Words used soley to describe women

[BumperlicicusTotalus]

I've been thinking of some:
Sassy
Feisty
Hysterical
Gossip
Strident
Mumtrepeneur
Career woman
Slut

These are used to describe women having an opinion, working or having sex. I can't think of male equvilents.

yep, first lady, that's a good one. Remember the histrionics () about the possible first First man

I love the word histrionics

Girl/girls

How about a nice complimentary one:

"she's got balls"

yy Aubergine! Do not like all those 'grow a pair' , 'man up' things. Not helped by 'big girl's blouse', 'scream/run like a girl', etc.

I'm not sure it's right to say there aren't male equivilents. I rather like some of these anyway (or was it not the point that they had to be negative?). Independent, for me, describes those of us who have our own lives that exist in addition to home and family; it's not always the case. There's no shame in being a 'housewife' after all, but some people aren't independent. Anyway, here are some words that we only really use for men:
creepy
over-bearing
sleazy
wimp
arsehole
wanker
bastard
chauvinist (pig)

Jenny, yes those words are soley directed towards men, but usually when the are exhibiting unwelcome behaviour. The descriptors about women are to do with how they look and to describe what is seen as fairly normal behaviour when seen in a man e.g. What's the make equivalent of 'sassy' or 'feisty'? What the male equivalent of 'career woman'?

I'd question whether all those are solely used about men tbh.

And yes I agree that they are used to describe bad behaviour.

The words which are used about women, are used to describe behaviour which in a man, would not be considered bad, or appearance.

Very different. Unless you want to pretend that men and women are treated exactly equally in society. Which some people do, bless 'em.

Haha, love it. "Well, yes, but when we call men those names, it's true - they ARE wankers". Brilliant [hgrin]

You haven't actually engaged with what I or Bumperlicious actually said, Jenny.

Is there a reason you don't want to?

Yes: I largely agree and don't really have anything to add to it. Is that ok? I'm not really sure what the point of there not being a male equivalent to sassy is, tbh, so I don't know why I'm being challenged to find one. I'd rather like to be called sassy - or feisty, come to that, although for some reason you usually have to be a red head for that (as someone observed elsewhere...). But, there we are with the appearance obsession. No, men generally don't suffer the same scrutiny. Aren't women often the harshest critics though?

Generally, I find it ludicrous that we celebrate Carol Vordeman, for example, as if being clever and glamorous is something we should fall off our chairs about. There was a similar kerfuffle a few years ago regarding the female leader of a University Challenge team... Many of the terms are sexual - we all deplore promiscuity in women, but not men. Having said that, men are seldom the subject of direct sexual approaches so there's the idea that women allow promiscuity whilst men achieve it. I always think that sex is a bit like chocolate and that it's owned by the woman; she may share it (it may be taken, given grudgingly or the sharing experience abused), but the ownership of sex is with women. I hate the way we objectify women - both on behalf of women, but also on behalf of men who are reduced to leering, perverts incapable of proper thought in the presence of cleavage. Zoo, Nuts, Loaded etc are all deplorable and I hate what we are teaching our young men with these publications...

I'm just rambling now for your entertainment. Did you find something to argue with me about?

Yes

Not sure about your description of women as hte owners of sex. What does that mean? It sounds a bit like the gatekeeper concept, where women are the ones who dole out sex while men are the ones who actively want it. I'd argue with you about that, if that's what you're saying. But perhaps I'm jumping the gun and you're not saying that at all, d'you want to go into more detail about what you mean by that, so that I can decide if I want an argument right now?

So what is the female equivalent for nerd, boffin, geek etc? Used to describe a man who is very clever. I actually can't think of a negative word to describe a clever female. Doesn't this totally undermine this theory as intelligence is a positive thing??

Nerd, boffin, geek etc aren't just words that imply technical brilliance, but social ineptness as well. We might find ways to put down brilliant women too, but I think they'd be different.

"Henpecked" is good. I can't think of a female equivalent, but then maybe we expect men to bully their wives, so it's not necessary to have a word for it.

