Why is hatred of a woman's sexuality embedded in our language?

Question

Below are some words and phrases I found that show how sexophobic our language is. Definitions were taken from the American Heritage Dictionary.

pure - adj. 1. Free of dirt, defilement, or pollution. 2. Chaste; virgin.

chaste - adj. 1. Morally pure in thought or conduct; decent and modest. 2. Not having experienced sexual intercourse.

virgin - adj. 1. Not having experienced sexual intercourse. 2. Being in a pure or natural state; unsullied.

unclean - adj. 1. Foul or dirty. 2. Morally defiled; unchaste.

Note how all these definitions imply that virgins are clean, pure, moral, and decent, whereas non-virgins are dirty, immoral, and polluted.

obscene - adj. 1. Inciting lustful feelings; lewd. 2. Offensive or repulsive to the senses; loathsome.

Apparently, sexual desire (lust) is on par with things that are "offensive or repulsive to the senses". In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Sexual desire is a naturally pleasurable sensation that's experienced by all normal healthy adults. It takes a decade of religious brainwashing and guilt to turn an otherwise healthy young adult into one who associates immorality, dirtiness, sin, and wrongness with sex or lust.

slüt & whøre - This pair of words speaks for itself: derogatory terms for a woman whose only "crime" is sexually promiscuity or merely dressing in a sexually appealing way. The fact that there's no analogous offensive term for men betrays the words' misogynistic origins. There are a couple of words for sexually promiscuous men but they lack any negative connotations. On the contrary, the words "playboy" and "player" have some prestige and machismo attached to them. Yet when it comes to a woman's respect and honor, sexual promiscuity is seen as one of the worst sins she can commit.

succubus - A female demon that descends upon and has sexual intercourse with a man while he sleeps.

Question: Why does this supernatural being have to be an evil one? Why don't female angels descend upon men and have sex with them? Apparently it's because sex is dirty, evil, sinful, wrong, immoral, impure, wicked, and any other negative adjective you can think of.

The moral judgments embedded in our language keep hammering the same point over and over: Sex and lust are bad, virginity is good. Note that this has nothing to do with spreading STDs or having children out of wedlock. If a sexually promiscuous woman is disease-free and avoids pregnancy, public opinion of her will still be in the gutter. It's the sex itself that is seen as dishonorable and wicked and sinful.

Explanation, anyone?

Answer 1

The "virgin" points at the top are sexually ambiguous, as a man can be a virgin as well as a woman, so the point there can be made for both sexes.



The whole stigma about sex starts in the Bible. In the garden of Eden apparently God created everyone innocent (i.e. ignorant of sex). however, human nature being what it is even then, before He'd had His back turned for a second, Eve had eaten the apple He'd warned her not to, and then given some to Adam too. At this point the bible says (depending on your version) something along the lines of "they knew that they were naked, and put on clothes" - which is basically they got naked and had sex, for people who have trouble with metaphor.



So first off sex is bad because God said so, and secondly women are bad, because it was Eve that got tempted. Pretty much bollocks, but hey, there are a lot of hardcore Christians who actually believe this stuff literally.



Anyway, that's the explanation - or the Cliff's Notes version thereof, anyhow. Of course, I don't think it's right, but the reason its embedded in English is because Christianity has been the main faith in Britain for an awful long time, and for a long time priests were some of the few people who could read and write. those kind of circumstances will end up having an effect on the language.



Oh, and succubi tend to eat souls after sex. I don't think angels go in for that kind of thing.

Answer 2

Why? Well, because I guess sexism is as old as time. I too hate the "pure virgin" stereotype, but sadly it's as old as the hills and will take a long time to overcome, if indeed we ever do. You should look into some of the things extreme Christians say...young women are told they are like lollipops and if they have sex before marriage all they have is a half-chewed candy to give to some other guy. Utterly horrific...notice that no blame is placed on the men, who are, according this sort of rubbish, just animals with no self control. It's offensive to both sexes.

Answer 3

The first two have nothing whatsoever to do with female vs. male. Men and women alike can be virgins. Men and women alike can have sexual desire.



Or did this escape your brilliant mind?



On the third one, namely slut/whore, few in the West dispute that those terms are kinda ugly. But there are similarly degrading terms for men (pervert, pig and dirty old man come to mind).



