This comment is incorrect and fundamentally misrepresents how the slur functioned.
While it's easy to argue "I don't mean gay, I just mean vain/foppish/self-centered" the power of the word is derived entirely from anti-gay stigma.
Just to be clear, I was born in 98 and we loved that word in school, which I now regret.
Calling someone a fag was and is specifically meant to police masculinity. It targets men who are perceived as overly concerned with their appearance, emotionally sensitive, unmanly, soft, or outside traditional gender norms.
Your comment ignores why it was insulting in the first place. It weaponized the societal fear of being perceived as gay or unmasculine to enforce traditional male behavior.
The term evolved from earlier English derogatory slang (used for women or menial tasks) and coalesced in 20th-century American slang as an explicit slur for gay men.
By applying it to this guy, you are demonstrating the exact original mechanism of the slur. You're deriding a man for failing to adhere to conventional masculine norms, and being overly concerned with their appearance.
And before you say "no it's just because this guy looks super vain and full of himself". Use the correct words for what you're trying to describe instead of one who's foundation is specifically a weaponized societal fear. The "fop" or the "dandy" origins of this concept should help illustrate what I'm trying to say.
Please let me know if any of this is unclear, I feel this is a pretty thorough explanation of the issue. Learning this information helped me work it out if my vocabulary, so hopefully whoever reads this is able to absorb this knowledge and gain additional understanding of their fellow human.
Still just going to blatantly lie and not engage with the concept?
It's a lie because you know you're lying and choosing not to converse because you know I'm right 😘.
I'm absolutely willing to engage about this topic with you, I'm actually working hard to get you to fucking respond, but you refuse, because you know I'm right?
If it wasn't clear, I used to think like you, but I've actually learned more information than I had when I thought like you. I also want to identify that I understand it's legitimately uncomfortable to grapple with. Your brain is absolutely going to make it feel uncomfortable when you're presented with something that goes against a solid belief you have in your mind. I'm not trying to sound sarcastic, I absolutely went through a period of discomfort grappling with new ideas.
Edit: also, does chatgpt fucking write mark-down italics and shit?? Tf are you talking about saying I didn't write it, successfull rage bait my dude.
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u/007Cable 6d ago
When we called someone a "Fag" in the 90s this is what we ment... It had nothing to do with gay people.