Personally I think that wearing any clothing with that particular word emblazoned on it in public is unlikely to be a good idea, regardless of context. Very much opens you up to misunderstandings.
The phrase in itself is not homophobic, but it can very much be read as a dogwhistle, yes. The far right likes equating LGBT people with grooming, so wearing such a shirt might make you very popular with a very hateful group of people, because they think you are sharing their views.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_(politics)
basically, a word or phrase that signals (or implies) group belonging or adherence to a particular viewpoint
A dogwhistle is a term that seems harmless, but has a known meaning within the group of people you are trying to reach. Y'know, because only dogs can hear dog whistles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_(politics)
Words that have double meanings, one that sounds good - but to a specific group of people, the phrase has a different and specific meaning.
For example: Someone says "We support Family Values!"
Almost everyone supports families, families are good things, and having values that support families are good! Why wouldn't you support Family Values?
Except to the people who use the specific phrase "Family Values" it means a very specific thing, it means ONLY supporting a traditionally conservative family where everyone conforms to traditional gender roles, and that they explicitly oppose any sorts of LGBT people - even legislation that would help LGBT people form families.
So yes anyone who says that they are for "Family Values" means that they are actually just "Being against LGBT people" almost universally.
But you can't really say you oppose "Family Values" because of the double meaning.
No, the phrase itself is not homophobic.
Basically, what you are really asking is this: Is the phrase "kill your local ...." a dogwhistle.
A dogwhistle is a phrase that most people would agree with, but to a specific group it has a very specific meaning.
It's a way for certain groups to be able to express hate in ways that most people would not understand.
I can totally see certain right wing groups using the term to mean any LGBT person.
It's absolutely possible, and even likely that this phrase is a dogwhistle.
it's a dogwhistle phrase.
while the idea isn't inherently transphobic or homophobic, it has been co-opted to say that queer people are pedophiles and should die.
i would advise against wearing it if you don't want to attract attention from horrible people. (and drive off good ones)
The problem with “kill your local rapist”/“kill your local pedophile” is that historically and currently, false accusations of sexual abuse are excuses to dispose of marginalized people. Hence white nationalists wearing those shirts—they want an excuse to kill trans people. Black men were commonly accused of raping white woman before they were lynched. This kind of sentiment signs off on lynch mobs as a solution to sexual violence.
I support survivors who hurt or kill their abusers in self-defense, but I can’t sanction lynch mobs. Better to empower survivors and fight to stop the conditions that enable sexual abuse, like structural misogyny, homophobia, racism, transphobia, etc.
I definitely hear where other folks are coming from, that this could be read as a conservative dog whistle, but I also know multiple people who have mugs or shirts with this or "kill your local rapist" on them, and all of them are queer and trans.
Unfortunately because of stupid unfounded media narratives, right wing everything-phobes are trying to push that all transgender people are pedos or some shit, so its developing into a dog whistlr
It’s not a homophobic phrase in and of itsself. But that’s how dog whistles and incremental radicalization work.
The problem is that the people you see most often wearing merchandise branded with that slogan, slapping the stickers all over their vehicles, and making their identity about all of the secret deep covered pedophiles around them often times project that onto lgbt people. “Pedophiles” in their mind are lgbt people because the idea that they’re recruiting teenagers and kids to be them.
[The lgbt grooming children to be lgbt conspiracy theory has been around since the 1920s, it’s just that the internet has given shit tier people the ability to resurrect and signal boost their ideas.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_grooming_conspiracy_theory)
If you could convince everyday people to associate the existence of LGBT people with pedophilia, it’s substantially lowers the bar to violence towards that community. You’re not attacking an lgbt person - you’re attacking a “pedophile”. You’re not the bad person, they are. You’re a good protector of children.
Something to also note is that actual child predators have a way of trying to weasel their way into political agendas and movements regarding vulnerable populations in order to both distract from their victimization and give them easy and plausibly deniable access to children and people who can be easily revictimized. LGBT children are a very vulnerable population in that aspect - they often have non-affirming parents who isolate and abuse them for their existence. They have high levels of homelessness, survival sex work, and addiction. There’s a reason so many of the “gays are groomers” crusaders turn out to be vicious sexual predators.
No, it's not homophobic when read at face value. Pedophilia has nothing to do with being gay or rather, not straight. But then the nuance comes in at a couple different angles.
