{{short description|Homophobic slur}} {{For-multi|the popular British food|Faggot (food)|other uses|Faggot (disambiguation)}} {{pp-semi-indef|small=yes}} {{pp-move}} {{italic title}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox profanity | name = Faggot | type = Homophobic slur | part_of_speech = Noun | pronunciation = {{IPA|en|ˈfæɡət}}<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=faggot |url=https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/faggot |access-date=2025-05-16 |encyclopedia=Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary |language=en}}</ref> | etymology = From French ''fagot'', ''faget''<ref name="oed">{{cite web |title=Faggot |url=http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/67623 |work=The Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref> | meaning = Queer or homosexual people (pejorative) }} '''''Faggot''''', often shortened to '''''fag''''', is a slur in the English language used to refer to gay men.<ref>{{cite book|title=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|year=2000|isbn=0-618-70172-9|url=https://archive.org/details/americanheritage00edit_9}}</ref><ref>2008, Paul Ryan Brewer, Value war: public opinion and the politics of gay rights, page 60</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Chloe O. |title=The Queens' English: The Young Readers' LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases |date=2024 |publisher=Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers |isbn=978-1-6659-2686-7 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=140–141}}</ref> The slur is also sometimes indiscriminately used against other members of the LGBTQ community, and has also seen extended use in American youth culture beginning around the turn of the 21st century as a broader reaching insult more related to masculinity and group power structure.<ref name='pascoe' /> In a case of linguistic reclamation, many LGBTQ people have reclaimed it as a neutral or positive term for describing themselves, as well as reinforcing in-group solidarity.<ref name=":2" />
By extension, '''''faggotry''''' (or rarely, '''''faggotism''''' or '''''faggotness''''') are pejoratively used to refer to homosexuality.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oed.com/dictionary/faggotry_n?tl=true|title=faggotry - NOUN|website=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.powerthesaurus.org/faggotism/definitions|title=Definition of Faggotism|website=Power Thesaurus}}</ref>
==Etymology== The first recorded use of ''faggot'' as a pejorative term against gay men was in the 1914 ''A Vocabulary of Criminal Slang'', while the shortened form ''fag'' first appeared in 1923 in ''The Hobo'' by Nels Anderson.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MGsyEAAAQBAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures |date=June 13, 2021 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-135-72870-0 |editor-last=Zimmerman |editor-first=Bonnie |location=New York |language=en |oclc=1263808583 |editor-last2=Haggerty |editor-first2=George E.}}</ref>{{Rp|page=301}}
Its association with homosexuality has uncertain origins, probably derives from linguistic patterns in which terms related to the feminine/unmasculine, such as ''fruit'', ''fairy'', and ''molly'',<ref name="etymonline">{{cite web |last=Harper |first=Douglas |author-link=Douglas Harper |title=Faggot |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=faggot |access-date=November 22, 2009 |work=The Online Etymological Dictionary |archive-date=October 8, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008115009/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=faggot |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=morton>{{Citation | last = Morton | first = Mark | title = Dirty Words: The Story of Sex Talk | place = London | publisher = Atlantic Books | year = 2005 | pages = 309–323}} </ref> are used to demean homosexual or effeminate men. The application of the term to people is possibly a shortening of the term "faggot-gatherer", recorded at least since the 19th century, when was applied especially for children and women, the latter being often older widows, who made a meager living by gathering and selling firewood.<ref>{{Cite Merriam-Webster|faggot|access-date=2026-04-17}}</ref><ref name=morton/> It may also derive from the sense of "something awkward to be carried" (compare the use of the word ''baggage'' as a pejorative for "worthless woman" or for old people in general).<ref name=etymonline/>
