THE PROSTITUTE: Paradigmatic Woman

315 THE PROSTITUTE: Paradigmatic Woman

Julia P. Stanley Department of English University of Nebraska Lincoln, Nebraska 68588

. . .one has to be particularly trained to believe that to put a label on a feeling, a state of mind, a thing—to find a set of words or a phrase; in short, to describe it—is the same as understanding and experiencing it.

Doris Lessing, Briefing for a Descent into Hell, pp. 277-78.

"Paradigmatic Woman: The Prostitute," a slightly different version of this paper, has been published and copyrighted in the anthology Papers on Language Variation, David Shores, editor; University of Alabama Press, 1977; this slightly different version has been printed by KNOW, Inc. with the permission of the author and the copyright holder.

KNOW, inc. Box 86031 Pittsburgh, PA 15221 The Prostitute: Paradigmatic Woman accept the stereotype to examine or question those assumptions. Thus, the stereotype maintains the status quo by Implanting cultural assumptions at an unconscious level of the mind, where they are Immutable and permanent. These assumptions are accepted as "facts," as "glvens." Where do we Julia P. Stanley get our stereotypes? How do we arrive at our neat Department of English pigeon-hollngs of other human beings? We take all University of Nebraska of our untested assumptions about this, all of our Lincoln, Nebraska 68588 beliefs about reality, our opinions, value judg ments, and biases, and, by analogy, we transfer these assumptions and beliefs to that, about which we know little or nothing. In this way, we bring the unknown within the bounds of our own reality, which enables us to pretend to ourselves and others that we know all there 1s to know about the unknown. The stereotype allows us to categorize people as we think they are, on the basis of our fantasies and expectations of them. The truth or falsity of these stereotypes 1s Irrelevant, as is For as long as the male sex has controlled human usually the case with fantasy worlds; the mere communication, the figure of the sexually-available act of naming is sufficient in itself, and we are woman, the prostitute, the courtesan, the hetaira, perpetually naming, defining the boundaries and the call girl, has maintained her pre-eminence, 1n terms of our own existence and that of others. all languages, 1n all cultures. Whether her fascina The names we give things affect, for all time, tion for men derives from the contrast of her image our attitude toward them. Naming embodies our with that of another prevalent female figure, the judgments as Inherent features of the objects virgin, men have found her both attractive and re to which we attend. As Ruth Herschberger has pulsive, doubtless for their own reasons. The exist commented, we lose our Insight because we are ence of the sexually-available woman, as a social always holding up a screen of language between reality and as a male fantasy figure, has served two ourselves and the world (1970:11-12). Further, mutually dependent functions in the maintenance of she points out that "one of the time-honored male supremacy, especially in Western civilization: functions of language is to push reality into 1) In the male mind, conditioned by male social more pleasing shapes" (1970:25). One might also desiderata, the stereotype of the promiscuous woman say that one of the functions of our use of provides a "standard" of comparison of ALL women, language 1s pushing people into shapes that con so that a specific woman 1s judged against this form to the linguistic straitjackets we have standard as either "good" or "bad." Since the prepared for us. Even the most cursory examina basis of judgment 1s a woman's "degree of sexual tion of the terms applied to prostitutes will availability," she is judged as "worthy" or "not- reveal that these terms directly reflect some of worthy" relative to her sexual availability to men. the most violent fantasies of men about their Of course, the application of this standard varies relationship to women and the underlying con in social context, and 1s dependent upon the ex flict (the so-called "battle of the sexes") that pectations the male may have with respect to a directs and maintains those fantasies. specific woman. For example, if a male propositions a woman and she accepts, she may be labeled as either a honey pot or a bullseye, in a brief en In our interactions with social reality, and counter, as a mistress or a wife, 1n a lengthy en in our efforts to classify and assign meanings to counter. Whatever the context, the male has a large these events, we use metaphor as an implicit and flexible vocabulary he can use for specifying (but sometimes explicit) structure for construct the terms of the sexual contract. 