Attempting to insult everyone equally

by Kari Koehler

I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people say, “that’s so gay” or “that’s retarded.” Our society is full of derogatory terms that are commonly used to show disdain or anger for something.

It all comes down to labels. Nobody is a big fan of labels, but we all use them. I figured there is room for one more derogatory term in our society. Because let’s face it, if you’re straight, there’s no term for you besides the uber-boring heterosexual or straight.

Yawn.

Breeder. It just rolls of the tongue, doesn’t it? I first heard the word when I was called one, in joking, by a lesbian friend. I found it hilarious.

We have so many terms for homosexual people – dyke, queer, faggot, gay, lesbo, homo, homosexual, bisexual, tranny, drag queen/king, fairy and the list goes on and on.

The fact is that they are all labels and they hurt. Whether you’re gay or straight, getting made fun of for who you are isn’t fun. But there wasn’t a word that accurately portrayed a label for heterosexual people for me until breeder came along.

I take no offense to being called a breeder, because essentially it’s what I am. It’s just another term for straight, but it dumbs it down a little. But the way I figure it, if we say “that’s so gay” can’t we also say “that’s so breeder”? Then everyone is insulted equally.

I’m a straight person, but I’m willing to take this word into our language. At least it gives homosexuals and heterosexuals the same treatment on at least one plane derogatory statements veiled as common sayings in society.

There’s so many ways to give “breeder” a negative connotation, like saying to someone, “Hey breeder! Stop overpopulating the Earth!” or “Hey breeder girl! Why don’t you go take your birth control!” or even “Breeders are what’s bringing down the morals in society today, what with your promiscuous sex and all” – there are more cases of heterosexual people contracting HIV than homosexual, so we breeders are promiscuous.

If you already find this offensive, I’ve accomplished my goal. I’m not saying it’s right to make fun of someone just because they’re straight, but everyday all over the world people are chastised just because they fit somewhere under LGBTQA.

We can make this change. We can stop using terms that are derogatory as a substitution for the word “stupid.” We can start having respect for others and realize that if the word “breeder” was used all the time in our language like I just demonstrated, there would be a much different reaction than the treatment given to “that’s so gay.”

Even if the homosexual community is a minority, they’re still people and they still deserve to be treated as so. So until I feel that’s true, I’m going to keep saying “breeder.”