Good point. I think we know what would happen if someone from the lower class called a middle-class white woman a "ho" or "bitch." That's analogous to the historic situation re "squaw."
I was just striving for an analogy to a white man calling an Indian woman a "squaw." I could've said a black man calling a white woman a "ho," but people of all races now use the pejorative "ho." These days, it's arguably more of an insult across class divisions than it is across racial divisions. It's the equivalent of calling a woman "slut" or "skank" or "trash," which is arguably a class-based designation.
We could get into the whole history of words used to diminish the worth and status of women. Suffice it to say that men have used such words widely: on their female peers as well as women of different races and classes. Okay?
Good point. I think we know what would happen if someone from the lower class called a middle-class white woman a "ho" or "bitch." That's analogous to the historic situation re "squaw."
ReplyDeleteI was just striving for an analogy to a white man calling an Indian woman a "squaw." I could've said a black man calling a white woman a "ho," but people of all races now use the pejorative "ho." These days, it's arguably more of an insult across class divisions than it is across racial divisions. It's the equivalent of calling a woman "slut" or "skank" or "trash," which is arguably a class-based designation.
ReplyDeleteWe could get into the whole history of words used to diminish the worth and status of women. Suffice it to say that men have used such words widely: on their female peers as well as women of different races and classes. Okay?