2) In the minds ing hypotheses that will interpret social reality of women, the Image of the sexually-available woman as we perceive it. The metaphors then become has served a dual function: First, the stereotype fiypotheses about the way we are related to social asserts that women, as sexually active human beings, events, and these hypotheses are predictions ONLY relate to males, essentially locking us Into a that express our evaluations and perceptions of mind-set 1n which we define ourselves sexually the relations between and among the events and through the existence of males; that is, we are objects we perceive. either sexual beings, and therefore available to men, OR we are not available to men, and therefore The names that men have given to women who non-sexual; second, the extremely negative value make themselves sexually available to them reveal judgments attached to the sexually active woman, the underlying metaphors by which men conceive OUTSIDE OF MARRIAGE, force women to see marriage as of their relationships with women, and through validation of our sexuality, 1n fact, as the ONLY which women learn to perceive and define them validation available to us. The stereotype of the selves. The metaphors that underlie the terms sexually promiscuous woman, the prostitute, makes it for sexually promiscuous women define and per easy for patriarchal societies to keep us in our petuate the ambivalent sex-role stereotypes "place." The terror of being called "a slut" or that a male-dominated culture sets forth for "an easy lay" 1s used to bludgeon us into sub women. On the one hand, women who "put out" for mission. Into accepting marriage as a "wife" or men are described as hags, slop jars, and "mother" as a more tolerable, less despicable form pisspallets; but women who don t put out are of slavery. damned as frigid, cold, or maladjusted. All of these terms assume, of course, that a woman's only means of Identification lies 1n her re lationship to a man (or men). My analysis of Any given stereotype embodies the assumptions 220 such terms for women reveals that the only of the culture that perpetuates the stereotype; way a woman can define her sexuality with the Its primary function 1s therefore social: It pro names provided by our culture is demeaning, motes the assumptions on which 1t is based, at the shameful, and/or oppressively non-existent, 2 same time making 1t unnecessary for those who should she choose to reject the terms that men A few pages later, 1n his discussion of associate with her sexuality. (Muriel Schulz the words for breasts, Sagarin himself feels (1975) has found 100 more such terms.) called upon to comment upon the conflicting emotions that men express about their relation The terms for prostitutes provide us with ships with women. a paradigm of the way both men and women see each other as things to be used. Prostitution, The abundance of words for breasts, as an occupation, is an act of exploitation. of which the above is but a minute But what the prostitute exploits is not men, sampling, 1s an Index of the In but herself as representative of all women, tense Interest In the anatomy of and men's expectations of women, and the the female on the part of the most fantasies of women projected by their expect imaginative and creative of the ations. The prostitute capitalizes on the slang-using groups, and of the culturally-favored stereotypes of women, like need for masculine identification passivity, instability, materiality, shrewish with peer groups among those who ness, and pliancy, and the male attitudes that display toward the breast the create these stereotypes. The prostitute thus ambivalence of shame and want, validates the fantasy caricatures of women, fear and desire, guilt and lust. and her financial success depends upon her (1962:125) ability to fulfill the male expectations em bodied in these stereotypes. (Some, of course, Of course, women are expected to be flattered by specialize.) all of this "intense interest."

