Using HOMO in Domain Names and Descriptions

[Bec]

I recently wrote a sponsor about their use of homos to describe guys engaging in gay sex, for a bear site RSS feed. They were very pro-active and had their writers cease using the word in the descriptions, as the tone really came across as defamatory.

Now I'm seeing new sites being released using Homo as part of the domain name and wondering wtf? Do you find this acceptable, and do you promote sites that do this?

[Bill]

it's another one of those words that can be fun and funny used in-group, and derogatory when coming from out-group.

I wouldn't try to sell a paysite that used it - complete waste of time mostly. But thats largely because it would be used incorrectly.

It's not a highly sexually charged word - it's camp, not seductive - so doamin names based on it would have to be campy. However, I wouldn't buy one - no point really.

[Rich]

i think this is mostly the straight paysite sponsors that use this because they do not know any other terms to use in the domain names when they want to do a gay paysite

[DrChango]

I've heard horror stories from my roommate about marketing meetings where some absolutely terrible names have been suggested for our gay sites. I won't repeat them here, since it isn't my intention to blast coworkers, but if any of you run into Paul L at the Phoenix show, ask him about it.

(Also ask him about how much fun he had at the "Playboy Lingerie" party he and Tommy threw at the house.)

[Lazer]

As always, it depends on the context. I promote homopunk.com, for example, but it works in that context...

If you mean sites whose texts are like "two homos fuck" and whatnot, well it certainly sounds inappropriate, although i think it's as much a communication breakdown as anything. Homosexual is probably the most internationally recognized word for "gay" after the word "gay" itself, so you can't blame non-English speaking sites for using the word -- they could just as easily be thinking it's a shortened form of "homosexual" and don't realize the negative connotations it carries for native English speakers.

[Seth]

I agree it really depends on the context. I think it works for the sites HomoPunk & HomoEmo. It's definitely nowhere near as bad as "The Gays" or even worse, "fag" which I've seen used in site names.

I have a few "homo" domains that I haven't done anything with:

HomoGrown.com
HomoHomeVideo.com

[DrChango]

HomoHomeVideo is pretty damn catchy

[Bec]

If you mean sites whose texts are like "two homos fuck" and whatnot, well it certainly sounds inappropriate, although i think it's as much a communication breakdown as anything. Homosexual is probably the most internationally recognized word for "gay" after the word "gay" itself, so you can't blame non-English speaking sites for using the word -- they could just as easily be thinking it's a shortened form of "homosexual" and don't realize the negative connotations it carries for native English speakers.

Yes, that's how it was being used, "hairy black guy rams big dick up homo's ass" type stuff.

And it is the release of the HomoEmo that has me questioning if it's in good taste to name a site using Homo.

[DonMike]

Yeah, HomoEmo and HomoPunk work. There's a punk movement called Homocore that's been around for ages. It can be a very edgy, sexy word when used in the right context. However, that context is very narrow. There are very few places where it can work and I think these are pretty much it. It's not something that would work in general use.