# Misogynistic language and its defenders **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 26, 2025, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162 "2025-06-26T16:25:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/61 "2025-06-26T21:28:18Z")
The poster who called someone a skank had earlier called Jennifer Garner a bitch in the same thread for some reason known only to him. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/62 "2025-06-26T21:33:57Z")
You can have my filthy limericks when you pry them out of my steamy, unwashed asscrack. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/63 "2025-06-26T21:39:03Z")
Do they work better or worse than goose-necks? ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/64 "2025-06-26T22:05:10Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I’m really surprised that Mundane\_Super\_Hero uses that word. I guess i don’t know the poster very well. [I haven’t read the thread] In my relatively limited time on this MB, I have yet to see a fracas _of any sort_ involving that particular poster where my esteem for him/her has _grown_ as the fracas wore on. Quite the opposite, really. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/65 "2025-06-26T22:06:11Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I agree that skank is nasty, female-coded, and feels dated. I’m really surprised that Mundane\_Super\_Hero uses that word. I guess i don’t know the poster very well. That dude is straight up asshole ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/66 "2025-06-26T22:10:53Z")
Can’t disagree from what I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/67 "2025-06-26T22:23:09Z")
Goose necks? Heavens forfend, how inhumane! But a velvet hat, now that’s livin’. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/68 "2025-06-26T22:42:44Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’m male, never married, and no one has ever described me as a swinging bachelor. What you’re describing is a media trope that I’ve never encountered in real life. Don’t forget that “men’s” magazines like Playboy and Penthouse spent decades promoting the “swinging bachelor” lifestyle ideal. At its peak in the 70s, Playboy was one of the most popular magazines in America, and the name itself reflected the lifestyle it was promoting. It was definitely a thing, fortunately falling out of favour with societal changes in the past few decades including a more enlightened view of gender roles. . ---
**Author:** ![colinfred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colinfred/32/21338_2.png) [@colinfred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colinfred)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/69 "2025-06-26T22:53:09Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Rich women aren’t “crazy cat ladies”, though. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the term aimed at Taylor Swift, and she’s a billionaire. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/70 "2025-06-26T22:57:27Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Don’t forget that “men’s” magazines like Playboy and Penthouse spent decades promoting the “swinging bachelor” lifestyle ideal. I think these days, the term “swinging bachelor” evokes an image like Ron Burgundy of _Anchorman_, and is a parody concept worthy of ridicule rather than some kind of ideal that people strive for and admire. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/71 "2025-06-26T23:35:06Z")
I just went through that thread. Complete fucking asshole. Maybe I just haven’t noticed their assholishness before, but it seems to me that a lot of regular posters are getting more aggressive and ugly lately. Not Johanna though. She handled that with dignity. I am glad she is here. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/72 "2025-06-26T23:47:19Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > Don’t forget that “men’s” magazines like Playboy and Penthouse spent decades promoting the “swinging bachelor” lifestyle ideal. At its peak in the 70s, Playboy was one of the most popular magazines in America, and the name itself reflected the lifestyle it was promoting. It was definitely a thing, fortunately falling out of favour with societal changes in the past few decades including a more enlightened view of gender roles. As I said, a media trope, and a faded one at that. ---
**Author:** ![Jihi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jihi/32/17768_2.png) [@Jihi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jihi)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2025, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/73 "2025-06-26T23:53:44Z")
> [@FluffyBob](#): > > Maybe I just haven’t noticed their assholishness before, but it seems to me that a lot of regular posters are getting more aggressive and ugly lately. I just want to second this observation. Particularly over the last few months I’ve noticed the general tone of the board has been getting slightly more aggressive. Posters in general that I otherwise think of being level-headed are more likely to get confrontational these days. Not without reason of course. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/74 "2025-06-27T00:13:06Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > As I said, a media trope, and a faded one at that. That wasn’t a “media trope” as I understand the term, which implies figurative fiction or exaggerated tales. Before the relatively recent societal transformations, “playboys” were widely admired by many of the males of the species instead of being perceived as contemptible predators. Hugh Hefner’s own columns in his magazine promoted the lifestyle. The “Playboy philosophy” was a mixed bag that did help to some extent to advance womens’ rights, but at the same time promoted, by his writing and his own example, the lifestyle of a hedonistic libertine. The magazine was so influential that there were even some college courses devoted to analyzing Hefner’s writings, because they reflected a contemporary reality. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/75 "2025-06-27T00:24:06Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > That wasn’t a “media trope” as I understand the term,… It was in a magazine. Print is media. Hefner’s writings are media. There may have been men who studied it, admired it, aspired to it, and advocted for it, but how many actually managed to live it? None I ever met. We are getting somewhat off the topic of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/76 "2025-06-27T00:44:51Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > There may have been men who studied it, admired it, aspired to it, and advocted for it, but how many actually managed to live it? None I ever met. None that I ever knew personally, because that wasn’t the kind of crowd I hung out with. But I’ve seen them in action. The VP of a company I used to work for was a stereotypical womanizer and fit the mold perfectly. > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > We are getting somewhat off the topic of this thread. Where it fits the topic is the point that times have changed, and sometimes language lags social changes. I’m a little bit on the fence on this whole thing because I tend to object in principle to artificial “language engineering” except in extreme cases where you can just say “don’t ever use this word, because it’s very offensive”. Are “skank” and “bitch” in this category? Maybe “skank”, but “bitch” is so extremely common that it’s practically meaninglesss. And if we do discourage the use of certain words, maybe we should do it without invoking overpowered labels. “Skank” is crude and offensive, and the speaker of such should rightfully be criticized. But is it “misogynistic”? We have words like “misandrist” – a person who hates men. We have “misanthrope”, from the same “anthro” root as “anthropomorphic” and "anthropogenic, meaning a person who hates humanity in general. We have “misophonia”, a disorder in which certain sounds trigger unreasonably extreme reactions. And then we have “misogynist”. But is a person who used a crude gendered insult against a woman truly a misogynist, or he is just a common asshole? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/77 "2025-06-27T00:47:49Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > But is a person who used a crude gendered insult against a woman truly a misogynist, or he is just a common asshole? [Hanlon’s razor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor): Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/78 "2025-06-27T00:48:51Z")
I try to avoid most gendered insults for women, though I use “bitch” sparingly, most often jokingly with my girlfriends, and occasionally while solo gaming. The problem is I have known some _crazy_ bitches, by which I mean my mother, and I really can’t think of a better descriptor. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/79 "2025-06-27T01:39:31Z")
A person using misogynistic language isnt necessarily a misogynist. However, they are using the language. As I said above I can’t demand they don’t, but I and likely others will judge them on such usage. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/80 "2025-06-27T01:45:02Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Rich women aren’t “crazy cat ladies”, though. Rich people are never crazy. They’re “eccentric”. Eccentric feline females. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162.md?page=5)