Tuesday 17 February 2015

Phobia != Hatred

The word or suffix phobia is defined as:



a type of anxiety disorder, usually defined as a persistent fear of an object or situation in which the sufferer commits to great lengths in avoiding, typically disproportional to the actual danger posed, often being recognized as irrational. In the event the phobia cannot be avoided entirely, the sufferer will endure the situation or object with marked distress and significant interference in social or occupational activities.



Quoted from wikipedia for ease of copy/paste.


So what we have as a phobia is a fear, irrational in it’s strength, which causes the sufferer to go to great lengths to avoid the cause.


Now, let’s map this across to some common usages:

– Arachnophobia – fear of spiders, will have the sufferer leaving the room, screaming for a non-sufferer to remove the creature from the vicinity.- Claustrophobia – fear of enclosed spaces, will have the suffer pushing through people, clawing at wall and doors trying to get out, or having a panic attack and going catatonic if they can’t.

– Homophobia – Fear of homosexuals, will have the sufferer doing their utmost to avoid homosexual people …


OK, we all know that’s not what we know homophobia as, it is instead an irrational hatred of the subject often resulting in mudslinging, insult throwing, violence, and death.


How we went from fear of (x) to venomous hatred of (x) I am still trying to work out, and we should really give it another name.


Why?

Well, I’m glad you asked. You see, a phobia in the clinical sense is an irrational fear of something that can be debilitating and life affecting for the sufferer, and something that clinically is treatable. By calling these bigots and hatemongers homophobes or Islamophobes we’re giving credibility to their acts, a certain sympathy to their plight.


Phobia as a word or suffix comes from the Greek ‘phobos’ which means “aversion”, “fear”, or “morbid fear”, certainly not what we see in Homophobes or Transphobes.


Were I braver I would say there is no such thing as homophobia, but I’m not quite ready for that, what I will say is that we need a more appropriate word for it and other similar prejudices.








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