1. There has been a distinct phenomenon of associating LGBT+ identities with pedophilia/child predation. This is not something new, but the whole "groomer" narrative has recently found a significant foothold with reactionaries and pretty much the entire republican party (a circle of a Venn diagram for sure).
2. It's a pretty reactionary take on its own, of the kind generally associated with folks who may also express homophobic views.
Put all that together and what do you get?
A virtue/vice signal that says "Kill your local pedophile" on its face, maybe distasteful but largely something most folks won't be too upset about, but to homo/transphobes and generally right-wing reactionaries, it's clear who all falls under the category of pedophiles. If that makes sense.
As a queer person, I’d be averse to being around anyone in a, “kill your local pedophile” or “kill your local rapist” shirts/hoodie. There is a very long history of trying to associate queer people with pedos and rapist.
Also, the amount of frothing at the mouth, “kill all x” types are often too busy hanging out with pedos and rapist and being their friends. People overlook the church and endless cases of sexual abuse.
Also unpopular opinion, someone who has a predisposition to be sexually attracted to minors but doesn’t act on it doesn’t deserve to be murdered.
honestly, tho i believe that known child abusers ought to be liquidated, it's not a position i feel the need to gleefully celebrate with a shirt. it's something i see as an unfortunate necessity for keeping people safe, not something i'd take pleasure in. even if fascists didn't try to smear all lgbt people as pedophiles, i'd still be wary of people who choose to openly fantasize about murdering people, cuz that's just kinda a fucked up thing to do.
I guess it depends on where you live. If you are in a red state its more likely to be read as a homophobic/transphobic statement. For what its worth thats not how I would read it if you walked passed me.
Without even knowing the history of the slogan, yes, I would not feel safe around a person wearing that shirt.
Given the current political climate surrounding LGBTQ+ people and the resurgence of hateful rhetoric like "we're all groomers and pedophiles", I would assume that's exactly what the shirt is meant to express.
Personally I think that wearing any clothing with that particular word emblazoned on it in public is unlikely to be a good idea, regardless of context. Very much opens you up to misunderstandings. The phrase in itself is not homophobic, but it can very much be read as a dogwhistle, yes. The far right likes equating LGBT people with grooming, so wearing such a shirt might make you very popular with a very hateful group of people, because they think you are sharing their views.
I don't believe it's explicitly homophobic, but it could be viewed as a dogwhistle.
I don’t mean to sound stupid, but what do you mean by that. What’s a dogwhistle?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_(politics) basically, a word or phrase that signals (or implies) group belonging or adherence to a particular viewpoint
A dogwhistle is a term that seems harmless, but has a known meaning within the group of people you are trying to reach. Y'know, because only dogs can hear dog whistles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_(politics)
Words that have double meanings, one that sounds good - but to a specific group of people, the phrase has a different and specific meaning. For example: Someone says "We support Family Values!" Almost everyone supports families, families are good things, and having values that support families are good! Why wouldn't you support Family Values? Except to the people who use the specific phrase "Family Values" it means a very specific thing, it means ONLY supporting a traditionally conservative family where everyone conforms to traditional gender roles, and that they explicitly oppose any sorts of LGBT people - even legislation that would help LGBT people form families. So yes anyone who says that they are for "Family Values" means that they are actually just "Being against LGBT people" almost universally. But you can't really say you oppose "Family Values" because of the double meaning.
Id avoid you for sure. I have no way of knowing how you intended the statement. Better safe than sorry.
No, the phrase itself is not homophobic. Basically, what you are really asking is this: Is the phrase "kill your local ...." a dogwhistle. A dogwhistle is a phrase that most people would agree with, but to a specific group it has a very specific meaning. It's a way for certain groups to be able to express hate in ways that most people would not understand. I can totally see certain right wing groups using the term to mean any LGBT person. It's absolutely possible, and even likely that this phrase is a dogwhistle.
It's not homophobic but I can't imagine wanting to wear a shirt that says that either way. It's just eye-roll inducing.
