And the money quote:
Even putting that aside, claiming offense in this instance cheapens what people go through when they are the victims of truly hateful language.Right. Because being called a whore? Not hateful, totally victimless, and not that bad. Also, the "N" word and the word "whore" are totally mutual exclusive, and are never be used together.
I haven't really given a whole lot of thought to this before now. I think my first question would be: Brown originally didn't say this himself, so why did he defend his aide when it came out instead of firing the guy or at least disciplining him in some way? Or you know, saying, "I completely disagree and it was totally inappropriate."
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that does occur to me though, is that to some extent, the word 'whore' IS being changed in usage. I've had friends, both make and female, who've referred to themselves as 'attention whores,' for instance. And among the people I know, they'll as quickly refer to a male as a slut or whore as they will a woman. I'm not really sure how mainstream this is though. Most of the people I know are either involved in the 'kink' community, or in the 'anime fandom' community.
Still, using the word to describe a woman without any context at all... merely because she's a female, yeah, that's definitely sexist. That's "She's a woman and we don't like her, so call her a whore!" In which case, it really is on par with the N word as just a derogatory term being used to describe a female in the way that the N word is a derogatory term people use to describe black people.
So I guess... I kind of see the argument that Brown was trying to make, but think that it doesn't apply here. Context matters, and while usage of the word may be slowly morphing, it is still usually a hateful term used to describe a female. *sighs* It's sad, because I really don't want to vote for either of them... and this is my state.
Yeah, I confirm Rena's observations on the shift in usage out here.
ReplyDeleteJoan Walsh says that the context is "a Brown campaign aide suggesting Whitman might be tagged a 'whore' for going easy on law enforcement pensions in exchange for a law enforcement union endorsement". She further mentions that Whitman's campaign chair called Congress "whores" for their union dealings; Whitman called that "a completely different thing" and as far as I know hasn't apologized.
So in this context I'd see "whore" (and the related "pandering") as metaphors reasonably well divorced from their original meaning. It's not quite as far along as "carpetbagger", for sure, but I think it's heading that way. I'm generally sensitive to the need to go above and beyond with things like this to avoid contributing to the background radiation of sexism that enables worse things; for that reason I'd be much more likely to call a male a whore. But here I think reasonable feminist reactions are being exploited by Republican political operators who, on average, don't give a shit about any sort of equality except the "some are more equal than others" sort.
See, bullshit. I don't think anyone gets to do that. You don't get to "divorce" words from their original meaning. You don't get to erase (other less privileged people's) history.
ReplyDeleteAlso, think how many people use this argument for using the words "retarded," or "gay," or "lame," or any other words. You're not in good company here, with this argument.
Besides, "whores" can only be women, right? So, "attention whore;" think about that. Problematic, right, when we factor in stereotypes about women's behaviors? And when we discuss "whoring" for political purposes, you are still equating whores with bad and hypocritical, and I don't think sex workers need any more stigma.
The meaning only works is you know the original history and meaning of "whore." Which is "bad woman who sells her body and thus is morally repugnant." And so, there is no "divorce" from the original or historical meaning. If we didn't have that, the word would make no sense.
I don't agree with the usage. I never use the word myself. I've seen people use it this way, and I can't understand why they do. Anyone ever wants to call me any kind of whore, and they're up for a fight. I know language slowly morphs... but... that doesn't erase the original meaning.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a lot of people seem to use it interchangeably with 'slut' these days, which doesn't actually have the same meaning, and stems from a different source.
In any case, it isn't a word that politicians should be able to acceptably use in any way, in my opinion.
Sigh...
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck, seriously? I love that instead of apologising, there has to be an enormous scramble to justify.
Dude, I know.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Penny Arcade... -_-;
ReplyDelete