Midnight_Tide

I've heard the word "homophobia" or homophobic" plenty of times, but I don't think it means what everyone thinks it means. Homophobia is supposed to mean "the disapproval or hatred of homosexual relationships, activities, etc." However, that isn't what "homophobia" really means.

The root "hom" in Greek and the Latin root "homin" have two different meanings: "him" means "same" in Greek, and "homin" means "man" in Latin. Examples: "homogeneous" means "of the same kind" and "homo sapien" is the scientific name for humans.

"Phob" is a Greek root, meaning "fear." Fear as in paralyzing, panic attack inducing, fear, not something taken lightly like a roller coaster ride.

With that being said, the actual definition of "homophobia" is "the paralyzing fear of men" OR "the paralyzing fear of sameness." This has nothing to do with the notion of disapproving or hating homosexual relationships, actions, etc. Hate and fear are not the same. They could possibly be related, but definitely are not the same. Example: I hate tofu vs. I fear tofu. Not the same.

I understand that there are people who strongly disapprove and even hate homosexuals and there might possibly be a word for those kinds of people, but I certainly don't think "homophobic" is the right word. Does anyone else have a problem with the way the word "homophobia" or "homophobe" is being used? The actual word(s), not the concept.