Lastly, the Ultimate Supernatural Evil Being in Western lore is Satan, a male.



Or did this, too, escape your brilliant mind?

Answer 4

The ''Incubus'' is the male version of the ''Succubus'', by the way.



As the first answer stated, the use of language mirrors Societies usage of it, it does not define us or our attitudes.



Language is steeped in history, its where (obviously) the foundations of it are. Take the word ''Sin'', for example. It is an Anglosaxon archery term when archery was the basic backbone of the English army and was the core of our defense system, and practised in every village by the men who began their training at the age of 7.



I explain all of this to attempt to explain just how Important Archery was to us, and so how vital were the terms / language .....because, 'to Sin meant that the archery missed his mark, his ''Target'', and if you continually missed, then you were no good.



The early priests who came to convert the natives to Christianity, borrowed the term, ''Sin'' to explain to the natives how bad you were if you ''Sinned'' ~ in the eyes of God.



Words are borrowed and bastardised: in recent times, ''bad'' means ''good'': ''fit'' not longer means ''healthy'' or ''measured'' (as in, 'it fits you'), but ! something I don't personally understand!



Originally, the word ''Propaganda'' meant simply ''Information'', now it means ''Misinformation''.



''Boob'' meant ''To make a mistake''



''(to) Like'' used to mean ''having a preference for'', whereas now can it can mean something ethereal - out there between 'having a crush / fancy / a strong desire for'' and to all but seemingly be married to another ! (given not only the reading of what is said, but the meaning the writers given to the word itself.



''Chill'' simple meant ''a temperature that was low'', now it seems to mean ''relax'' ~ which is amusing when anything 'chilled' is far from relaxed.



A ''********'' is anything but ~ and doing as it describes, could actually kill someone by inducing an air bubble into the person receiving it and causing an embolism,



''Sex'' was, according to the Church, intended ONLY for procreation ~ WITHIN the bonds of Matrimony. Sex outside of marriage was, as was masturbation - a real wasting of the precious human seed, a Sin.



The Church and its Morality was a strongly controlling influence on society, it helped to glue it all together, and which seems like either a pretty reasonable thing to do, els, consider the opposite.



Anarchy, to some, is seemingly meant in terms that are basically Political (as far as I am aware!). But it could readily mean in language and any other areas you care to think of ~ whilst those who call for it have yet to define anything to replace what we have or persuade us to all speak Esperanto or Welsh.



I don't think that 'sex' in itself is wicked and it certainly cannot be dishonourable. Sex is like a gun or car ~ sex is sex, a gun is an inanimate object as is a car. It is people who make things 'dishonourable' through their usage of sex, or dangerous in terms of guns (when loaded and aimed) and cars when driven badly.



''Sex'' in itself is not Dangerous or Dirty, it is People who consecutively go from partner to partner and pick up virus's which they pass on. It's that immorality of abuse - In Spite Of education.



Even the simply harmless Love Bite / Hickey (if you are American) can cause someone to have a lifetime of resurgent illness ~ the Kissing Disease ~



''Mononucleosis'', or mono, is the prototypical “kissing disease,” and sexually-transmitted diseases are infamous following some romantic interludes. But there are many infections that can be spread through mere kissing alone?



Infectious diseases are spread through several routes of transmission. “Oral transmission” refers to spreading of microbes through saliva, foods or drinks. When a person accidentally consumes microbe-contaminated items, such as saliva during kissing, the swallowing action of the tongue wipes the microbes against the back of the throat, allowing the microbe to enter the body. Infections, such as mononucleosis (the kissing disease), caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and cytomegalovirus (CMV) are spread via oral transmission from virus-containing saliva.



Breaking the skin by the innocent simple 'sucking' on a neck, can create an opening for a virus (from the teeth or gums of the one doing it) that gives access to the blood stream, and an avenue for infection which, in turn, can be passed on.



I hope this gives you something to chew on.

Sash.

Answer 5

Most of the definitions you cite are genderless. As for slut/whore, one of the male equivalents is "pig". I've heard the term "player" applied to women.



As for "succubus", c.f. "incubus".

Answer 6

language doesn't DEFINE our attitudes and beliefs - it simply MIRRORS them