An alternative possibility is that the word is connected with the practice of fagging in British public schools, in which younger boys performed (potentially sexual) duties for older boys, although the word ''faggot'' was never used in this context, only ''fag''. There is a reference to the word ''faggot'' being used in 17th-century Britain to refer to a "man hired into military service simply to fill out the ranks at muster", but there is no known connection with the word's modern usage.<ref name=etymonline/>
The Yiddish word ''feygeleh'' ({{Lit|little bird}}), itself a pejorative term for a gay man, has been claimed by some to be related to the American usage. ''Feygeleh'' ({{IPA|yi|ˈfɛɪɡələ|pron|small=no}}) is a term of endearment for a loved one, and a dimunitive for the girls' name Faigie ('bird') after Moses's wife Zipporah, Hebrew for 'bird'. The similarity between the two words makes it possible that it might at least have had a reinforcing effect.<ref name=etymonline/><ref name=morton/>
There is an urban legend, called an "oft-reprinted assertion" by Douglas R. Harper, creator of the Online Etymology Dictionary, that the modern slang meaning developed from the standard meaning of ''faggot'' as "bundle of sticks for burning" with regard to burning at the stake.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wells |first=Catharine |date=Fall 2017 |title=Microaggressions: What They Are and Why They Matter |journal=Texas Hispanic Journal of Law & Policy |publisher=The University of Texas School of Law |volume=24 |pages=66}}</ref> Homosexuals were burned at the stake during the late Middle Ages as sexual intercourse between same-sex people was considered to be sodomy and therefore punished.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Roelens |first=Jonas |title=The Sodom of the North. Homosexuals Were Burned at the Stake in Medieval Bruges |date=April 9, 2020 |url=https://www.the-low-countries.com/article/the-sodom-of-the-north-homosexuals-were-burned-at-the-stake-in-medieval-bruges/}}</ref> The emergence of the slang term in 20th-century American English is unrelated to any historical death penalties for homosexuality; moreover, homosexuality in England and its colonies was never punished by immolation but instead by the accused being hanged and their property taken.<ref name=etymonline/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://statutes.org.uk/site/the-statutes/sixteenth-century/1533-25-henry-8-c-6-the-buggery-act/ |title=1533: 25 Henry 8 c.6: The Buggery Act |date=February 13, 2018 |access-date=May 7, 2024 |archive-date=May 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240507230345/https://statutes.org.uk/site/the-statutes/sixteenth-century/1533-25-henry-8-c-6-the-buggery-act/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Use==
===Early printed use=== The word ''faggot'' with regard to homosexuality was used as early as 1914, in Jackson and Hellyer's ''A Vocabulary of Criminal Slang, with Some Examples of Common Usages'' which listed the following example under the word "drag": "All the fagots (sissies) will be dressed in drag at the ball tonight."<ref>{{Cite book |last=David Wilton |url=https://archive.org/details/wordmythsdebunki00wilt_0/page/176 |title=Word myths |date=2004 |publisher=Oxford University Press |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-19-517284-3}}</ref>
The word ''fag'' is used in 1923 in ''The Hobo: The Sociology of the Homeless Man'' by Nels Anderson: "Fairies or Fags are men or boys who exploit sex for profit."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/hobosociologyofh00ande|title=The hobo : the sociology of the homeless man|last1=Anderson|first1=Nels|last2=Chicago Council of Social Agencies|date=1923|publisher=Chicago : University Press|others=Robarts - University of Toronto}}</ref>
The word was also used together with another homophobic slur, ''bulldyke'', by a character in Claude McKay's 1928 novel ''Home to Harlem'', indicating that it was used during the Harlem Renaissance. Specifically, one character says that he cannot understand: "a bulldyking woman and a faggoty man".<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Spencer |first=Suzette A. |date=December 1998 |title=Swerving at a Different Angle and Flying in the Face of Tradition: Excavating the Homoerotic Subtext in ''Home to Harlem'' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44323192 |journal=CLA Journal |volume=42 |issue=2 |pages=164–193 |jstor=44323192}}</ref>