In our culture, we are taught to be ashamed While it is not only women who experience of our sexuality, to avoid reference to the sex social pressure In assuming their sexual identity, act and to the sexual organs. However, up to the I'm concerned here with the problems of women. present time, women, more than men, have been Terms like screw, rip off, nail, shove It to her, intimidated into embarrassment about their and get into someone clearly define the roTe of sexuality. Men, 1n their own private conclaves, the woman as a passive object on whom the male acts the locker rooms of the world, have been en out violent, sadistic fantasies. With an arsenal couraged to boast about their uses of women, In of terms like that for the so-called "act of love," fact, one of the primary criteria for "manliness" It's no wonder that women think twice about In is successful exploitation of women's bodies. dulging themselves. The close relationship The term that denotes masculinity as a morality between language and culture is perhaps clearest is machismo, and its emphasis is on animal in the area of taboo words 1n the lexicon, sexuality. The adjective macho was originally particularly those terms that deal specifically used only to refer to male animals, emphasizing with sexual activities and organs. their maleness. It is especially used to refer to the male animal's "super-sexuality," particu Consider the range of possible meanings for larly with reference to over-sized genitals, the verb screw. There Is no favorable context and/or to the male animal's brutal, bestial 1n which it can occur. Edward Sagarin has made traits (I.e., how wild a horse or bull is). some interesting observations that illustrate Recently, the term macho has been transferred clearly how men and women have created a double to human males with the same meanings. One bind situation in their relations with each other. lexicographer notes that this usage is popular among boys as a highly complimentary attributive Sex 1s something, of course, that (Mol1ner:l967). Macho 1s a qualitative feature a nice girl Is not supposed to attributed to males; machismo 1s the possessed like, but submits to with reluct attribute. (It is now the name of a high-priced ance because the male has the devil men* cologne.) In his flesh. By appropriating the verb screw for sexual description, In order to understand why the English a society perpetuates this concept, language has a large set of pejoratives that and at the same time permits the refer to women as sexual objects, we have to conquering warrior male to retain understand the "masculine mystique." Sagarin an image of himself as having has observed that the pressure to live within the forced himself upon the reluctant "masculine" moral structure accounts for the female. The language 1s a reflec creation and use of taboo words. tion of a society that abhors sex while idolizing the male who obtains The adolescent, growing in his it and denouncing the female who awareness of sexuality, 1s con offers it. stantly developing and creating (1962:129) the language of prohibited terminology. His vocabulary, Sagarin goes on to comment on the additional although satisfactorily expres slang uses of screw, none of which are favorable sive, 1s unceasingly expanding. in their connotations. The abundance of neologisms Im parts a feeling, to the youthful But ai person gets screwed when he males who create and perpetuate gets thhe! short end of the stick, them, of ribaldry, vitality, and when someone betrays him. One strength of a masculine character. says that he worked very hard (1962:122) when his employer needed him, only to be fired 1n the slow season: It 1s through a "screen of language," the language his boss screwed him, or he got of exploitation, that men establish and maintain a_ screwing. Or the same tn~ing their masculinity. would be said of a girl, and it and phrases that comprise this semantic set 1s difficult to imagine any are used by males to assert their proprietary ambiguity. relationship to women, whether the term is (1962:134) euphemistic or dysphemistic. As one current popular singer has expressed it: "If I could I have already cited Sagarin's comments on have but one possession 1n this life, I would the male point of view Inherent in the use of make you my wife." Whatever the word, whether slang for sexual activities, and you may have it's wife, chick, slut, hooker, prostitute, noticed the terms "Imaginative" and "creative" pro-girl, mistress, or sweat hog, Its Intent 1n his discussion. But perhaps the best 1s to define the worth of a woman as a human example of the totally male orientation of being according to the relationship she has such terms and their use is the following with a man (or men). quotation from Eric Partridge, cited by Fryer. The names that men have created for Over 1,200 English synonyms for prostitutes fully represent the variety of this word [fuck] have been roles assigned to woman-as-sex-object, the recorded; their 'vivid ex social taboos that make screwing an act of pressiveness' and 'vigorous aggression for the male, and express the Ingenuity' ... 