Not many words have shifted meaning over time as much as the word gay has. It started in the 12th century in England meaning joyful, carefree, etc. then in the early 19th century it referred to women who “lived off immoral earnings” aka prostitutes, and when a man was called gay it referred to men sleeping with many women. In the 1970’s, men adopted the world to describe their sexual orientation and now in the 21st century, it is used as a derogatory term to tease people or describe things as being bad or stupid.
After interviewing teachers, about 83% of the derogatory words they heard from children ranging in age from nursery school and up used the word gay to insult other kids or describe a negative thing or idea. What disturbed me most is the fact that kids as young as nursery school are using derogatory words such as gay so often but after interviewing students, many say that they don’t use the word to describe sexuality at all. So why has the word now shifted from describing mens’ homosexuality to being a demeaning insulting term? This is the paradigm shift that I will focus on.
The questions that I will discuss are the following; the conjecture I will analyze where the word gay came from and how it began? For definition, I will break down the different parts of the word gay, how it relates to being stupid. For Quality I will analyze how serious this epidemic of insulting and teasing others with the word gay is and whether this is right or wrong. For policy I will determine what our plan of action is and what we should do as a society moving forward, specifically in the teenage world.
