cat fight
I heard a girl friend jokingly use the term "cat fight" tonight and I got really ticked off. Not at her, but at all the women- trashing talk littering everyday English language usage.
There is no male equivalent to "bitch" or "bitchy".
Son-of-a-bitch still involves the word bitch.
There is no equivalent to "slut" or "whore".
Bastard still implies more wrong on the female part.
"Sir" is neutral, while "madam" is tainted by brothel connotations.
Girls fight, guys fight. Why the need for the distinctive "cat fight"?
When I was working with teenagers, I had a great talk with the girls about stopping the ridiculous habit of calling each other 'bitches', 'ho' or any other female-specific derogatory term--especially as some kind of honorific. I loved those girls, and I think we really got somewhere with that conversation. I wish it was so easy turning the rest of the world around.
I'm sure the socio-linguistic-scholars out there have some brilliant theories about why this is. But whatever it is, it's messed up. It needs to stop.
There is no male equivalent to "bitch" or "bitchy".
Son-of-a-bitch still involves the word bitch.
There is no equivalent to "slut" or "whore".
Bastard still implies more wrong on the female part.
"Sir" is neutral, while "madam" is tainted by brothel connotations.
Girls fight, guys fight. Why the need for the distinctive "cat fight"?
When I was working with teenagers, I had a great talk with the girls about stopping the ridiculous habit of calling each other 'bitches', 'ho' or any other female-specific derogatory term--especially as some kind of honorific. I loved those girls, and I think we really got somewhere with that conversation. I wish it was so easy turning the rest of the world around.
I'm sure the socio-linguistic-scholars out there have some brilliant theories about why this is. But whatever it is, it's messed up. It needs to stop.
posted by Duncan and Jen | 10:53 PM
4 Comments:
Rwwrrrrrrrrr. Fffffft.
You speak the truth.
Why can't we all love one another??
The thing that comes to mind is ... Mean Girls - you know, the movie with lindsay lohan. i'd like to know why girls are so mean to one another when we're in our teens.
Although I agree that women receive the brunt of the lexical trashing, I offer these choices in insulting men: "prick" and "dick". I'm sure that there are other more imaginative phallic references that otherwise conflate men to be nothing more than walking aggressive penises. Of course, neither of these have as strong a negative connotation of the sexually-oriented insults used against women, but I just wanted to note that there are some man-specific hurtful words. I've also heard "slut" is being used increasingly on men as well, although it still carries a female-linked history even in such usage.
jjc
Even derivative words like "himbo" or "man-whore" have obvious female sources... and I agree with John in that they usually are sexual nature. I think the most disturbing trend is the evolution of words like bitch, ho, and slut into terms of endearment among guys... as in "where are my bitches at?" I wonder where that comes from and what it means?
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