===Use in the United Kingdom=== Originally confined to the United States,<ref name=etymonline/> the use of the words ''fag'' and ''faggot'' as slurs for gay men has spread elsewhere in the English-speaking world, but the extent to which they are used in this sense has varied outside the context of imported US popular culture. In the UK and some other countries, the words ''queer'', ''homo'', and ''poof'' are much more common as pejorative terms for gay men. The word ''faggot'' in the UK also refers to a kind of meatball. In British English, "fag" is common slang for a cigarette, sometimes also used to describe a tedious task.<ref>{{cite web |date=May 25, 2022 |title=FAG | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary |url=https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fag |accessdate=May 31, 2022 |publisher=Dictionary.cambridge.org |archive-date=June 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220618033435/https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fag |url-status=live }}</ref>
Use of ''fag'' and ''faggot'' as the term for an effeminate man has become understood as an Americanism in British English, primarily due to entertainment media use in films and television series imported from the United States. When Labour MP Bob Marshall-Andrews was overheard supposedly using the word in a bad-tempered informal exchange with a straight colleague in the House of Commons lobby in November 2005, it was considered to be homophobic abuse.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lgbtgreens.org.uk/news/2005/mpsfaggotabusedisgraceful.aspx |title=MP's 'faggot' abuse 'disgraceful' |publisher=LGBTGreens |access-date=November 22, 2009 |archive-date=January 14, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090114193110/http://www.lgbtgreens.org.uk/news/2005/mpsfaggotabusedisgraceful.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014224030/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2005%2F11%2F10%2Fnblair110.xml|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/10/nblair110.xml|archive-date=October 14, 2007|title=Panic and a punch-up as Blair tumbles to defeat at the hands of his own party|author=Helm, Toby|author2=Jones, George|date=November 11, 2005|access-date=November 21, 2009|work=The Daily Telegraph|location=London|url-status=dead}}</ref>
===Usage by youth=== ''Faggot'', used as a discriminatory term, has expanded beyond gay men. It is often used by the youth in online communities to describe any queer person or someone who differs from the norm. In some cases, the term is completely unrelated to homosexuality and simply used as an insult due to its negative connotation, similar to ''gay''.
Through ethnographic research in a high school setting, C. J. Pascoe examined how American high school boys used the term ''fag'' during the early 2000s. Pascoe's work, culminating in a 2007 book titled ''Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School'', suggested that these boys used the ''fag'' slur as a way to assert their own masculinity, by claiming that another boy is less masculine; this, in their eyes, makes him a fag, and its usage suggests that it is less about sexual orientation and more about gender. One-third of the boys in Pascoe's study claimed that they would not call a homosexual peer a ''fag'', leading Pascoe to argue that ''fag'' is used in this setting as a form of gender policing, in which boys ridicule others who fail at masculinity, heterosexual prowess, or strength. Because boys do not want to be labeled a fag, they hurl the insult at another person. Pascoe felt the ''fag'' identity does not constitute a static identity attached to the boy receiving the insult. Rather, ''fag'' is a fluid identity that boys strive to avoid, often by naming another as the fag. As Pascoe asserts, "[the fag identity] is fluid enough that boys police their behaviors out of fear of having the fag identity permanently adhere and definitive enough so that boys recognize fag behavior and strive to avoid it."<ref name="pascoe">{{Citation | last = Pascoe | first = C. J. | title = Dude, You're a Fag: Masculinity and Sexuality in High School | place = Berkeley and Los Angeles, California | publisher = University of California Press | year = 2007}}</ref>
In the 1990s and early 2000s, the word ''faggot'' became somewhat removed from its original meaning when used by youth, who commonly used it as a synonym for the word ''stupid''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/cc-unheard-voices-l2-grades-6-and-up.pdf|title=The History and Impact of Anti-LGBT Slurs}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-02-23 |title=A Former Teacher's Perspective: Homophobia Shaped Public Schools in the 1990s and 2000s |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-former-teachers-perspec_b_9287900 |access-date=2025-02-18 |website=HuffPost |language=en}}</ref> In a 2018 study completed by the Anti-Defamation League surveying Generation Z from Grade 6 and up, youth perspectives on the phrase "that's so gay" and homophobic slurs highlight concerns over its use as a synonym for "stupid," which respondents viewed as offensive and insensitive. Some believe it reflects a lack of awareness rather than intent to harm, yet it still evokes frustration and discomfort, pointing to a need for more thoughtful language.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2020 |title=Responding to Bias Incidents in Middle and High Schools: Resources and Best Practices for School Administrators & Educators |url=https://www.noplaceforhate.org/sites/default/files/2021-03/Responding%20to%20Bias%20Incidents%20Guide_030321.pdf |journal=Anti-Defamation League}}</ref>
