuality and sex, as well as the distinctions in the ways people break the more fundamental rules that come with "A doctor said you were X, so you must live your life a certain way,"