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Lesbians human rights violated
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
No, not those ones.
Campaigners on the Greek island of Lesbos are to go to court in an attempt to stop a gay rights organisation from using the term "lesbian".
The man spearheading the case, publisher Dimitris Lambrou, claims that international dominance of the word in its sexual context violates the human rights of the islanders, and disgraces them around the world.
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Honestly, I'm appalled.
why don't they change the name of the island if they are that bothered?
maybe they was using the name first?
I hardly think any of them are going to give the title up easily. Probably more likely the islanders will change their name.
Silly though
It seems like homophobic nonsense to me. And as for whether or not Sappho was a lesbian (she was probably bisexual) I really don't think that's an issue.
(Interesting fact, in Classical Greece if you called a woman a lesbian you would have meant she was good at blow jobs.)
probably BECAUSE it wasnt such a widespread word tbh. didnt seem such an issue before.
I guess if the word scottish,also meant someone who loves whips chains and hard anal sex, then people from scotland might be a bit embarrassed about the word too
There are numerous instances of misnomers like this - take the cor anglais (neither English nor a horn) as an example, or French kissing - and no one makes a fuss about that.
The fact is the word DOES have some negative connotations. Its only amongst the most broadminded people that its seen as fine unfortunately. I think its a shame that they chose a word (gay women) that actually meant someone from a certain place. If theyd chosen Sapphists then it wouldnt have been so contraversial.
I mean come on, who never saw the country Lesbos without raising a snigger - seriously. Im not in the least homophobic and yet im immature enough to have joked about it at some point probably. Other people probably would either laugh about it or not even go there. I bet every single person from the english speaking world who has gone there has had comments about it, let alone anyone from there who moved elsewhere.
Telling someone where your from shouldnt be an invite for comments about your sexual preference.
i'm sure thats something they wouldn't want to be associated with either!
I don't really use the word "lesbian" often anyway because I don't like it, but I think it's a bit late to try to change the world's speaking habits now.
If I was them I'd just say "I come from Lesbos" and just accept that life is unfair.
I do get annoyed when I see "homosexual" and "lesbian" as distinct categories on forms, though.
What kind of forms ...who the hell has any right to ask or need to know?
tbh i prefer the word 'gay' rather than 'lesbian'.
i'm sure the word gay right from the start should have applied to anyone - male / female and homosexual. the original word gay came from Good As You - thats not gender specific. but 'lesbian' does seem to have, for me anyway, a derogatory sense to it whereas gay doesn't necessarily.
Or so I was told in my diversity training, anyway. I also learned that homosexual is a bad word as its very medical.