Raptophobia Vs Homophobia

Raptophobia is the fear of rape.

Homophobia is the fear of homosexuals.

I bring up this topic for two reasons: 1. There is a clear difference between these two things. 2. Because I was watching the final season of Spartacus last night, including the scene where Julius Caesar gets raped by Tiberius Crassus, the son of Marcus Crassus.

Caesar was not afraid of Tiberius prior to the rape. He didn't like him because he was a rival and they were both hungry for power, but their sexualities played no role in it.

During the season, Tiberius rapes two people, Caesar and also a slave girl belonging to Tiberius' father Marcus Crassus. When Tiberius is captured in a trap by Spartacus, Caesar is sent to barter for Tiberius' life (even though Caesar now secretly wants him dead), and after negotiating for his release the boy is killed by the slave girl he had raped (who had fled her master and joined up with Spartacus' army out of fear of her master's son). So Caesar was actually pleased at that turn of events.


It is a complicated plot I admit. I am summarizing and abbreviating as best as I can. Watch the whole series if you want more details.

No where in the plot is there homophobia. But there is raptophobia - the fear of rape - a theme which continues from first season onwards, a smaller part of the master vs slave theme of the whole series which leads Spartacus into leading a slave rebellion against their Roman masters.

I think however that there is an important distinction between the fear of rape and the so-called fear of homosexuals. Having a healthy fear of being raped is normal. Everyone is afraid of rape, much like we are all afraid of dying, public speaking, etc. Having an actual fear of homosexuals suggests it is an irrational fear.

If we say "Rob Ford is a homophobe." does that mean he pees his pants and runs away every time he meets a gay person? No. He does not. (Although it would be funny if he did.)

The terms "homophobe" and "homophobia" are really inaccurate. What we really should be saying is "Rob Ford hates homosexuals." because that is more accurate.

It would be like confusing raptophilia (people who get turned on by rape) with raptophobia (people who are afraid of being raped) or raptodium (the hatred of rapists and rape, from the latin words rapto and odium).

Thus the proper way to say it is actually "Rob Ford is a homodiumite." Which I admit homodiumite doesn't roll off the tongue quite so easily, but at least it is accurate.

Thus when you hear or read about religious wackos thumping their bibles and saying horrible things about gay people, those people are not really afraid of gay people. They are just homodiumites - people who have an irrational hatred of gay people.

It has nothing to do with raptophobia or homophobia. They aren't pissing themselves in fear. They are just bigots who love hating things.

Raptophobia is sometimes associated with androphobia (the fear of men). This is not to be confused with androdium (the hatred of men), although sometimes fear and hatred coincide where rape victims are concerned.

For example I hate spammers. All spammers should die long and horrible deaths. Telemarketers too. They should all be crucified outside the city to warn others not to spam people or you will end up getting crucified too. That makes me a "spammerodiumite".

It is not like I am afraid of spam or spammers. I just hate them and I wish they would stop spamming me.

For the record I am very happy Rob Ford is no longer the mayor of Toronto. Now if only John Tory would have a "dead prostitute scandal" or something similar that would push him out of office I would be happy. Seriously. John Tory looks like the type of politician who has a few dead prostitute skeletons in the closet. You never know, he might even make Rob Ford look like a loveable jerk if people discover John Tory has been sneaking around doing some pretty nasty stuff.

But regardless of my disgust of John Tory, I will at least say that he still had the balls to go to Toronto's Gay Pride Parade (unlike Rob Ford who ignored his mayoral duties for 4 years). Although admittedly he did use his participation in the event as a blatant attempt to win votes. Meh. At least he showed up.