We’re done with fag and queer and a few others. Now its the turn of cocksucker.

Reclaiming words that have been used as insults, notably by straights, has been a useful tactic of the gay community to confront homophobia . It works. Call me queer and I’ll likely say “why, thank you”.

But cocksucker has always been a bit of a hold-out, so loaded, in fact that it still strikes me as hateful. I’m not sure why. So that while we call ourselves fags and queer with impunity, I don’t hear many people calling themselves cocksuckers. Except perhaps in jest.

Not that there’s anything wrong with jest.

I hadn’t realized that Saturday Night Live had given debunking the word cocksucker a good shot, though. What follows is likely the funniest, and filthiest, skit I’ve seen from them in a long time, with Janet Jackson, no less, doing the dirty. If you haven’t seen it, you must. It’s here: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/snl-soaking-cork-janet-jackson/850374212

 (Sorry for the picture quality, and btw, this is NSFW.)

What does this have to do with HIV stigma? Well, perhaps it addresses the kind of homophobia that, a couple of posts ago, was fingered as a key co-factor of much of the stigma that surrounds HIV.

Or perhaps it’s just a ruse to enable me to post a very funny video.

You be the judge.