slut/ whore/ slag/ tart (and the list goes on…)
In a world where a woman’s sexuality and her body is deemed to have a price, any suggestion of a woman ‘giving’ sex without a price (slut) or for the wrong price (whore) is a damning one. With a woman’s body being seen as a commodity with a value that can be apraised materially, a woman who is perceived to be ‘giving away’ that commodity is regarded as degraded. Calling a woman one of these names brings her sexual history under public scrutiny, as though the ways in which she chooses to engage in sexual behaviour have anything to do with her worth as a human being. To use one of these words in describing a woman is to participate in the view of sex as being dirty, of women who have sex as being especially dirty, to engage in the discourse that is seen in pornography, used to destroy women in rape trials, used to silence women who would speak loudly.
bitch/ cow/ dog
These supposedly harmless words are deployed as insults to describe women as being less than human, resting on the ideology of women being closer to animals than men, and of animals being of less worth than human beings. ‘Bitch’ and ‘cow’ in particular call attention to the femaleness of the human being insulted, whereas ‘dog’ is more ambiguous, usually meaning an ‘unattractive’ woman. ‘Bitch’ in particular is used of women who argue with others, and seems to come from the image of female dogs as fighting tooth and nail for the safety of their young- something that we can maybe take some solace in. Being called a bitch suggests that 1) you’ve been speaking your mind and 2) that you are dedicated in your protection of the innocent.
In addition to the words you list, I do not like “broad or chick.” And it seems to be more grating when another female uses them when talking to me.
When I was a child my brothers and uncles would call me “cow.” I was so thin but not thin enough because my sister was taller and thinner. I look back at pictures and I cannot believe how they were allowed to call me cow. I thought cow was only used to describe someone, mostly female fat.
But since I have become a “Anglophile”, I am noticing the british use “cow” very flippantly.
Comment by chasingmoksha — January 22, 2007 @ 6:16 pm