'bear witness metaphorical content of female stereotypes to the fertility of English in our society. The entire semantic set and to the enthusiastic English exemplifies the "screen of language" through participation 1n the universal which men "see" women and, consequently, the fascination of the creative act'. view of themselves that women are taught. (1963:75) A woman learns to define herself as a piece of ass, bitch, pussy, or gash. Since women are taught to please men in our culture, One wonders about the source of this It's no wonder that women go out of their way "universal fascination," but, as we have seen, 1t 1s the male portion of the population that to "fit into" the semantic categories that our is the most active 1n coining and perpetuating culture provides. new terms, especially those terms that project their fantasies as realities. It is, of The semantic features that define the course, the prostitute who, by overtly selling categories represented by the terms for herself as a commodity, makes it possible for prostitutes are listed below; those features men to continue to believe in women who exist that Inhere in the reference of the terms are only to serve their needs. That is the denotative, and the emotional associations function of the prostitute 1n our culture, that surround the terms are connotativeJ and that is the reason men permit prositution to continue. The prostitute personifies for On the chart on pages 6 and 7, I have the male the dual aspects of the female that he diagrammed the internal relationships that seems to cherish: He can look down on the exist among the pejorative terms in English prostitute as being inferior to him in social that males use to label us. A brief explan status; at the same time she creates for him ation of the way 1n which the features of a fantasy world 1n which Woman harkens to his these terms provide insight into the struc every beck and call. On the one hand, women ture of this area of our semantic space may are not expected to like sex, especially if facilitate Interpretation of the terms as they are pure and virtuous; on the other, I they are used. The two major parameters have heard men say that "All women are whores that define the boundaries of the words and at heart." This social dichotomy underlies the phrases 1n the diagram are COST and LENGTH semantic distinctions between whore and wife. OF CONTACT. COST 1s the vertical parameter One refers to women who exist outside social and LENGTH OF CONTACT 1s the horizontal and legal boundaries, while wife is applied to parameter. COST is sub-divided into three those women who have attached themselves, areas, FREE (F), CHEAP (C), and EXPENSIVE legally and socially, to a male, and thus (E), with two fuzzy, overlapping categories, manage to live within society. FREE/CHEAP (F/C) and CHEAP/EXPENSIVE (C/E). LENGTH OF CONTACT, the horizontal parameter, 1s also sub-divided into three major areas, In one way or another, each of us has been CONTACT IRRELEVANT (that is, these terms may a victim of our language, perceived and dealt be applied to any woman, even a stranger with through a label that someone else has walking by on the street), BRIEF CONTACT attached to us. Such labels serve to categorize (one-night stands), and EXTENDED/EXTENSIVE us on the basis of our personalities, our CONTACT (which I think is self-explanatory). behavior, a physical or emotional quirk, or a The congruence between these two major political belief. We would like to believe that parameters and their sub-divisions 1s such labeling 1s one of the unpleasant activities interesting 1n and of Itself, and reveals of childhood, a brutal and painful experience for those so attacked; but naming, the coining of terms that apply to other people, is an on-going activity, especially in those places ^Gerald Chambers and Donald L. Smith were very helpful 1n sorting through and interpreting that are the preserves of males, the locker room their own usage of the terms and that of other and the bar-room. The terminology that emerges men. In all, 17 men, ranging 1n age from 20-42, from these gathering places, usually called were asked to react to each of the 220 terms slang, contains numerous semantic sets, one of with respect to cost, method of payment, connot which 1s used by males for labeling women who ations, etc. No one knew all of the terms; some are archaic, some are regional, and others are make themselves sexually available to men. literary in origin. I have included words and The boundaries established by this semantic phrases from diverse sources In an effort to set define the double-bind situation in which represent the infinite possibilities of this most women spend their lives. All of the words semantic set. the ways in which our culture defines In setting up the semantic field diagram, : "time as money." Furthermore, the more began by centering the group of terms that extensive the contact, the higher the price, Included the largest number, so that 1n the and the more favorably-charged the labels CONTACT IRRELEVANT area you'll find broad and themselves. The most pejorative terms lightheels, both carrying the same features, are those applied to any woman, those that differing only 1n that broad 1s dysphemistic are marked as FREE and/or CHEAP. and lightheels Is euphemistic. After each term, in parentheses, 1s the number of terms repre The semantic features that operate sented by the category. For example, the within these parameters define the denotative category (F/C, D/I; NEG) includes broad, floozy, relationships among each group of terms. hag, hussy, loose woman, low-rent, pick-up, put METHOD OF PAYMENT may be DIRECT (D), out, slut, sor-whore, tramp, wanton, and