Pansies
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008In endorsing Hillary Clinton, North Carolina Gov. Mike Easley said, “…this lady right here makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy.”
Some bloggers recognize this for what it is – an anti-gay slur being used in political discourse by a member of the “friendly” party.
But all day long I’ve been hearing that I’m too easily offended, that I’m being too sensitive, that it’s just a word with multiple meanings and I’m choosing to focus on only one meaning (an offensive synonym for gay – it’s in the dictionary, I’m not making this up).
Here are some other words Governor Easley might have chosen without causing much disturbance, “weakling” “wimp” “lightweight” “coward” or “helpless”
And here are some alternative words he did not choose (righty so) because they are too obviously insensitive to minority groups: “pussy” “feeb” “sissy” “bitch” or “wuss”
Okay, fine, but using the logic that I’m intentionally looking to be offended, here are some other words that have multiple meanings, and it seems unfair that I focus on the negative derogatory one when children are being shot and killed because it’s generally okay to express anti-gay prejudice.
Faggot
Fruit
Fudge Packers
Nancy Boys
Queen
Sissy
Fairy
Pansy
Regardless of whether Governor Easley meant his remark to offend queer people or not, he needs to apologize. Like a score of racially-charged words, gender or ability-biasing words, and other subtle uses of language that reinforce institutionalized power systems, it’s time for “pansy” as a derogatory phrase to be added to the permanent “no-no” list.
I agree people need to be more careful about the words they use. We (at my office/people in the disability awareness field) are constantly trying to educate people regard the many harmful effects of the use words that hurt/promote incorrect stereotypes etc regarding people with disabilities. I am often accused of being too sensitive when people use words like retarded or only take about the person’s disability and never the person. People, especially those in the public eye, should realize how bad words like that can hurt and how much hate it helps to encourage. Keep being sensitive or else no one will recognize the need for change.
Reply