Gay in arabic slang
How Do You Say Gay in Arabic?
The Arabic subtitles for the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel translate the word gay into the Arabic equal of pervert, according to an article by Steve Clemons in the Atlantic. A pair of Arabic speakers told Clemons that Arabic doesn’t have a respectful word for gay, except for the recently coined word mithli. When did the Arabic-speaking society recognize the existence of homosexuality?
More than a millennium ago. Clemons has picked up on a decades-old debate in Western academic circles. In Michel Foucault’s 1976 book The History of Sexuality, the French philosopher claimed that although homosexual acts are prehistoric, Europeans and Americans didn’t recognize homosexuality as a trait until the 19th century. Several linguists backed Foucault’s claim, arguing that many Western languages had words for homosexual acts, but not for homosexuality, until very recently. If these theorists are accurate, then the Islamic nature was about 1,000 years ahead of the West on this issue. Classical Arabic texts have several words for homosexuals and homosexuality dating back to the ninth century.
The synonyms luti, for example, appears in 13
How Marwan Kaabour Wrote the Definitive Instruction to Queer Arab Slang
Marwan Kaabour, photographed by Michael Bullock.
When Marwan Kaabour was growing up in Lebanon, a express kid called him “foofoo”—the English corresponding of “sissy”—a synonyms he had never heard before and didn’t understand. Even at the age of five, he could sense it was negative, intended to pass decision. At the second, he was perplexed and hurt, but that insult opened a door to another world, sparking in Kaabour a lifelong interest in queer terminology specific to different Arab regions.
Fast forward to today and Kaabour, now London-based, is an accomplished graphic designer, best recognizable for Phaidon’s oversized 504-page tome, The Rihanna Book. On the side, he’s also a ardent queer linguist and historian. In 2019, he founded Takweer, an Instagram account used to collect and share Diverse information and history. Recently, his professional skills and personal interests came together in his first book, The Lgbtq+ Arab Glossary, a groundbreaking anthropological operate that celebrates the diverse queer cultures of the Middle East in all their sleazy glory.
When Kaabour arrived at my office
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Lebanese Arabic: gay/homosexual
apricots said:
To deposit a fine point on it, شاذ and لوطي should be considered as fag/faggot in English and are highly derogatory. To say that these are just the words people are used to and thus not the same is besides the signal. They are offensive to Arab LGBTQ and thus derogatory. Many Arabs may not be familiar with the shorthand مثلي but مثلي الجنس should be understood everywhere and these are with should be used.
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To clarify my point a little:
My original phrasing of this sentence was poor as it implied that the term itself might not be derogatory, which is not my position at all, as should be clear from my first post in the thread or the first paragraph from my second post. I agree with you that the term shouldnot be used by anyone.jack_1313 said:
That said, it's hard to pinpoint just how derogatory a given speaker intends to be when they exploit the term شاذ
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Besides what point, though? The authentic question was about the language people use, notTo say that these are just the words people are used to and thus not the same is besides the point.
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