What's in a Name?

Following a recent Twitter spat, Harlem rapper Azealia Banks has been criticsed for calling Brooklyn producer Baauer a ‘faggot’. Banks remained defiant about the incident (her wrath was incurred over her remix of his ‘Harlem Shake’ hit, which was removed from Soundcloud), later retorting, “Here we go again. Everyone pretending to be so shocked and moved by the word faggot... Everyone’s always acting like it’s fucking 1905 in this bitch. Faggot means coward, liar, backstabber... Energy stealer, blood sucker.” She added, “As if I would be a fucking homophobe...”
So, what’s in a name? Is it possible for a word to move beyond its historical derogatory meaning, or will it always retain the weight it once held? More to the point, is it okay now to use ‘the other F word’ – and in doing so, might it ultimately lose some of its negative meaning, and therefore, the disproportionate power it holds over us?
Gay Community News editor Brian Finnegan says absolutely not. “Azealia is completely wrong. The plain fact of it is, the word ‘faggot’ has historically been used – and continues to be used – as a term of homophobic abuse. Its underlying meaning is that it’s been used to oppress and do violence to a minority group.”
Dublin rapper Tempermental Miss-Elayneous says she tends not to curse in her lyrics, acknowledging the complex power of language.
“Words have weight,” she proffers. “They can provoke a lot and evoke a lot in people emotionally. There’s connotation everywhere, and then there’s blatant meaning – and I think ‘faggot’ is one of those clear ones. It’s like ‘bitch’. ‘Bitch’ hurts my ears. I’m not adjusted to the word. It’s simultaneously derogatory towards both genders – It hurts everybody.”
But is it fair to berate Azealia if she wasn’t being, as she put it herself, “a fucking homophobe” – and meant the word as a mere slur? Are gay groups still justified in taking offence?
MissElayneous’ fellow Dublin lyricist Lethal Dialect isn’t so sure.
“It all depends on the context it’s said in,” he muses. “Not everything is intended to offend. I only use expletives in songs to emphasise a point or to add weight to a description, but I think people can be too sensitive. The word ‘faggot’ is used as general slander so much now, it usually isn’t even about sexuality anymore.”
Brian Finnegan disagrees. The word, he says, is still as reflective of homophobia as ever. It’s got a long way to go before it loses that weight. It can happen though – just look at ‘queer’.
“‘Queer’ has been re-appropriated by the gay community as a more alternative, empowering collective term”, Brian argues. “It’s a different thing, though, when the oppressed appropriate a term. It’s about turning it on its head, being divisive within your community. You can’t really do it outside of that group, and it certainly hasn’t happened with ‘faggot’ yet.”
MissElayneous concludes, ‘“Azealia is young and possibly means it in an innocent way. I’ve heard young people use the word and I don’t think they realise the weight that it has. At the end of the day though, there’s an abundance of lyrics out there for you to portray your message and avoid cursing and upsetting people.”