An underground movement is afoot among my lesbian friends here in San Francisco and beyond. Apparently unhappy with the ages-old title lesbian, a group of soon-to-be-formerly-known-as-lesbians have launched a world-wide movement to change the name of their sexuality to gayelle.Websites devoted to the change are springing up, with the motivation said to be a persistent distaste for the word lesbian. The word lesbian dates back at least to 1732 and lesbianism appears in the 1870 Oxford English Dictionary meaning sexual orientation rather than a reference to Sappho and inhabitants of Lesbos. Gayelle, denoting anyone gay and female, is made up of the words "gay" and "elle" meaning "she" in French.
Supporters, who are hoping it takes on world-wide, say the new term is less derogatory than the word lesbian. Gayelle proponents argue that the word lesbian is antiquated and not representative of modern times nor of persons with modern views. According to Australia's Daily Telegraph, "Lesbian does not sound cheerful and fun, nor does it mean merry, like the word gay does; rather, it sounds more like loner, loser, and gay females deserve more." So why not just use the term gay? Gayelle supporters also argue that gay does not aptly reflect their sexuality as it has become associated specifically with homosexual men.
If some women-who-love-women out there find greater identity with a change of terminology I'm certainly not going to quibble. As someone who personally prefers the word queer to the word gay as a self reference (much to, I'm certain, my families discomfort), who am I to deny others their preferred sobriquet? Though I must admit that if the new term catches on, I fear any new suggestions for the Dykes on Bikes contingent leading the annual SF Pride parade just won't sound as good.
But I have to wonder why we as a gay community, and in fact any community, spend so much time, money, and effort on trying to stop discrimination and (self)hatred which all seems to stem from labels? Am I overly naive to think that the term "person" is perfectly adequate? After all, we ultimately want to be treated the same, not segregated, separated, and alienated.
4 comments:
I agree - this sort of thing seems to attach a lot of weight to a label and not the actual core of the issue. I don't know much about the history of labels, but it has always seemed to me that groups have been more successful if they managed to de-derogatize a term by openly embracing it and using it as a label of pride.
I prefer queer, privately, but professionally 'gay' is more acceptable. The word 'queer' is still a derogatory term to some especially those of an older generation. Either way, the constant shuffling and adding/subtracting to the labeling of the LGBTTIQQ, etc, community is all a bunch of drivel fueled by the homo-pomo left's love of victimization/identity politics. Boring!
As much as I've always supported the gay marraige, adoption and rights movements for many years. This is just stupid and pointless. Queer sounds more fun, gay and lesbian sound too serious. Gayelle just sounds, well, gay.
i must admit that "gayelle" sounds like a great name for dish washing liquid... "try gayelle, your dishes will be faaaaabulous!"
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