===Use in popular culture=== [[File:BenPhelps.JPG|thumb|Benjamin Phelps, Fred Phelps' grandson and creator of the first "GodHatesFags" webpage, is also from the Westboro Baptist Church, which regularly employs picket signs such as these using ''fag'' as slur.<ref>''The Bible Exposition Commentary: New Testament: Volume 1'' (1992), Warren W. Wiersbe, David C. Cook, {{ISBN|1-56476-030-8}}, {{ISBN|978-1-56476-030-2}}</ref>]]
There is a long history of using both ''fag'' and ''faggot'' in popular culture, usually in reference to gay and bisexual men. Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman's 1995 documentary ''The Celluloid Closet'', based on Vito Russo's book of the same name, notes the use of ''fag'' and ''faggot'' throughout Hollywood film history.<ref>''The Celluloid Closet''; (1995) Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman.</ref> The Think Before You Speak campaign has sought to stop ''fag'' and ''gay'' being used as generic insults.<ref>[https://abcnews.go.com/m/screen?id=7328091&pid=26 'That's So Gay': Words That Can Kill] Susan Donaldson James, ''ABC News'', April 20, 2009.</ref>
====Theater==== In 1973, a Broadway musical called ''The Faggot'' was praised by critics but condemned by gay liberation proponents.<ref>{{cite news |title = US unisex: continuing the trend |date = August 4, 1973 |page = 7 |newspaper = The Times |url = https://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/ |ref = CS118061316 |author = Clive Barnes |quote = The theme of The Faggot is set at the beginning which shows ... one man picking up another in a movie house. }}</ref>
Larry Mitchell and Ned Asta's 1977 cult book ''The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions'' inspired a musical by composer Philip Venables and director Ted Huffman reinterprets world history from a queer perspective.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://factoryinternational.org/whats-on/the-faggots-and-their-friends-between-revolutions/|title=The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions|website=MIF t/a Factory International}}</ref> The term is used in a sense of reclamation.
====Books and magazines==== Larry Kramer's 1978 novel ''Faggots'' discusses the gay community including the use of the word within and towards the community.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=faKCFSlFbKkC |title=Faggots |author=Larry Kramer |access-date=November 22, 2009 | isbn=978-0-8021-3691-6 | year=2000 | publisher=Grove Press}}</ref> A description of Pamela Moore's 1956 novel ''Chocolates for Breakfast'' in the Warner Books 1982 culture guide ''The Catalog of Cool'' reads: "Her fifteen-year-old heroine first balls a fag actor in H'wood, then makes it with some hermetic, filthy rich, hotel-bound Italian count."<ref name="nedelkoff">{{cite journal|title=Pamela Moore Plus Forty |first=Robert |last=Nedelkoff |journal=The Baffler |issue=10 |year=1997 |pages=104–117 |doi=10.1162/bflr.1997.10.104 |url=http://chocolatesforbreakfast.info/pamela-moore-plus-forty/pamela-moore-plus-forty-0/ |access-date=March 2, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028072321/http://chocolatesforbreakfast.info/pamela-moore-plus-forty/pamela-moore-plus-forty-0/ |archive-date=October 28, 2012 |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Sculatti1982">{{cite book|first=Gene |last=Sculatti|title=The Catalog of Cool|url=https://archive.org/details/catalogofcool00scul|url-access=registration |access-date=March 2, 2015|date=October 1982|publisher=Warner Books|isbn=978-0-446-37515-3}}</ref>
In its November 2002 issue, the ''New Oxford Review'', a Catholic magazine, caused controversy by its use and defense of the word in an editorial. During the correspondence between the editors and a gay reader, the editors clarified that they would only use the word to describe a "practicing homosexual". They defended the use of the word, saying that it was important to preserve the social stigma of gays and lesbians.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cityofgod.net/courage-seattle/belgau-nor.htm |title=Sodom & the City of God |publisher=Cityofgod.net |access-date=November 22, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090111010948/http://www.cityofgod.net/courage-seattle/belgau-nor.htm |archive-date=January 11, 2009 }}</ref>
