A sociolinguistic and etymological challenge

[doe_witch]

Not to beat a dead horse, but while r_blackcat's post on ableist language was mostly struck through, it's prompted me to make an inquiry about something I've wondered for years. It's arguably the kind of question that belongs on a community more directly centered around issues of privilege, discrimination, etc., but since we have a bunch of etymology-

Comments

[nenena]

Turdwaffle. A personal favorite of mine.

In general, I think that English provides a wealth of insults related to the human posterior and scatalogical products thereof that are generally baggage-free. For example: Asswipe. Half-assed. Butthead. Asshole. Shitty/crappy/variants thereof. Etc. I think that references to anal sex should be avoided ("butthurt" is something that I'm trying hard to exorcise from my own vocabularly), but the human ass in general is really an excellent starting point for concocting insults.

[nenena]

I would not say it that way, no.

[melissa_42]

I'm curious as to why you believe references to anal sex should be avoided. Is it because people see anal sex as a solely homosexual act? This kind of activity is not restricted to a certain group of people--homosexual men and women can engage in it, as well as heterosexual men and women. Is there another reason you avoid the term 'butthurt'?

[nenena]

It's because, given the rampant homophobia that still saturates our culture, I think it's extremely difficult to disentangle any instance of using anal sex as an insult against someone from those homophobic overtones. Note that "as an insult" is the key phrase there. It's not that referencing anal sex is automatically homophobic, but equating anal sex with an insult pretty much is.

(And yes, I completely agree with you that anal sex shouldn't be so automatically symbolic of gay male sex, but I think that it very much still is in our current cultural climate. Which stinks. But it is what it is.)

It's not just homophobia, but there's a power issue as well. Like the way that people say "got fucked in the ass" as a metaphor for asserting power/authority/pwnage over someone, which I personally find very icky. So even aside from the issues of homophobia and heterosexism, there's all kinds of icky baggage associated with using specific references to sexual acts as a way of insulting someone, especially penetrative sexual acts.

[ladytalon]

I'd like to agree with all of this, and also add that it's a good word to avoid because it perpetuates sex-negative language. So--homophobia, power exchange, and sex negativity. (Of course, they're all tied together, in many ways.)

[melissa_42]

Hmm, what you say makes a lot of sense. I'd never really thought of that term in such a way, but I can see how it would be perceived that way by others. Thank you for replying!

[akibare]

I didn't think of homophobia with "butthurt" so much, but rather for me the "think about it for a moment and it's a bit disturbing" angle was the, well, rape angle. The implication is definitely one of unwanted, dominating anal sex