[lbo-talk] Language of Contempt

Charles Brown cbrown at michiganlegal.org
Sat Jun 3 16:32:53 PDT 2006


Joanna writes:


> In this culture, a man can never be demeaned relative
> to a woman, therefore his relations with women can never
> result in a demeaning term.

^^^^ CB: I want to agree with Carrol's main point that there aren't equivalent contemptuous terms to refer to women and men. But when I read Joanna's good generalization it did occur to me that there might be an exception to it, the term "motherfucker" ? Then there is "pimp". "Lothario" ? "lech" ? "hound" ? I've heard "cockhound". Of course , there's "men are dogs" (not saying it's not true). "All men want the same thing." "Limp dick", "trick", "john". "prick"? I don't know if that fits the idea here.

Lothario was a character in Nicholas Rowe's 1703 play The Fair Penitent, who seduces and betrays the female lead. The name has come to mean any lecherous individual, especially male.



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