Do we expect men to bully their wives? What would we call this expectation?

I think 'bookish' might be a nerd equivalent. My mum was certainly a 'blue-stocking', but I'm not sure it's very relevant to bring up words that largely died out though. I just saw Tom and Helen fail to recall where Christopher Columbus came from on The App, so I'm not hopeful that anyone knows what a bluestocking is...

Herbex, I'm clearly not as rehearsed in the doctrine as you What's gatekeeper concept and what's wrong with it?

I don't think nerd and geek are exclusively male. I've been called both and, actually, often refer to myself as such. I have plenty of female friends who do the same.

Jenny my point was that sassy and feisty are used to describe women who say what they think and act exuberantly. These traits aren't considered unusual enough in men to warrant a descriptor. Plus feisty is often used as a covert put down, eg calling a woman feisty because she dares speak her mind.

Jenny women are seen in mysogynist thought, as gatekeepers of sex. In this version, men want sex, women don't particularly want it but they know men want it and they use it as a negotiation tool/ control mechanism and gatekeep when and how men have access to sex.

It is a revolting concept, denying women's active sexuality and denying the more complex and nuanced relationships between men and women, but of course, it is a very common notion of how sex is between me and women. It sets men up for failure if they aren't sexually incontinent and constantly gagging for a shag. And of course, it makes women who would like their DP's to shag them more often, feel like miserable failures because after all, they're the ones who are supposed to be rationing sex, not men.

It kills me to say this, obviously, but I agree with you Herbex about the misogynistic Gatekeeper concept. It isn't quite what I was saying, though, as it includes the idea that women don't like sex and, furthermore, that they use it exclusively in a mercenary and manipulative way.

My, rather more amateur, interpretation is that men should always have rather more respect for sex than they sometimes do; I think they can approach a healthier attitude if they imagine that sex is something that is being shared by the woman, with the man - together with the connotations of trust, friendship etc. At the risk of crossing threads to the Assange one, that, for me, is the difference between having consensual sex whilst his partner is awake and 'stealing' it from her when she's asleep. There are clearly many more issues at play there, but I think it sort of explains where I'm going. I'd also agree that this is a simplistic interpretation, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Have we had:

vacuous
manipulative

(the latter is used against men but far more against women)

Vacuous and manipulative... Maybe Caveman (Neanderthal), moron, plebian, oik and lout all kind of run through vacant-headed men descriptions whilst shark, cowboy and secondhand-car salesman - even Machevellian, all suggest manipulative. Are we going through the dictionary with a fine-tooth comb here looking for gender-biased words? Here are some words that people think describe men, but often don't:

Doctor
Lawyer
etc...

Herbex, your post reminds me of a couple of Xs who in the dating process accused me of "witholding" initial sex as a way to manipulate them and gain the power in the relationship. I was like "power to do what exactly?" and felt I had to justify my reasons for wanting to wait. Grrr...

Jenny, yes it's interesting that words like "neanderthal" and "caveman" are mainly used to describe men. Joey in Friends was the archetypal caveman I think, the way he was so basic and chauvinistic but everyone still found him completely loveable because he was seen as simple and harmless.

Re. the "henpecked" husband trope talked about earlier: Isn't the reason that this trope is so much more common in the media than the other way round (ie. man bullying his wife) because the latter is much closer to the DV bone and therefore simply not as funny as a woman henpecking her DH. (not that I find it funny personally - just another negative gender stereotype)

It's funny isn't it Joaninha, the way such idiot men define their wish to fuck you as your power. I've heard mysogynists refer to "women's sexual power" before, and what they mean is, that they fancy them and aren't allowed to just fuck them whenever they feel like it. Whereas if I started referring to Johnny Depp's sexual power, or that of the bloke I fancied at work years ago, I'd be quite rightly considered berserk. It's such a massive sense of entitlement, the idea that the very fact of not being allowed to help yourself to someone else's body, is a form of power for them. But if you suggested to them, that the fact that nobody is allowed to fuck them whenever they want, means they have sexual power, they'd be baffled.