My impression was that (around New England at least!) “queer” has been pretty thoroughly stripped of negative connotations. I’m sure things are different elsewhere.
Having never lived in New England I cannot comment from personal experience, and furthermore if I do live there in the future I’ll be bringing my own emotional baggage with me, so I won’t be able to judge even then. That said, I am very incredulous of this.
May I take a guess as to the social groups I suspect you’ve encountered this in? I guess that they are primarily white, male, or perhaps a good mixture of genders (but not overwhelmingly female), several of whom are not-straight, almost all of them are relatively highly educated, very lightly religious if at all, and most were not raised in industrial working class households. Is this accurate? What do you think the differences would be if you were, for example, among a group of poorly-educated factory workers who are devoutly Catholic?
But I really think that there’s a huge difference between white supporters of racial equality and non-queer “allies” WRT their relationships with the respective groups in question.
I would be very curious for you to expound upon this.
It seems, if I am not mistaken, that I may have caused some offense. If so, I apologize, and I sympathize with you if you’re in a situation where “queer” is an insult—my intended meaning was that: “straight people shouldn’t, in general, say “queer”… with rather few exceptions” isn’t the case everywhere. In fact, I’d expect that if one were to try to use “queer” as an insult around Cambridge, one would at least initially have difficulty conveying the intended meaning. We’ve even got queer straight people.
May I take a guess as to the social groups I suspect you’ve encountered this in?
Of course! I’d guess that a good first approximation of these social groups is the demographics of a good American college near a prominent body of water (for some reason, this seems to correlate with social liberalism). The only caveat beyond the implied racial re-calibration is that my social groups tend to be predominantly female. And certainly my experience would be different in other settings—as I noted in the grandparent.
But I really think that there’s a huge difference between white supporters of racial equality and non-queer “allies” WRT their relationships with the respective groups in question.
I would be very curious for you to expound upon this.
Well, that’s a whole complicated issue, but the big thing that jumped to mind was that the “supporter” group in “alternative-sexuality” politics is often lumped in with the people they’re “supporting” (gay-straight alliances, the addition of “allies” to the ever-expanding LGBTBBQ acronym...).
In fact, I’d expect that if one were to try to use “queer” as an insult around Cambridge, one would at least initially have difficulty conveying the intended meaning.
You are very optimistic. I expect that even in your area, you could easily accomplish the feat by making a disgusted face and preceding the noun with the modifier “fucking”.
Speaking as a former queer Cantabrigian (who has since moved to a different town): your expectation is entirely correct. Indeed, the “fucking” is optional; tone of voice will do the job quite well.
(EDIT: If the downvoters clarify, either in comment or PM, what it is of this comment they want less of, I might comply with their preferences.)
Having never lived in New England I cannot comment from personal experience, and furthermore if I do live there in the future I’ll be bringing my own emotional baggage with me, so I won’t be able to judge even then. That said, I am very incredulous of this.
May I take a guess as to the social groups I suspect you’ve encountered this in? I guess that they are primarily white, male, or perhaps a good mixture of genders (but not overwhelmingly female), several of whom are not-straight, almost all of them are relatively highly educated, very lightly religious if at all, and most were not raised in industrial working class households. Is this accurate? What do you think the differences would be if you were, for example, among a group of poorly-educated factory workers who are devoutly Catholic?
I would be very curious for you to expound upon this.
It seems, if I am not mistaken, that I may have caused some offense. If so, I apologize, and I sympathize with you if you’re in a situation where “queer” is an insult—my intended meaning was that: “straight people shouldn’t, in general, say “queer”… with rather few exceptions” isn’t the case everywhere. In fact, I’d expect that if one were to try to use “queer” as an insult around Cambridge, one would at least initially have difficulty conveying the intended meaning. We’ve even got queer straight people.
Of course! I’d guess that a good first approximation of these social groups is the demographics of a good American college near a prominent body of water (for some reason, this seems to correlate with social liberalism). The only caveat beyond the implied racial re-calibration is that my social groups tend to be predominantly female. And certainly my experience would be different in other settings—as I noted in the grandparent.
Well, that’s a whole complicated issue, but the big thing that jumped to mind was that the “supporter” group in “alternative-sexuality” politics is often lumped in with the people they’re “supporting” (gay-straight alliances, the addition of “allies” to the ever-expanding LGBTBBQ acronym...).
You are very optimistic. I expect that even in your area, you could easily accomplish the feat by making a disgusted face and preceding the noun with the modifier “fucking”.
Speaking as a former queer Cantabrigian (who has since moved to a different town): your expectation is entirely correct. Indeed, the “fucking” is optional; tone of voice will do the job quite well.
(EDIT: If the downvoters clarify, either in comment or PM, what it is of this comment they want less of, I might comply with their preferences.)
Well, yeah, I guess you’re right about that.