whore. INDIRECT (I), or either (D/I). Direct The related euphemisms include lightheels, payment 1s the actual exchange of cash; roundheels, and shortheels. The rest of the indirect payment may be something like categories arranged around these core terms dinner and a show, or a night on the town. differ in the addition and/or loss of features, Either way, the man feels that he is which I've marked beside the lines drawn between spending money with one purpose in mind. categories. At the outer reaches of the field, you'll find the terms marked either (P/W) or I remember one quotation that may explain (MET). The terms represented by bitch, marked this point of view better than I can. A (F/C, D/I; NEG; MET), Include birdT"3og, disc jockey in Athens, Georgia had just mattress, nutcracker, quail, and sow; the finished playing the song, "Treat Her Like terms represented by cunt, marked (F/C, D/I; A Lady." The idea behind "treating her NEG, P/W), Include fleshpot, gash, piece, and like a lady," as it's stated in the song, tall. Al 1 of theseTrTTeTms TVTSt mert" apply to 1s that "she'll be good to you." When the any woman, and they occur 1n expressions like record was over, the disc jockey said, "She's a dizzy cunt," "Wow! What a nice "Yeah, treat her like a lady, and maybe piece!," and "What a ballbuster she 1s!" she'll give you a money-back guarantee." At any rate, this overlap between the two features also explains why there are no Within the range marked as CHEAP, I've terms with the single feature FREE, and grouped the terms for which brief sexual the combination of. FREE/CHEAP as a contact Is necessary for their application. possibility. The other feature, TYPE At the center 1s hooker, marked (C, D; NEG), OF ACTIVITY, with the sub-classes PASSIVE by far the largest single category with 73 or ACTIVE (+A), isolates the man's members, and the related euphemism, painted expectations of the woman's sexual role, lady. The terms 1n this category refer whether or not she's to be an active specifically to the act of selling oneself participant. For most of these terms as an object, and the COST may range any this feature 1s irrelevant, so they aren't where from a quarter, as in two-bit whore, marked for 1t. up to $20.00. Other terms In this category Include harlot, hustler, peddlesnatch, and slattern. This 1s not only The connotative features, listed to the right the largest range within the terms for of the denotative, include three possibilities: prostitute, but there're some Interesting things Negative (NEG), Positive (POS), and Neutral (NEU). going on semantlcally. The terms are the most Only one term showed overlap, ballbuster, and It's semantlcally consistent and unambiguous; 1n marked NEG/POS. The term 1s used with negative order for most of the terms to apply, they must connotations when 1t refers to an aggressive be CHEAP and Involve DIRECT PAYMENT of cash. woman or someone who 1s a sexual "tease." Ball There 1s also what I call a "neutralization of buster has positive connotations when 1t refers features" at several points 1n the diagram, to a woman who Is very active sexually. Most of where the features (+A) and (-A) are lost, the terms carry only negative connotations. Only and the lines converge on metaphorical cate four terms have neutral connotations, lady of the gories that share features with other categories, night, entertainer, concubine, and mistress, and except for (+A) or (-A). At the bottom, left- only one term carries positive connotations, hand side of this semantic grouping you'll find courtesan. Of these terms, four occur with the bedpan and bedbug, which differ only 1n the feature C/E or E, and are In the range of EXTENDED feature + or -A. Both of these categories CONTACT. The connotative features were the most converge at corn-hole, in which the activity problematic, for an obvious reason: most of the of the woman 1s irrelevant. The same thing men expressed ambivalence about their feelings happens with flapgap and fastfanny, which con for several terms, e.g., piece, ass, and verge 1n poxbox, and with meatcooker and prostitute. bullseye/cotwarmer, which meet at the category represented by cornerglrl and bat. One other In addition to the parameters and features comment: There are no terms in the category I've just discussed, each term was also marked to (C, D; POS). Indicate whether 1t 1s a dysphemism (DYS) or a euphemism (EU), and 1f the term Is a figure of The EXPENSIVE/EXTENDED CONTACT area con speech, 1t 1s marked as either metonymic (P/W) or tains the two smallest sets of terms, C/E, metaphorlc (MET). Although 1t 1s possible for a with EXTENDED CONTACT, and E, with EXTENSIVE term to be both metonymic and metaphoric, e.g., CONTACT. Prostitute and professional are cockeye, which I've marked as MET, and brcjwn-eye, probably the core terms of the entire semantic whi ch I've marked as P/W, I didn't allow for this field, so that the field 1s heavily loaded kind of overlap 1n my analysis of the terms. The toward the range covered by F/C and C. Only words and phrases that appear 1n the diagram are 13 terms are covered by the categories In this representatives of a group of such terms defined area. Once you get over Into the EXPENSIVE by their features. range, you find the terms that are marked as NEU or POS, and the term marked as (POS), 5 LENGTH CONTACT Explanation of Semantic Features and Symbols for Semantic Features

