Gendered Colloquialism

A colloquialism is a word or phrase that people use in every day, casual conversations.  Since these conversations are typically informal, people may not think about whether or not they are using gendered slang.  A classic example of this is calling everyone, male and female “dude.”  While this is one of the more innocuous examples, there are other slang words that are more powerful and are definitely gendered.  Taking sex as an example, women are often called “sluts” because of the number of sexual partners they have.  But a man with the same number of sexual partners will often be called a “player.”  Instead of using one word to describe these two people, society separated them based on their gender.  By doing this, society is forcing its expectations and judgements onto each person.  A woman who is called a slut will often be viewed negatively by others, but a man participating in the same behavior will be praised for it.  What I think is very interesting though, is the rise of new slang for men with many sexual partners.  Instead of calling a man like this a “whore,” he’s a “man-whore.”  A term typically used to degrade women, is being applied to men while still using the female slang.  However, these comments don’t have the same connotations as they do in women.  A man with many sexual partners is still viewed in a positive light.

The article “Two Timelines of Slang for Genitalia, from 1250 Through Today” shows us that colloquialisms change throughout history.  Every new generation has its own slang for things such as genitalia and sex.  Many female slang words are used in a much harsher tone though.  Those words that are meant to be aimed at women are sometimes directed at men as a deeper form of insult.  We all have probably witnessed people insult others by calling them a “dick” or a “pussy,” the only difference is the strength of the word.  The former is taken much less seriously, while the latter is taken more negatively.  Theoretically, both of those words should produce the same amount of impact as an insult, but this is obviously not the case.