I’m the latest person to comment on something that has been in the blogosphere for the past couple of days: Terry McMillan’s use of the F-word. Not “f*@<," but "fag."
Margaret Cho says gay men have several ways of saying “girl,” given the changes in tone of voice and body language. I can only say “girl” to Ms. McMillan sighing and shaking my bowed head. In the old days, a journalist would have published the article, a select few would have read, and gossip would have finished the job. Television would further the job for a while, but never underestimate the power of the spoken word. Unfortunately for Terry, this happened right in the information age. First, the articles get posted on the newspaper and magazine website, the news du jour may get some TV time, but then there are the blogs. I’ve seen this article or some mention of it on several different blogs (such as this one and another) over the past couple of days, and I’m just the latest person to talk about it.
To borrow something else from Margaret Cho, I think Terri McMillan has awakened Al-Gayda. The blogs may be bad enough, but there are also tons of e-mails with the links to the blogs or the source articles. And this will go on for a while, and just when it seems like it has become old news, Terri’s “weapon” will resurface on the search engines. The story may even show up on Snopes.Com with true status.
Given that her ex-husband found out he was gay during their marriage, “fag” is the only weapon she has? I couldn’t believe she said that. Since she claims he’s extorted her and put her in harms way, wouldn’t being specific and providing a detailed account be a more effective weapon? McMillan as a writer should SHOW, not TELL, and using “fag” as a weapons only brings her down. She should also be sensitive to the power of words and the impact they have upon others.
Once the lawsuit is over, girl, get over it. You may exorcize your demons in the next novel, but hopefully Angela Bassett isn’t cast as a bitter, middle-aged woman who has lost her groove. She’s too fabulous for that.
Some song lyrics for Ms. McMillan:
Now he’s gone so please forget him
Get yourself together
And you’ll be alright.
- Small Faces, “Get Yourself Together
Tags: gay rights
This isn’t even new news, as details were in the divorce back in ’05:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/26/BAGTQDF4S01.DTL