Abstract
The term
hetero-homo-transphobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward hetero/homo/transexuality or people who are identified or perceived as having a sexual orientation different from one’s own. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred or antipathy, may be based on irrational fear and ignorance, and is often related to religious beliefs.
Generally, the phenomenon is measured and evaluated based on the number of aggressive or discriminating acts but as well as
other persecutors (e.g. stalkers) hetero/homo/transphobes do not see themselves as such. There are, though, different indicator in human behavior that could be useful to predict the potential hetero-homo-transphobic structure of a subject’s mind. Only aggressive or violent speaking is considered to be predictive of hetero-homo- transphobia (e.g faggot; dyke…) but other more subtle uses of language such as expressions of disdain or disgust (e.g. I’d never sleep with a man, I’m disgusted by the idea).
The syntactic and lexical use of terms is probably the most indicative since, as we know, the language path in brain are structured during infantry and are strictly connected to our inner structure. Analysis of terminology and lexicon could be use in forensic linguistics to identify and prevent potential hetero-homo-transphobic phenomena.
Authors: S. Vernocchi, A. Aceranti, M. Colorato, F. Monte, S. Bassi, E. Aldrovandi
Presented: 4th European Conference of the International Association for Forensic and Legal Linguistics (IAFLL)
