Quote:
Originally Posted by Engine
True. Goes to show you how mainstream society was scared to death of AIDS and were ready and willing to blame the disease on gay men at the time. As a little kid I remember the word being so common that it wasn't any worse than calling somebody a "shithead" or something on the playground. In fact it was more acceptable because "faggot" didn't even count as a swear.
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I've always thought of it as general homophobia but I think you're right about the connection to AIDS fearmongering. It doesn't seem like those words were nearly as common in mass media in the previous decades.