27 November 2012

'Homophobia' and 'Islamophobia' are the right words for the job

[A COMMENT] "Anti-gay" is fine just as "anti-Muslim" is, but "homophobia" and "Islamophobia" don't only offer exact synonyms, but deeper, richer ones."

No. Anti-gay may equate to homophobia, but anti-Muslim absolutely does not equate to "Islamophobia". Islam is an ideology and as such is open to attack. Being anti-Muslim implies that a person hates all Muslims, which Islamophobia does not - so it's far from a deeper, richer term - it's inaccurate.

The term "Islamophobia" should not exist, unless we would also like to coin the terms "Christianityphobia", "fascismphobia" etc. [Guardian Cif] Read more