Nearly half of young people still think it’s okay to say ‘that’s so gay’
Almost half of people aged 18-29 still think it is acceptable to use the phrase “that’s gay”, as a pejorative term.
A YouGov poll for Newsbeat asked 3,000 young people what they think is acceptable in terms of using terms which might offend when it comes to sexuality.
Twelve words commonly used to talk about sexuality or relating to it were shown to those surveyed.
Some words relating to sexuality were more offensive to respondents than words relating to race.
75% of people say they thought the word “faggot” was offensive, and more than half said they would ask their friends not to use it if they heard it.
The word “lezza” was also featured, and just more than half said they thought it was offensive.
Context proved to be an important factor, with many saying they thought it was just as relevant as the person who is using it.
15% of respondents said they were unsure whether the word “queen” was inappropriate, and 16% said they didn’t know if it would be offensive to use the word “fairy” in a song.
One in ten said they thought using the word homosexual was unacceptable in any circumstances.
