No more "homophobia"

During the next year, newspaper readers will be much less likely to see “homophobia” or “Islamaphobia” reported in mainstream newspapers.

That’s not because either of these phenomena is likely to lessen in the coming months, but because the Associated Press Stylebook, which many United States newspapers utilize as a style and usage guide, has decided to nix certain salient but murky terms — including homophobia, Islamaphobia and ethnic cleansing.
 
AP Deputy Standards Editor Dave Minthorn criticized these terms as being inaccurate and vague. The Stylebook now says phobia, whether defined as an irrational fear or as part of a mental illness, is inappropriate in sociopolitical contexts.

Minthorn said he hopes to move to using “something more neutral, anti-gay, or some such, if we had reason to believe that was the case.” In addition, certain euphemisms like “ethnic cleansing” can lessen the brutality of the acts being committed.

The Stylebook can move away from these types of familiar and overused phrases to achieve greater levels of accuracy and neutrality.

Some have argued that from a linguistic standpoint, the suffix “-phobia” is more broad than AP admits. The suffix can be used to connote dislike, aversion and prejudice. In many ways, it has become an all-purpose suffix and an important part of our political discourse.

Officials from the LGBT advocacy group Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation will review these changes but have not yet released any commentary. However, George Winberg, the psychologist who first coined the term homophobia, has already said he disagrees with the changes.

He said homophobia was a hard-won word and, more importantly, “we have no other word for what we’re talking about and this one is well established.”

It will be interesting to see how newspapers across the country respond to the AP’s decision.

Although many American newspapers rely on it as a guide, they are free to deviate from AP rules. Other print news sources use different or individualized stylebooks.
The Indiana Daily Student has a style guide adapted from the AP Stylebook with some terms specific to IU and Bloomington.

Some newspapers have already announced their decision to either follow or break away from the new AP suggestions.

Terms like homophobia and Islamaphobia have been long criticized as connecting what is simply prejudice with more appropriate fears or disorders. Although this is true, it is also true that these words have become part of our national discourse on various sociopolitical issues.

Television and radio news programs will likely continue to utilize these words in various contexts, regardless of whether the majority of American newspapers try to emulate the AP Stylebook or not.

Trying to find new terms to conjure the same vivid images and notions in these more familiar phrases could muddy the waters.

Either way, the changes from the AP are a reminder of the importance of making sure we are accurate and precise in our dialogue surrounding important
sociopolitical issues.

Buzz words like “Islamaphobia” or “homophobia” unconsciously shape the direction and tone of our discussion in ways we might not yet realize. During the next year, I’ll be interested in how much self-examination newspapers across the countr engage in about these changes.

­— gwinslow@indiana.edu