Inspired by a real life conversation ten minutes ago (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 week ago by khannie@lemmy.world to c/memes@lemmy.world

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[-] flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 week ago

Even knowing the etymology, for a long time I was puzzled why that term was used - it seemed that they hate gay people, not fear them. After meeting some homophobes, I was wrong. They are so utterly completely horrified by the idea of gay people existing to the level they start losing higher brain function.

[-] Kolanaki@pawb.social 1 points 1 week ago

Star Wars helped me.

"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate."

[-] Chozo@fedia.io 1 points 1 week ago

"Phobia" doesn't mean "fear", necessarily. Fear can absolutely be a factor of a phobia, but not a requirement. Technically, "phobia" just means "aversion to". For instance, hydrophobic materials aren't "afraid" of water, they just don't interact with it.

That said, when it comes to homophobes, fear is definitely a common factor. Misinformation about human sexuality leads to people being afraid of being "converted". But there are plenty of homophobes who aren't as much afraid, as much as they are just plain hateful.