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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

Words the world would be better off without

70 replies

whoputthecatout · 09/05/2017 10:26

Just that really.

I'll start us off....

Feisty - used almost exclusively to describe any female that is not a doormat;
Empowerment/empowering - often misused to describe females who contort themselves round poles or strip off for blokes;
Sex positive - misused to describe females who think being up for anything with anyone is somehow in any way positive;
Gender - do I really have to explain why?

What words would posters send to room 101?

OP posts:
AssassinatedBeauty · 09/05/2017 10:39

Hysteria/hysterical for obvious reasons. Anyone who uses these terms about women pretty much loses my respect straightaway.

Collidascope · 09/05/2017 10:42

Slut/slapper/dirty. I hate the way they're used in the titles of porn videos to dehumanize the women and get the men watching all excited.

GuardianLions · 09/05/2017 10:43

'Shaming' - a really stupid term to disguise the actual power relationships going on. Eg 'slut shaming'.
Misogyny is misogyny ffs.

namechange20050 · 09/05/2017 10:44

Bubbly. Always used to describe a friendly chubby woman. Never a man.

Hissy fit. Again I have only ever heard this used in regards to a woman in order to belittle the anger or emotion she is feeling.

DontBuyANewMumCashmere · 09/05/2017 10:46

Bossy = 'assertive' or 'natural leader' in boys.

GuardianLions · 09/05/2017 10:47

Cis

EmpressOfTheSpartacusOceans · 09/05/2017 10:49

Masculine & feminine. They both promote gender stereotypes.

And girly. Most definitely girly.

PsychedelicSheep · 09/05/2017 10:53

Frigid. Although it only seems to be used exclusively by Victorians and school children.

deydododatdodontdeydo · 09/05/2017 10:57

Smash/bang/destroy/ruin, to describe sex. Urgh.

On a slightly different tack, I dislike mansplain. It seems very overused and a bit lazy.

BeyondStrongAndStable · 09/05/2017 11:00

On the subject of porn descriptors, may I suggest "barely legal"

Eww.

GinAndSonic · 09/05/2017 11:04

I would dislike mansplain if it wasn't so bloody accurate

GuardianLions · 09/05/2017 11:10

Not a word I want to get rid of, but the misuse I'd like to get rid of is 'victim' used as a insult as in 'don't be such a victim' (said to a person with PTSD who is unable to grin and bear it).

DJBaggySmalls · 09/05/2017 11:11

Lolita.
No angel.

Faceicle · 09/05/2017 11:22

I'm not a fan of "bitch", or indeed any word that could be used against me but not a man.

Xenophile · 09/05/2017 11:27

Trigger... not because it should be got rid of but triggers are an actual thing, not something for men to suggest they do to women when posting utterly shit opinions about rape.

Any word with the suffix -tard, because it's ableist and vile.

slug · 09/05/2017 11:34

Cunt and Twat. Isn't it revealing that the most insulting of swear words is the ones used to describe female genitalia?

GuardianLions · 09/05/2017 11:41

Oh can we keep 'cunt'? I like that word.

Miffer · 09/05/2017 11:41

I love the word cunt. My husband and I always argue because I am always railing against gendered insults. One of my proudest moments was my 5 year old grassing on his friend "Mum, Mum, Jake used a gender specific swear word". DH says I am a hypocrite because I used twat and dick a lot and cunt is my nuclear option (reversed mainly for Tory front benchers). My defence is that although they are female/male body parts they are used for both men and women and are therefore not gendered in the using.

Now I have learned that cunt can be gendered specific but not where I am from. I would be loathe to give it up, it's the main reason I would never move to the US.

Bang is my preferred word for jokey comments about sex. I use it neutrally though "did you bang him?". I may have to rethink it.

AspasiaFitzgibbon · 09/05/2017 11:47

Modest. Implies that a woman's body is shameful.

Miffer · 09/05/2017 11:47

slug

Re twat- I think something shifted in the way it's used (again, at least where I am from). For me twat is synonymous with 'fool', used mainly when somebody looks or says something daft or embarrassing. ie "I ran down the road and flagged the bus, when I got on it was the wrong one, I felt like a right twat". It certainly isn't the worst insult, indeed it's sometimes used quite affectionately.

Pleasedontbelikeme · 09/05/2017 11:48

Slightly left field, but my bugbear is 'Natural', to imply that something is healthy and wholesome. Cyanide is natural, as are botulism, HIV, ebola, tsunamis etc....

GuardianLions · 09/05/2017 11:49

Slightly off topic but miffer I find it interesting that Americans use the word 'dick' where we'd say 'cunt' in the UK. In the UK 'dick' has a connotation of foolishness, but in the US it has a more actively obnoxious/antisocial connotation...

GuardianLions · 09/05/2017 11:50

Ooh pleasedon't how about "real" like 'real women' blah blah..

KroplaBeskidu · 09/05/2017 11:52

It should be illegal, or at least socially awful, to refer to any woman over the age of 18 as "girl". It should be akin to using the N-word and P-word to describe certain racial groups.

It infantilized women and, in doing so, delegitimizes their participation in adult society.

LeonardoAcropolis · 09/05/2017 11:52

Slag. I hate that word.