Is "homosexual" too clinical?

[ShiftyNJ]

I thought I heard that "queer " was emerging as the catch all for "everyone except straight Cis monogamous people" but I think a lot depends on which conference you attend.

[Hardheaded1]

The queer lobby wishes it would catch, but it isn't.

I haven't met a single person who self-identifies as queer. It may have a contingency in some urban settings, but it isn't appealing to the great unwashed out here.

[princealbertofb]

The word is still widely used in queer and gender studies, though.

[Hardheaded1]

Of course "queer" is used in queer and gender studies. It's not as if the air at universities isn't rarefied or swayed by the breezes of fashion or currency. It has proven useful in both allowing a generic grouping of the alphabet soup without writing out the endlessly growing collection of letters after LGBT. It also sounds edgy, giving the professors/universities/students that cache of modernity.

But their lingo is not exactly the common tongue of the great majority of the population.

"Queer" has consistently failed to gain the traction that its champions have hoped. It is a fading term as homosexuals become more mainstreamed with every passing court ruling and Good Morning America segment.

[princealbertofb]

Of course "queer" is used in queer and gender studies. It's not as if the air at universities isn't rarefied or swayed by the breezes of fashion or currency. It has proven useful in both allowing a generic grouping of the alphabet soup without writing out the endlessly growing collection of letters after LGBT. It also sounds edgy, giving the professors/universities/students that cache of modernity.

But their lingo is not exactly the common tongue of the great majority of the population.

"Queer" has consistently failed to gain the traction that its champions have hoped. It is a fading term as homosexuals become more mainstreamed with every passing court ruling and Good Morning America segment.

All of this is true. I can't disagree, but don't make fun of some really serious studies that probably got us to where we are now, will you? I think the term Queer was partly owned by the British (of the same generation as Quentin Crisp) so it is a bit passé now.

[Hardheaded1]

I do not refer to the content of queer study courses as trendy, but to the marketing of them . Be very sure that courses do indeed compete in a marketplace, as do universities and professors. Noting linguistic trends or their advocates is not tantamount to making fun of them.