The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #154216   Message #3616598
Posted By: Lighter
07-Apr-14 - 06:58 PM
Thread Name: BS: I dont understand the word homophobia
Subject: RE: BS: I dont understand the word homophobia
"Homophobia" in two distinct senses was admitted to the OED in 1993.

The prevailing sense is "Fear or hatred of homosexuals and homosexuality." The earliest example is from Time magazine in 1969.

Another sense, marked as "rare" and with a different etymology, is "Fear of men, or aversion towards the male sex; also, fear of mankind, anthropophobia." Only two quotations are given, one from 1920 and the other from 1960.