Phobias impacting some of us

[tenni]

A number of terms with the suffix -phobia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-phobia) are used non-clinically but have gained public acceptance, though they are often considered buzzwords. Such terms are primarily understood as negative attitudes towards certain categories of people or other things,. Usually these kinds of "phobias" are described as fear, dislike, disapproval, prejudice, hatred, discrimination, or hostility towards the object of the "phobia". Often this attitude is based on prejudices and is a particular case of most xenophobia. These non-clinical phobias are typically used as labels cast on someone by another person or some other group.

Biphobia-fear or dislike of bisexuals regardless of gender
malebiphobia-fear or dislike of bisexual men but female bisexuals are considered sexy
pozphobia-fear or dislike of HIV positive people
Homophobia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homophobia)– fear or dislike of homosexuals or homosexuality.

Islamophobia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamophobia) - fear or dislike of Muslims.
Judeophobia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judeophobia) - fear or dislike of Jews.
Xenophobia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenophobia) – fear or dislike of strangers or the unknown, sometimes used to describe nationalistic political beliefs and movements.

Discuss but try not to accuse others on the site of being phobic.
Please discuss the issue and not the person.

How should malebiphobia be dealt with on this site?

[Mulder]

I go in the chatroom and it's full of bisexual men and they seem to get along pretty well with each other, for the most part. Any grumbling, it appears, is on a personal basis and has nothing to do with the other being a bisexual male. In fact, the bisexual females appear to get along very well with them also. If I have detected any sort of bias, it's towards the cross dressers, but even there, I can't say it has resulted in any real personal affront to the member.

[DuckiesDarling]

It goes along with other threads regarding the use of the word tranny or shemale, and I have to agree with the majority opinion that while they can be used derogatorily they are not in an of themselves offensive when transgendered use them to refer to themselves. It's a bit like a black person calling each other "nigger" to them it means something totally different than it would to the rest of us. There is an inate ability in any word to be used as either offensive or innoffensive its all in the conception of the person doing the reading of the word. We have a unique knack as humans at being able to be offended by anything for any reason whether it is reasonable or not.

[Paddarick69]

in the interest of fairness I would include "christianaphobic" for I see here a whole lot of painting with the brush of generality and knee-jerk hatred a far more varied lot of people (aren't we all varied?) than is ever given credit... an obvious example for consideration is Mother Theresa, a human being who LIVED compassion for her fellow man more deeply in her pinky finger than a hundred braying supposed-lovers-of-humanity do in their whole bodies... I also recall my childhood parish priest who is still one of the five finest human beings I've had the honor to know... the trips I made accompanying him as an altar boy visiting the needy and the dying are some of the most profound memories of my life

[æonpax]

`
1) 650 of the All-Time favorite Phobias listed in one site, listed from A to Z. Is your favorite phobia here? http://www.fun-with-words.com/phobias_a-b.html If not, just make one up.

2) The suffix -phobia is used to coin terms that denote a particular anti-ethnic or anti-demographic sentiment, such as Americanophobia, Europhobia, Francophobia, Hispanophobia, and Indophobia. Often a synonym with the prefix "anti-" already exists (e.g. Polonophobia vs. anti-Polonism). Anti-religious sentiments are expressed in terms such as Christianophobia and Islamophobia. Sometimes the terms themselves could even be considered racist, as with "Negrophobia."

Other popular prejudices include:



Anglophobia – fear/dislike of England or English culture, etc.

Biphobia – fear/dislike of bisexuality or bisexuals.
Christianophobia – fear/dislike of Christians
Ephebiphobia – fear/dislike of youth.
Germanophobia – fear/dislike of Germans.
Gerontophobia, Gerascophobia – fear/dislike of aging or the elderly.
Heterophobia – fear/dislike of heterosexuals.
Homophobia – fear/dislike of homosexuality or homosexuals.
Islamophobia – fear/dislike of Muslims
Judeophobia – fear/dislike of Jews.
Lesbophobia – fear/dislike of lesbians.
Negrophobia – fear/dislike of Black people.
Nipponophobia – fear/dislike of the Japanese.
Pedophobia, Pediophobia – fear/dislike of children.
Polonophobia – fear/dislike of the Polish.
Psychophobia – fear/dislike of mental illness or the mentally ill.
Russophobia – fear/dislike of the Russians.
Sinophobia – fear/dislike of Chinese.
Transphobia – fear/dislike of transgendered people.
Turcophobia – fear/dislike of the Turks
Xenophobia – fear/dislike of foreigners or extraterrestrials.




