| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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6. Names and Labels: Social, Racial, and Ethnic Terms
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| § 44. lesbian |
| If gay can refer to either sex, why are such seemingly unnecessary expressions as gay and lesbian or lesbians and gay men so common when referring to groups that include both men and women? While the answer is undoubtedly complex, one aspect is probably the natural linguistic process by which two words with shared or inclusive meanings tend to become specialized over time. Thus the growing use of lesbian as a term of pride among many homosexual women in the 1970s created a certain linguistic pressure for a comparable term limited to homosexual men. But homosexual men (and, of course, many women who would later call themselves lesbian) had already come of political age under the banner of gay liberation, and gay was their strongly preferred term. While gay has never lost its inclusiveness, it has tended to become more closely associated with men, making the dual term gay and lesbian not only respectful but in many cases necessary for clarity. | 1 |
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gay. | 2 |
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| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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