====Music==== =====1960s===== Arlo Guthrie uses the slur in his 1967 signature song "Alice's Restaurant", noting it as a potential way to avoid military induction at the time (Guthrie had removed the word from live performances of the song in the 21st century).<ref>Guthrie, Arlo (1967). "[http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/alices.shtml Alice's Restaurant Massacree] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070521215056/http://www.arlo.net/resources/lyrics/alices.shtml |date=May 21, 2007 }}" (lyrics). ''Alice's Restaurant''. Retrieved from the [http://www.arlo.net/ official Arlo Guthrie web site] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710070806/http://www.arlo.net/ |date=July 10, 2011 }} November 26, 2013. "And if two people, two people do it, in harmony, they may think they're both faggots and they won't take either of them."</ref>
Phil Ochs uses the slur in his 1969 song "I Kill Therefore I Am". In the song, which is written from the point of view of a hateful police officer, he uses the slur to describe the student activists who protested the Vietnam War.
=====1980s=====
The Dire Straits 1985 song "Money for Nothing" makes notable use of the slur ''faggot'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-07-01 |title=Mark Knopfler a Bigger Gay Icon Than George Michael? |url=https://www.seattleweekly.com/music/mark-knopfler-a-bigger-gay-icon-than-george-michael/ |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=Seattle Weekly |language=en-US}}</ref> although the lines containing it are often excised for radio play, and in live performances by singer/songwriter Mark Knopfler. The song was banned from airplay by the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council in 2011 but the ban was reversed later the same year.<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/canada-lifts-ban-on-dire-straits-money-for-nothing-20110901 |title=Canada Lifts Ban on Dire Straits' 'Money for Nothing' |magazine=Rolling Stone |access-date=August 27, 2017 |archive-date=October 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014143810/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/canada-lifts-ban-on-dire-straits-money-for-nothing-20110901 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Ironically, the song in context makes it clear he is actually mocking the jealous and homophobic nature of the antagonist in the song by adopting a third-person point of view to show the irony, bigotry, and ignorance of the character.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-01-14 |title=Dire Straits' 'Money for Nothing' is not homophobic {{!}} Xtra Magazine |url=https://xtramagazine.com/power/dire-straits-money-for-nothing-is-not-homophobic-29970 |access-date=2024-03-13 |language=en-CA |archive-date=March 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313155250/https://xtramagazine.com/power/dire-straits-money-for-nothing-is-not-homophobic-29970 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Scocca |first=Tom |date=2011-01-14 |title="Money for Nothing" Is Not Really Insulting to Homosexuals, Unless They Are Unlucky Enough to Be Working-Class Homosexuals |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/01/money-for-nothing-is-not-really-insulting-to-homosexuals-unless-they-are-unlucky-enough-to-be-working-class-homosexuals.html |access-date=2024-03-13 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339 |archive-date=March 13, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240313155247/https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/01/money-for-nothing-is-not-really-insulting-to-homosexuals-unless-they-are-unlucky-enough-to-be-working-class-homosexuals.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
In 1989, Sebastian Bach, lead singer of the band Skid Row, created a controversy when he wore a T-shirt with the parody slogan "AIDS: Kills Fags Dead".<ref>Michael Musto. [http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0022,musto,15284,15.html "La Dolce Musto"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070322195624/http://www.villagevoice.com/nyclife/0022,musto,15284,15.html |date=March 22, 2007 }}, village voice, 2000.</ref>
=====2000s=====
The 2001 song "American Triangle" by Elton John and Bernie Taupin uses the phrase, "God hates fags where we come from." The song is about Matthew Shepard, a gay man from Wyoming whose 1998 murder brought national and international attention to hate crime legislation at both the state and federal level.