New phobia's are being added weekly, such as;

Anachrophobia – fear of temporal displacement

Anatidaephobia – the fear that somewhere, somehow, a duck is watching you

and

Robophobia – Irrational fear of robots and/or androids

[darkeyes]

Francophobia.. fear, dislike of the people of France and things French...the UK is overall quite a Francophobic country.. more down south than up here, but there is a lot here too.. I love France its language and most things French.. other than where I live it is my favourite country on earth and its people, outside of Paris some of the loveliest ad most welcoming... of course many of them they suffer from...

Anglophobia... something which is not quite as many would have it fear and dislike of the British, but of the English and the arrogance of British politicians... it's a funny phobia.. generally the French like Scots, Welsh and Irish people.. always drive around with an Sco or Ecosse, Cymru or NI plate or sticker on ur car.... GB doesnt do it for the French... and we get treated much nicer.. we shouldn't but we do... dont if ur English drive about with a St George Cross u are asking for bother... the Scots suffer from their own peculiar version of Anglophobia and being half English on me mother's side I hate it.. I have never suffered from it but have seen it and had to deal with it nevertheless it is not very edifying...

..and I will not even comment on Britain's teutophobia ,,, none of the British nations are free of that and it is sick making...

[tenni]

What I wonder about is the term Xenophobiais rarely used but when we write about Francophobia or any other nationality are we not discussing Xenophobia ?

I see the definition of phobia in post 1 as more inclusive than the defintion of post 5. Post one may include groups such as people with disease or a physical infliction while post 5 is a narrower definition dealing mainly with ethnicity and religion.

[Paddarick69]

I've always heard that when one leaves Paris for the countryside the French folks one encounters are simply lovely... and that the arrogant disdain of Parisians is leveled at ANYONE not from Paris, be they English, Scottish, Ukranian, or from Kalamazoo, Michigan

[Paddarick69]

or Marseilles!

[darkeyes]

tenni is right.. Franco and Anglophobia are specific forms of xenophobia.. technically xenophobia means fear of all strangers but we often, even more usually discuss them in less broad terms... some people are completely xenophobic and fear and even hate anyone not from their country or even town or city.. but few fear quite so broadly and so we usually discuss xenophobia in specific terms such as Franco, Teuto, Russo or Anglophobia... each is a xenophobia rather than the whole kit and caboodle...

...but Pad.. Parisians are a bit of a one of... and they do tend to have that disdain for non Parisians of which you speak.. but that is a stereotype and not all Parisians are like that.. I have met many who were anything but although the warmest greetings of Parisian residents was most often those of those who were incomers from other parts of France or from non French Parisian residents.. but for all that I like Parisians.. I adore Paris almost as much as I do me home city... it is a stunningly beautiful and fun place.. and the cafe culture like in the rest of France is awesome...even with Parisian disdain, it is anything but a cold and unwelcoming place to visit... not cheap..but where is? Spesh if has been my wont.. me lil beady eye catches sight of some nice sexy lingerie or posh frock...;):bigrin:... the other eye is bobbing round lookin at shoes....*laffs*

[tenni]

Good point darkeyes. Xenophobics are less frequently fearfull of all but ethnicity phobia specific to one group is more common.

We generally see having a phobia as a negative and as in the OP we cast it with labels of prejudice and in extreme hatred towards the group. That is why some may resist or dislike being called phobic.

In the case of aracnaphobia (fear of spiders) it is thought of as irrational as a spider rarely can hurt a human to seriously. There is a fear that spiders will hurt the person or cause harm. It is true that having a fear of something may be valid but it is still a fear or phobia, isn't it?

When a phobia interferes with a person's daily life we may consider it crossing over to a clinical problem requiring counselling to reduce our fear.

When we prejudge others because they are a member of a group that we fear, some see that phobia as irrational while others experience with the group may support the position. Whether the phobia is considered reasonable or unreasonable seems subjective or ?

When we examine phobias towards bisexuals or homosexuals they are still fears. Some on this site seem to believe that they may be justified to have these fears/phobias. Some deny their phobia because well I'm not sure. They may think that their phobia is too negative and they reject accepting their phobia?