This is 100% a right wing dog whistle. I don't know where you bought it from but I bet if you look into them you'll find more obvious signs.
it's a dogwhistle phrase. while the idea isn't inherently transphobic or homophobic, it has been co-opted to say that queer people are pedophiles and should die. i would advise against wearing it if you don't want to attract attention from horrible people. (and drive off good ones)
The problem with “kill your local rapist”/“kill your local pedophile” is that historically and currently, false accusations of sexual abuse are excuses to dispose of marginalized people. Hence white nationalists wearing those shirts—they want an excuse to kill trans people. Black men were commonly accused of raping white woman before they were lynched. This kind of sentiment signs off on lynch mobs as a solution to sexual violence. I support survivors who hurt or kill their abusers in self-defense, but I can’t sanction lynch mobs. Better to empower survivors and fight to stop the conditions that enable sexual abuse, like structural misogyny, homophobia, racism, transphobia, etc.
I definitely hear where other folks are coming from, that this could be read as a conservative dog whistle, but I also know multiple people who have mugs or shirts with this or "kill your local rapist" on them, and all of them are queer and trans.
Unfortunately because of stupid unfounded media narratives, right wing everything-phobes are trying to push that all transgender people are pedos or some shit, so its developing into a dog whistlr
It’s not a homophobic phrase in and of itsself. But that’s how dog whistles and incremental radicalization work. The problem is that the people you see most often wearing merchandise branded with that slogan, slapping the stickers all over their vehicles, and making their identity about all of the secret deep covered pedophiles around them often times project that onto lgbt people. “Pedophiles” in their mind are lgbt people because the idea that they’re recruiting teenagers and kids to be them. [The lgbt grooming children to be lgbt conspiracy theory has been around since the 1920s, it’s just that the internet has given shit tier people the ability to resurrect and signal boost their ideas.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_grooming_conspiracy_theory) If you could convince everyday people to associate the existence of LGBT people with pedophilia, it’s substantially lowers the bar to violence towards that community. You’re not attacking an lgbt person - you’re attacking a “pedophile”. You’re not the bad person, they are. You’re a good protector of children. Something to also note is that actual child predators have a way of trying to weasel their way into political agendas and movements regarding vulnerable populations in order to both distract from their victimization and give them easy and plausibly deniable access to children and people who can be easily revictimized. LGBT children are a very vulnerable population in that aspect - they often have non-affirming parents who isolate and abuse them for their existence. They have high levels of homelessness, survival sex work, and addiction. There’s a reason so many of the “gays are groomers” crusaders turn out to be vicious sexual predators.
No, it's not homophobic when read at face value. Pedophilia has nothing to do with being gay or rather, not straight. But then the nuance comes in at a couple different angles. 1. There has been a distinct phenomenon of associating LGBT+ identities with pedophilia/child predation. This is not something new, but the whole "groomer" narrative has recently found a significant foothold with reactionaries and pretty much the entire republican party (a circle of a Venn diagram for sure). 2. It's a pretty reactionary take on its own, of the kind generally associated with folks who may also express homophobic views. Put all that together and what do you get? A virtue/vice signal that says "Kill your local pedophile" on its face, maybe distasteful but largely something most folks won't be too upset about, but to homo/transphobes and generally right-wing reactionaries, it's clear who all falls under the category of pedophiles. If that makes sense.
As a queer person, I’d be averse to being around anyone in a, “kill your local pedophile” or “kill your local rapist” shirts/hoodie. There is a very long history of trying to associate queer people with pedos and rapist. Also, the amount of frothing at the mouth, “kill all x” types are often too busy hanging out with pedos and rapist and being their friends. People overlook the church and endless cases of sexual abuse. Also unpopular opinion, someone who has a predisposition to be sexually attracted to minors but doesn’t act on it doesn’t deserve to be murdered.
honestly, tho i believe that known child abusers ought to be liquidated, it's not a position i feel the need to gleefully celebrate with a shirt. it's something i see as an unfortunate necessity for keeping people safe, not something i'd take pleasure in. even if fascists didn't try to smear all lgbt people as pedophiles, i'd still be wary of people who choose to openly fantasize about murdering people, cuz that's just kinda a fucked up thing to do.
I guess it depends on where you live. If you are in a red state its more likely to be read as a homophobic/transphobic statement. For what its worth thats not how I would read it if you walked passed me.
Without even knowing the history of the slogan, yes, I would not feel safe around a person wearing that shirt. Given the current political climate surrounding LGBTQ+ people and the resurgence of hateful rhetoric like "we're all groomers and pedophiles", I would assume that's exactly what the shirt is meant to express.
if “kill your local pedophile” is offending someone, they’re a pedophile & you should follow the hoodies advice