In December 2007, BBC Radio 1 caused controversy by editing the word ''faggot'' from their broadcasts of the Kirsty MacColl and The Pogues song "Fairytale of New York", deeming it potentially homophobic; however, the edit did not extend to other BBC stations, such as BBC Radio 2. Following widespread criticism and pressure from listeners, the decision was reversed and the original unedited version of the song was reinstated, with clarification from Andy Parfitt, the station controller, that in the context of the song the lyrics had no "negative intent".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7149525.stm |title=Radio 1 censors Pogues' Fairytale |work=BBC News |date=December 18, 2007 |access-date=November 22, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Times Online |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article |title=Radio 1 reverses decision to censor Pogues hit"3071042.ece |location=London }}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
=====2010s–2020s===== Eminem used the word in numerous works, such as "Rap God" (2013), along with an inflammatory lyric containing the term being removed from "Fall".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/30017271/Eminem/Rap+God|title=Eminem - Rap God Lyrics | Lyrics.com|website=www.lyrics.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8473186/eminem-homphobic-slurs-accountable|title=billboard Eminem criticism|magazine=Billboard|access-date=May 6, 2021|archive-date=May 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502075519/https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8473186/eminem-homphobic-slurs-accountable|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genius.com/Eminem-fall-lyrics|title=Eminem – Fall|via=genius.com}}</ref>
A number of rappers have also used the slur in songs supporting the LGBT community. In 2012, Macklemore used the word ''faggot'' in the song "Same Love" in reference to the use of the homophobic slur in cyberbullying.<ref>{{cite web |title=Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Same Love lyrics |url=https://genius.com/Macklemore-and-ryan-lewis-same-love-lyrics |website=Genius |access-date=February 17, 2022}}</ref> Kendrick Lamar's 2022 song "Auntie Diaries" is also supportive of the LGBT community; however, it sparked controversy for its repeated use of the slur, as well as for deadnaming his transgender uncle.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kornhaber |first1=Spencer |title=The Impossible Ambition of Kendrick Lamar's New Album |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/05/kendrick-lamar-mr-morale-and-the-big-steppers-album-review/629879/ |website=The Atlantic |date=May 18, 2022 |access-date=September 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 13, 2026 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20260113110221/https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/05/kendrick-lamar-mr-morale-and-the-big-steppers-album-review/629879/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Factora |first1=James |title=Why Kendrick Lamar's "Auntie Diaries" Has Polarized the LGBTQ+ Community |url=https://www.them.us/story/why-kendrick-lamars-auntie-diaries-has-polarized-the-lgbtq-community |website=them |date=May 16, 2022 |access-date=September 19, 2023 |archive-date=May 16, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516204059/https://www.them.us/story/why-kendrick-lamars-auntie-diaries-has-polarized-the-lgbtq-community |url-status=live }}</ref>
====Television==== In November 2009, the ''South Park'' episode "The F Word" dealt with the overuse of the word ''fag''. The boys use the word to insult a group of bikers, saying that their loud motorcycles ruined everyone else's nice time. Officials from the dictionary, including Emmanuel Lewis, visit the town and agree that the meaning of the word should no longer insult homosexuals but instead be used to describe loud motorcycle riders who ruin others' nice times.<ref>{{cite web |title=South Park episode guide |url=https://southpark.cc.com/guide/1312/ |publisher=South Park Studios |date=November 2, 2009 |access-date=November 2, 2009 }}{{dead link|date=July 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The episode is a satire on the taboo of using the term, as it goes against political correctness.<ref name=avclub>{{cite news |author=Genevieve Koski |date=November 4, 2009 |title=The F Word |url=https://www.avclub.com/south-park-the-f-word-1798207343 |work=The A.V. Club |access-date=November 7, 2009}}</ref><ref name=glaad>{{cite web|date=November 5, 2009 |title=GLAAD protests 'South Park' f-bomb episode |url=http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/11/glaad-protests-south-park-fbomb-episode.html |work=James Hibberd's The Live Feed |access-date=November 7, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091107225343/http://www.thrfeed.com/2009/11/glaad-protests-south-park-fbomb-episode.html |archive-date=November 7, 2009 }}</ref>
