fifth columnist
nounEtymology From fifth column + -ist.
1
someone who belongs to a group that secretly undermines another organization
- In both cases audiences can listen to the characters and actually hear them simply because both characters are not who they seem to be; they are fifth column-ists, interlopers in the battlefield of sexual politics. If a homosexual character or a real woman gave the speeches that Andrews and Hoffman gave they would be written off as crackpots by the movie-going public.1983 February 12, Michael Bronski, “Tootsie and the Gender Benders”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 29, page 14: