Misuse of words, or Did she really out him?

[karmyn75.livejournal.com]

As we all know, LKH has a strange way with words and misusing them in amusing ways. There's the infamous lose/loose, the new air/err, and my new favorite, the overuse and abuse of 'homophobe'.
I'm the first to admit I have no sort of gaydar at all. I mean, even after I saw a photo of a friend in a newspaper story about the university glbt club I still wasn't sure he was gay. Now he's in the middle of a sex change.
Anyway, it seems to me that LKH is misusing the word homophobe. When Richard is uncomfortable at seeing JC naked, Anita says he's homophobic. Maybe he just doesn't like seeing other men naked all the time. Nothing homophobic about that. The use of the word homophobe heavily implies that JC is totally and completely gay. Of course the readers know he and the other men are, but LKH has been denying this all along. Now she outs him.

Comments

[windiain.livejournal.com]

I have to wonder how many trans fans decamped to the anti-fandom, and how many are actually still True Fans. I don't know about anyone else, but Narcissus made me eyeroll huge amounts and want to throw the book against the wall. Though luckily he's so out there you can't particularly take the character seriously.

[tartful-dodger.livejournal.com]

I feel pretty ambivalent towards Narcissus. On one hand the sheer lack of research or understanding into the intersex condition is pretty headdesky, but given that's LKH all over.

On the whole I liked that a genderqueer pervert had such power (even if it was undermined later on). I like seeing predatory queers who can handle themselves, make heterosexuals squawk with fear and use it to gain respect for themselves. It's nice to see someone so effeminate be dangerous. I personally was amazed that LKH could get her blinkered mind around the concept of a strong man in a dress with a uterus. Plus he replaces Gabriel as none-submissive, none-weak masochist, which I really appreciated as a counter balance to characters like the leopards and Phillip.