Offensive and NSFW name:: Fag Hag

I can understand the reasoning behind the name, but as it is it could be offensive to people and it is Not Safe for Work. I can't think of any good names right now, but we should change the name of the trope to avoid offensiveness.

Is it a pre-established term?

DQZ: Yes. I remember hearing it at least as far back as the late 1990s.

It's pre-established. If there's an equally popular term that's not offensive, I'll be happy to see it.

Yeah, Fag Hag has been a term used in western gay culture for at least 20 years. You're right that it isn't without controversy, but that's addressed in the description. For what it's worth, I'm gay and the term is fine by me, though I can only speak for myself.

edited 12th Jun '11 1:00:22 PM by DesertDragon

90's? Try "well-established within the gay community by the early 70's" and outside of it by the late 70's.

Mona Ramsey refers to herself as one (offering no explanation of the term at all, indicating that the author assumed that his readers would know what she meant), in Armistead Maupin's Tales Of The City which was published as a book in 1978, 4 years after it was originally published as a serial in the the Marin County newspaper "The Pacific Sun" in 1974.

edited 12th Jun '11 1:13:15 PM by Madrugada

The other common term, Fruit Fly really isn't an improvement.

NSFW? Some pretty strict rules you have there. I find the name perfectly ok. It's used in offensive context every now an then, but it's an established, pre-existing term for the phenomenon.

Maybe I should have said "potentially NSFW," but I see what you mean. I guess the main problem here is the potential to offend people then.

To clarify, I myself am not personally offended.

edited 12th Jun '11 1:55:49 PM by thiefoftime

I thought it meant a woman who smokes too much. The main concern, I think, would be clarity as opposed to political correctness.

edited 12th Jun '11 3:40:03 PM by halfmillennium

I don't think a rename would clarify. This is the most commonly used term for this trope. It's used commonly in mainstream media and in common parlance.

Other way around. As a term it's clear and understood. But people may take offence to it, and the first word isn't always considered only a mild epithet.

Ever since I first heard this term, I've wondered why it caught on at all. I mean, fag + hag? If you didn't know any better, you could be forgiven for assuming it was some kind of slur.

That being said, there are plenty of reasons to keep the name as it is. I would only support a rename if a good, neutral-sounding (as opposed to eyebrow-raising) replacement were suggested.

Caissas, I'm not sure if most people would assume 'fag' to mean 'cigarettes', but that's just how I read it. If you're sure it's well understood, fair enough. Either way, however, it doesn't seem to be an offensive phrase.

edited 13th Jun '11 12:27:41 AM by halfmillennium

In US parlance its a very offensive slur against gays.

That being said, thats sort of the entire point of the phrase.

In the case of Fag Hag, though, it originated within the gay community.

Exactly. That was my point.

Devil's advocate: Could still be a case of N-Word Privileges.