POOFTER

Etymology

Noun

poofter (plural poofters)

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, pejorative, slang) A male homosexual, especially an effeminate one.

(UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, pejorative, slang) A pansy, an effeminate man.

Usage notes

Poofter is nowadays one of the most pejorative words in Australian English, perhaps because of its use in the phrase poofter-bashing, which arose during the 1960s and 1970s during organised hate crimes against homosexuals across Australia and particularly in the Sydney district of King's Cross, a major centre of Sydney's gay social life. Beyond its use as an anti-homosexual slur, it is also often aimed at males who do not conform to normative ideals of masculinity in other ways, particularly in the fields of art or academia.