system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why doesn't 'homophobia' mean 'a fear of things that are the same'? Shouldn't it be 'homosexualphobia' or 'orientationism'? And why is 'feminism' positive but 'racism' negative?

EDIT: Please stop telling me that feminism is bad! I meant in the sense that 'feminism' is PRO-female (whether or not you think it's a good idea or "positive" in that sense), while racism is implied to be AGAINST a race!

This was not intended as a debate about the pros and cons of feminism, I used it as an arbitrary example, so let's keep it etymological!
gpt
Homophobia is more just colloquially developed, its not like some linguistically derived term, it's more like 'Chocoholic' it makes no sense. 

Racism, Feminism, Totalitarianism, Vegetarianism, Communism, Environmentalism... the 'ism' has no implication of negative or positive. To many people Feminism isn't positive...and to many Communism is positive, and to others its negative... that has nothing to do with the word though. The ism word just embodies the concept you're talking about...the concept itself determines how people react to it.