I do believe our colloquialisms in the English language are gendered. Our language as a whole is gendered which speaks about our cultural norms and gender inequality. Some of the gendered language has a negative connotation while some seem to have little criticism attached to the meaning. For example, when speaking to a group of people, a person of the English language may refer to the group of people as "guys." The group of people can consist of males and females and both sexes will respond to "guys." In my opinion, this language does not hold any negative connotation to the females of the group. However, some critics believe this language reinforces the idea that men are the standard and women are subsumed into the male category.
After looking at the list of slang related to genitalia from the year 1250 to today, one can realize that gendered language is not a new idea and is part of our history. Today, people are trying to make movements to develop nonsexist English by beginning to say "first year students" rather than "freshmen" and "police officer" rather than "policeman." This movement may be a significant move toward gender equality because the changed language will affect the behaviors of people.
In today's conversation, the terms "side bitch" and "thot" are very popular and are often brought up in pop culture. These two terms are gendered towards women and have negative connotations. Urban Dictionary defines a "side bitch" as "a woman that is one level above a jump off but always a step below a wife, wifey, girlfriend." A side bitch has no power and is a male's sexual pleasure figure. She does not have any of the perks of a significant other and is seen as a mistress. The word "thot" is a term attributed to females that have a promiscuous lifestyle. Although the term "thot" is referred to women, men are sometimes known for having "thot-like" behaviors. I find it a lot easier to come up with gendered terms for women rather than men. This might be because men are stereotyped to be superior to women and our language reflects that. It is upsetting to me that some women are not even offended by these cruel colloquialisms and take them without any emotion.
There is no doubt that our language is a direct portrayal of our cultural norms and gender inequality. I like how you mentioned that the term "guys" is collectively used for guys and girls, but can still be seen in a completely different light. After looking at the timeline of gendered slang and Urban Dictionary, the theme of gendered slang has not changed. The words are different in today's era, but the effect created by those words has remained the same. The terms "side bitch" and "thot" definitely contribute to the fact that most gendered vulgarisms are focused on women. It is shocking that these words are thrown around lightly or even accepted by females.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your argument stating that most offensive gender slang words are directed towards females. I cannot think of one slang word against males, but could think of over 20 for females. The terms "thot" and "side bitch" are two of the most recent and popular terms. It is quite sad that we hear these words on a daily basis. Men, on the other hand, do not have to deal with these slang terms on a day to day basis. Instead, they contribute to using them against females.
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