Howdy Y'all!
"Paul C. Smith" wrote:
> > Yet, the phrasing of "a raging homosexual" implies inappropriateness.
>
> I wasn't certain of that, as I know a gay man who comfortably describes
> himself as "flaming" (is that the same as "raging"? I have no idea). I
> didn't want to speak for gay people if I didn't know whether or not they
> themselves would consider that a negative term.
I believe we have had a similar discussion concerning self vs. other use of a term
to describe a group. Thus, if a member of a groups self-defines using a particular
term it may have a vastly different level of acceptability than if someone outside
the group uses that same term. In a seperate post, Mike Scoles said it well when he
said "I am very sure that the person who posted the description did not mean it as a
compliment. It was clearly meant to be damaging to the instructor's reputation."
> I was also leading up to the point about "slanderous evaluations", and it
> would be far more difficult to make the point that the comment was
> slanderous if the individual actually was homosexual (of course, the
> "raging" part still could make it slander, but that's obviously a far more
> difficult argument to make).
What is sad is that it is simply considered slandouroous at all. I can't imagine
that being called a heterosexual would be considered slanderous whether one was or
was not a heterosexual. Why then is being called a gay or lesbian considered
slanderous if one is heterosexual? Inaccurate - yes. Slanderous implies that it is
negative.
And of course, my major point was that such public "outings" can have far-reaching
ramifications at many institutions (e.g. the individual can be fired) and in many
cities/states (e.g. loss of housing). And in what way is this "outing" on the
global network relevant to the individual's teaching effectiveness?
Warm regards,
linda
--
linda m. woolf, ph.d.
associate professor - psychology
webster university
main webpage: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/
Holocaust and genocide studies pages:
http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/holocaust.html
womens' pages: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/women.html
gerontology pages: http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/gero.html
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