==Reclamation== [[File:2008-09-27 Fagbug in Durham.jpg|thumb |In response to "fag" graffiti spray-painted on her car, an owner of a New Volkswagen Beetle named it the "Fagbug" and embarked on a trans-American road trip to raise awareness of homophobia and LGBT rights. The journey was documented in a film of the same name.<ref name=vanity>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/online/style/2009/01/fagbug.html#comments |title=The Heartwarming Story of Fagbug |last=Berk |first=Brett |date=January 8, 2009 |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=July 1, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530141233/http://www.vanityfair.com/online/style/2009/01/fagbug.html |archive-date=May 30, 2009 }}</ref><ref name=oscar>{{cite magazine|url=http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/current/archive/2007/12/19/driven-by-desire-and-her-fag-bug.aspx |title=Driven to Spread Awareness |last=Raymundo |first=Oscar |date=December 19, 2007 |magazine=Newsweek |access-date=December 13, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725085424/http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/current/archive/2007/12/19/driven-by-desire-and-her-fag-bug.aspx |archive-date=July 25, 2008 }}</ref>]] Some LGBTQ+ individuals have reclaimed the term as a neutral or positive term of self-description.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/faggot-meaning|title=Want to reclaim 'faggot'? Great, but be careful how you use it|website=British GQ|date=July 6, 2019|language=en-GB|access-date=February 6, 2020|archive-date=October 16, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016102718/https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/lifestyle/article/faggot-meaning|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/2017/8/02/21-words-queer-community-has-reclaimed-and-some-we-havent|title=21 Words the Queer Community Has Reclaimed (and Some We Haven't)|date=August 2, 2017|website=www.advocate.com|language=en|access-date=February 6, 2020}}</ref><ref>Gordon, Zach. [https://scripties.uba.uva.nl/document/674812 "Who Can Say Faggot? A Two Part Study on Online Slur Reclamation"]. ''Universiteit van Amsterdam'', 2019.</ref> The reclamation of slurs focuses on reinforcing in-group solidarity, restricting the use of the reclaimed slur to members of the targeted group.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Jeshion |first=Robin |date=2020-03-04 |title=Pride and Prejudiced |url=https://doi.org/10.1163/18756735-09701007 |journal=Grazer Philosophische Studien |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=106–137 |doi=10.1163/18756735-09701007 |issn=0165-9227|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
In 2009, Erin Davies' car, displaying a Pride flag, was defaced with homophobic slurs resulting in a 58-day tour across the U.S. and Canada, keeping the graffiti as a conversation starter about LGBTQ+ experiences with intolerance. This journey led to her documentary ''Fagbug'', an 80-minute film highlighting homophobia and the LGBTQ+ community's resilience in reclaiming and addressing derogatory terms. Davies' work exemplifies LGBTQ+ culture's longstanding efforts to transform slurs into tools for education and empowerment.<ref name=":1" />
==See also== {{Div col}} * Breeder * Fag hag * Fag stag * Gayphobia * Hate mail * Hate speech {{Div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * Ford, Michael Thomas. ''That's Mr. Faggot to You: Further Trials from My Queer Life'', Alyson Books, 1999.
==External links== {{Wiktionary|faggot}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20180727155908/https://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2112/how-did-faggot-get-to-mean-male-homosexual/ How did "faggot" get to mean "male homosexual"?] on The Straight Dope.
{{LGBT slang}} {{Portal bar|LGBTQ|Language|Society}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Faggot (Slang)}} Category:1910s neologisms Category:English profanity Category:Gay history Category:LGBTQ-related slurs Category:Homophobic slurs Category:Pejorative terms for men Category:English words