F*ggot



Faggot, often shortened to fag, is a usually pejorative term used primarily to refer to gay or "effeminate" men. The term has been reclaimed by some, but not all, queer cis men and transmasculine people as well as some queer cis women, transfeminine people, and unaligned non-binary and genderqueer people.

Faggot can be used as a modifier for genders, gender modalities, sexual orientations, and aesthetics and aesthetic attractions, such as girlfag, transfag, dyke fag, and artfag.

Etymology
The most commonly recognized etymological origin of the word faggot is the Latin word fascis or "bundle of wood."

The term has been used in English since the late 16th century as an abusive term for women, particularly old widowed women, who sometimes worked as "faggot-gatherers," collecting sticks. The reference to gay men may be derived from the sense of "something awkward to be carried," comparable to the use of the word "baggage" as a pejorative term for old people in general as well as social outcasts, or from the application of this term to women, as many slang terms for gay men are derived from terms for women such as "queen" or "sissy."

There is an urban legend that the modern slang meaning developed from the standard meaning of faggot as "a bundle of sticks for burning" such as in burning at the stake or other punishment. However, this is unsubstantiated, and the emergence of the slang term in 20th century American English is unrelated to historical death penalties for homosexuality.

History
The word faggot with regard to gay men was used as early as 1914 in A Vocabulary of Criminal Slang, with Some Examples of Common Usages, which listed the following example under the word:

"All the fagots [sic] (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight."

The shortened form "fag" emerged sometime in 1921.

Reclamation
While some gay men used the term controversially to purposely cause outrage, most famously ACT UP activist Larry Kramer with his 1978 book Faggots,, the first attempt at reclaiming the term occurred at the 1990 New York Pride Parade with the anonymous pamphlet "Queers Read This!" The 1990s is also when terms like "fag hag," or a straight-passing woman who hangs out with gay men, and "transfag" first emerged.

The internet has been important to the reclamation of the term. From 2017 to 2020, the topic of reclamation was popular in online opinion and editorial pieces, some positive or less wary of reclamation. A study of discourse around faggot on Twitter from 2019 suggests that some queer cis and trans men, queer cis women, trans women, and genderqueer people are comfortable self-identifying as faggot. In addition, many surveyed were comfortable with the use of the term by queer people, and most believed that non-queer and non-trans people should not use the term.

Backlash
Starting in the 1980s, the term became associated with brutal violence, including murder, against gay men, perpetrators frequently quoted using the term before committing violence. By the early 1990s, the slogan "God Hates Fags" had become a popular anti-LGBTQ sentiment used at rallies outside of sexual health clinics and pride parades. In the early 2000s, the hate group the Westboro Baptist Church began using the slogan as their URL address.

In the early 21st century, the use of fag and gay as synonyms for "boring" and "tacky," particularly among people under 25, led to the study of "fag discourse" and the release, of the book Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School. According to the interviewees in the book, the use of the word "fag" was not an attack on gay identity but on boys who were not assertive and did not have a support network to protect them. By the 2010s, the controversial image board site 4chan was using the term in a similar way to refer to new members and to mock others regardless of sexual orientation.

The term also began to be recognized as being used pejoratively against butches in the 21st century.

Culture
The reclamation of the term is categorized as "restricted" reclamation. Compared to the reclamation of queer, where queer has been reclaimed as positive and inclusive, faggot has been reclaimed as a mockery of its derogatory usage specifically for the in-group its usage has created. The use of faggot amongst self-identified fags and gay men can be seen as "mock politeness."

The term "fag hag" is outdated and has been replaced by "girlfag," which applies to both straight and queer women and women-aligned people. However, the term "dykefag," a combination of "boydyke" and "girlfag," is more popular.

The term "transfag" has been applied retroactively to some transmasculine activists who were active in the 1990s, in particular Lou Sullivan. Some non-cisgender people use the term faggender or genderfag as a gender identity, especially men-aligned people attracted to men or other men-aligned people.

Flags
While there is no agreed-upon faggot pride symbol or flag, a faggot flag was created by Tumblr user effeminancyboy on December 2, 2020. The flag is intended for cis and trans MLM and NBLMs, and transfeminine people only. The dark purple of the flag represents femininity, the purple transfeminine people, the pink stripe sexuality, the peach stripe love and acceptance, the pale yellow stripe gender identity, the teal stripe MLMs and NBLMs, and the blue stripe masculinity.

A second faggot flag was created by FANDOM user Uncertifed Funny on May 20, 2021. It is a simplified version of effeminacyboy's flag.

A third faggot flag was created by FANDOM user PluralStarlets on May 29, 2021. It is meant to be a non-exclusive alternative to the first faggot flag. The rainbow represents the entire LGBTQIA2+ community. The lambda symbol has been used since the 1970s as a symbol of gay rights.