Since early July, "Dyke" has been used on Twitter almost half a million times, while "No Homo", "So Gay" and "Faggot" have a combined total of almost 6 million occurrences. This according to a mirror website set up by the University of Alberta’s Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services (iSMSS). Aside from shock value, why do we need to know these numbers?
Kristopher Wells from the iSMSS explains they set up the site because they needed to build off research done from the University of Winnipeg and EGALE on the National School Climate Survey. Along with work done from American and British LGBT organizations, it was discovered how pervasive homophobic language is in our schools and that toxic school climates are created because of the use of said language. "So for example, the EGALE study showed that 70% of LGBTQ Youth are hearing phrases like That’s so gay everyday in their schools. 10% of the time they’re coming from the teachers themselves."
Therefore, iSMSS "...wanted to design a project that would call attention to the issue of casual homophobia." That project – www.nohomophobes.com – is a social mirror tracking (in real time) casual homophobia used in the Twittersphere.
When the results first started coming in, Kristopher was shocked. "I thought we might get a couple hundred a day...not in the tens of thousands. It also puts a face to this casual homophobia and quantifies it. "Having over 3 million tweets of the word Faggot since we started testing the website on July 5 is pretty clear evidence this is a pervasive and serious issue in our society. I think that’s what really shocked people; the sheer magnitude and volume of this kind of language."
As for why Twitter, this form of social media was chosen because the iSMSS knows that in Canada the majority of perpetrators of hate crimes are youth. Who uses social media a lot? Youth. "When we look at the demographic of who’s online and especially who’s using Twitter it is largely composed of young people."
Admittedly, the website does not qualify how the word is being used. The Tweets are reposted as they appear with no review. This could mean some instances are positive tweets of the words used ("Dykes on Bikes are awesome!") or are instances of people reclaiming the words in a positive way ("I am so gay and so sexy"). Unfortunately, as you watch the real time tweets scroll past you, those types of comments are few and far between. "We really let the website speak for itself...we don’t do any sort of analysis...this is just real people in real time and it’s up to the viewer to make a determination of the language that we’re seeing." As you watch the comments, Kristopher says the vast majority is not reclaimed language – it’s not coming from the LGBT community.
However, many of these people tweeting, if confronted with their words, would say they don’t mean it in a hurtful way (and in some cases they would add that they have gay friends). This isn’t how it’s perceived by our community; this language, Kristopher says, creates a negative, toxic culture for LGBT folk as it prevents people from coming out and being themselves. "Words have the power to hurt...we’re asking people through this website to think before they speak, think before they tweet and take responsibility for the language that you use and don’t use these words as shorthand for something that is stupid, or is wrong, or is bad."
The study is limited to those four words – it doesn’t cover other slurs or profane words. The study had to be limited, Kristopher says, and even then they had to use exact words - "fag" was not included because in some parts of the world it’s slang for cigarette. "I’ve had dozens of emails from individuals/ groups/ organizations from all over the world who’ve asked us about adding other slurs. Things like retard, bitch, rape and tranny and all of these other kinds of derogatory language that’s in widespread use. But that wasn’t the intent of our project. It is narrow in focus. There’s always a challenge of, are you too narrow in your (project) scope or are you too broad?" However, based on the global reaction to this website – they’ve had over 430,000 unique visitors from all over the world, they’re getting media coverage nationally, internationally and of course in LGBT media – the folks at the iSMSS hit a nerve.
On a positive note, the team behind the site recognized this has inspired people to use social media in innovative ways for public education, which is what happened here. This project wasn’t meant as a solution to everything – it was meant to start the conversation and get people thinking of how they use this type of derogatory language. Putting aside those who are being deliberately malicious, many of the people twittering these words may not know the history and the power they carry. It’s just a "taboo" word used for attention or used to strongly punctuate language. Yet it comes at the cost of someone else’s self-esteem.
Nohomophobes.com will continue tracking the use of these words, and in the Edmonton area they are promoting the site with transit ads, posters, and a commercial (which will be out the end of November). The posters themselves are very stark and simple – one of the four words on a black background with a QR code/ smart tag (which, when scanned takes you to the website). If anyone from Calgary or other places wishe to help promote the site with the downloadable posters, they should contact the iSMSS.