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nasser

@Moss many of the "correct" arabic words are basically slurs 😬 I've seen كوير kwyr used, though that's just a transliteration and I think people have mixed feelings all about this transliterating western words and by extension western queer culture. أحرار الجنس ahrar al-jins "sexually/gender liberated" also gets used. but I am far from an authority on this stuff.

5 comments
Freyasaurus

@nasser @Moss is the use of -Jin related to the supernatural creatures? Curious to know if the lines blur between queer and magical. In india that is certainly the case with trans women (Hijra), but that mythology is fraught in many other ways.

nasser

@mohini @Moss
jin جن is the root for magical beings and madness
jins جنس is the root for sex and sexuality

arabic etymology is tricky because the language is so dense there are a lot of false positives. things that seem related but have no real historical connection. in this case though... idk! sex, gender, madness, magic... related ideas...

cairn

@nasser @mohini this is fucking cool.
if i may ask a very ignorant question:
you said -jin is magical, is it like the english fae where anything kinda magical falls into the category? i have heard Jin (Jinn?) used to refer specifically to what we call genies. wondering if that’s a western misunderstanding?

Darius Kazemi

@Moss @nasser @mohini djinn are sort of all-purpose spirits including aladdin's wish-giving genie. not a bad analogy with "fae" imo. they are not innately good or evil, it just sort of depends.

nasser

@darius @Moss @mohini importantly, they have free will, so I've always interpreted stories where they are bound to an object, like a lamp, and forced to do magic to "grant their masters wishes" as kind of allegories for the arab slave trade, but maybe that's just me overthinking things

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