# 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:** 8
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/141 "2025-06-28T19:29:01Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Incidently “skag” is popular in the UK. I’ve never heard it. Do you mean “slag” maybe ? ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/142 "2025-06-28T19:30:32Z")
Or when it comes to kids swearing _at_ them. My son in law does this and it’s disturbing and crude. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/143 "2025-06-28T19:36:54Z")
I have heard skag whilst in school ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/144 "2025-06-28T19:51:03Z")
Not sure anyone is arguing it’s not a revolting word. It’s extremely ugly is terms of what it means and how it sounds. I’d never use it. It always put me off how back in the 90s it was used to describe a type of jumpy dance at ska shows (“skanking.”) ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/145 "2025-06-28T19:52:22Z")
Skag is heroin. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/146 "2025-06-28T19:53:44Z")
Yes. I meant “slag” I missed it on preview ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/147 "2025-06-28T19:54:19Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > Skag is heroin. That’s the only sense I’ve seen it used. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/148 "2025-06-28T19:55:04Z")
My mistake. So sorry. ---
**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 28, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/149 "2025-06-28T21:53:05Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > That’s the only sense I’ve seen it used. Not me. [![](https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/borderlands-2/f/f8/Borderlands_2_Skag.png) ](https://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/borderlands-2/f/f8/Borderlands_2_Skag.png) Also, we sometimes go to Skagit County for the tulip festival. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/150 "2025-06-28T23:03:57Z")
Since this is the Dope, apparently [skag](https://www.etymonline.com/word/skank) is attested from the 1920s to mean an unattractive woman , and is a possible source for today’s _skank_. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/151 "2025-06-28T23:27:02Z")
I had read that same thing. Now, we know where I got it. Disclaimer: these words are not in my usual vocab. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/152 "2025-07-17T12:48:28Z")
Rather than focus on a term that is more semantics than substance, let’s look instead on the worldwide view of single adult women as opposed to single adult men. If you honestly see a marked difference, then I certainly can’t convince you. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/153 "2025-07-17T13:01:17Z")
Did you leave out a “don’t” from that sentence? As in “ **don’t** see a marked difference”? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/154 "2025-07-17T14:15:11Z")
Yep, I sure did. Good eye! This is my first day back from my 3 week break, so I have a lot to do. My multi-tasking can use some work. LOL ---
**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:** [July 18, 2025, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/155 "2025-07-18T02:47:22Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Rather than focus on a term that is more semantics than substance, let’s look instead on the worldwide view of single adult women as opposed to single adult men. If you honestly see a marked difference, then I certainly can’t convince you. (Assuming you meant “no marked difference”, as pointed out.) I wouldn’t say things are exactly the same regarding how single men and single women are talked to, or about, but I haven’t noticed either gender being markedly worse. Of course, my personal experience is limited. I certainly can’t speak to the worldwide view. I’ve also personally experienced it only as a man, so I can’t compare. I’m not sure someone who’s only experienced it as a woman can make a fair comparison, either. Slights are more noticeable when we feel they’re directed at us. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2025, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/156 "2025-07-18T09:35:34Z")
I’m a man, and I’m quite comfortable saying in _my_ personal experience it’s clearly much worse for women in this regard. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2025, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/157 "2025-07-18T11:52:00Z")
Yeah, it’s not even close. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2025, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/158 "2025-07-19T00:20:47Z")
As a white woman, I tend to agree. Because similarly, I notice that there’s sometimes a certain amount of hostile attitude towards white people, which many of us white people are especially sensitive to because we’re used to being treated as the “default human beings” rather than as a marginalized minority. But the sheer volume and scale of hostility that white people encounter is nowhere near, within orders of magnitude, the baked-in dominant-culture hostility towards nonwhite people generated through centuries of institutionalized racism. Likewise, though there are some negative cultural attitudes toward men floating around in the current zeitgeist, they don’t begin to approach the base level of background-radiation contempt and malevolence toward women that’s accumulated over millennia of institutionalized sexism and misogyny. ---
**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:** [July 20, 2025, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/159 "2025-07-20T18:06:04Z")
Be any of that as it may, I’m not sure what good it does to make those comparisons. Everybody probably feels insulted for who they are, from time to time. That should bring us together. If something makes us feel bad, that should make us less likely to do that same thing to someone else. I’d like the world to have more empathy and less blame. If there was some rule that we could only fix one thing about the world at a time, then I’d agree, we should concentrate on the worst things first. But there isn’t such a rule. We should get rid of all the hateful, insulting language, rather than rail against some and dismiss others. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2025, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162/160 "2025-07-20T22:37:10Z")
All ~~lives~~ hateful insulting language matters! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/misogynistic-language-and-its-defenders/1020162.md?page=9)