Denotative Features: Cost: Free (F), Cheap (C), Expensive (E); Method of Payment: Direct (D), Indirect (I); Activity: Sexually Aggressive (+A), Sexually Passive (-A).

Connotative Features: Negative (NEG), Neutral (NEU), Positive (POS).

If a term or phrase makes explicit male disdain for female sexuality, I have marked it as Dysphemistic (dys). If the term or phrase 1s used as a "polite" evasion of expressing disdain, I have marked it as Euphemistic (eu).

If a term or phrase refers to women by reference to a specific part of their bodies, I have labeled it as Metonymic, or part for whole (P/W). If a term or phrase refers to women by comparing them to animals or inanimate objects, I have labeled it as Metaphoric (MET).

F/C,D/I;NEG (dys) F/C,D/I;NEG;P/W (eu) C,D;NEG (dys) C,D/I;NEG;P/W (dys) C,D;NEG;MET (dys) broad honey pot (continued) doxy bat donah gift box prossie biddy floozy puddletrotter C,D/I,-A;NEG;MET (dys) chamberpot gamewoman F/C,D;NEG (dys) puta bedpan crane hag nookie queen mattressback hussy bellylass romp C,D/I,+A;NEG;MET (dys) nannygoat loose woman rumper bedbug nightbag low-rent F/C,D;NEG;MET (dys) rutter nightbird pick-up baggage sally-dally C,D/I;NEG;MET (dys) pipecleaner put-out scabber corn-hole quarter-piece slut F/C,D,-A;NEG (dys) scrubber pig ragbag sor-whore backgammon scuffer sweathog rawhide split-tail slattern ringer straw-girl C,D;NEG (dys) spreadeagle C,D,-A;NEG (dys) saltflitch tramp hooker springherder canvasback slop jar wanton brown Bess strumpet whore bumbessie strumpthumper C,D,-A;NEG;MET (dys) C,D;NEG;MET (eu) bumpbacon swill trough bullseye cornergirl F/C,D/I;NEG (eu) bunter termagant cockeye goldmine lightheels Charlotte Harlot Tess Tuppence furrowbutt pretty little flo roundheels chippie trapan pisspallet shortheels chubcheeker trick posthole C/E,D;NEG (dys) claptrap trotter prostitute F/C,D/I,+A;NEG (dys) cockatrice trull C,D,-A;NEG;MET (eu) nympho cocktail tumbler cotwarmer C/E,D;NEG (eu) arsebender codhopper tup-me-upright warming-pan professional arsievarsie codwinker two-bit whore pro-girl back bender conycatcher wench C,D,+A;NEG (dys) social girl backscratcher coxswain capercock bawd craterbutt C,D;NEG (eu) frisker C/E,D;NEU;MET (eu) breechdropper dell painted lady hipf Upper entertainer diddler fille de joie pole climber F/C,D/I,+A;NEG/POS (dys) fatback hotel matron E,D/I;NEG (dys) ballbuster fleecer joygirl C,D,+A;NEG;MET (dys) kept woman fluter lamp-post Lorelei meatcooker paramour F/C,D/I,+A;NEG;MET (dys) gadder scarlet woman fuckin' fillies minx gamester sweet cream lady full-o'-tricks E,D/I,+A;NEG (dys) gipsy window girl meatgrinder call girl F/C,D/I,+A;NEG;P/W (dys) gutterflopper woman of ill repute organgrinder hotpot hack woman of pleasure sausage-grinder E,D/I,+A;NEU (dys) hamhocker working girl smokehouse mistress (after 7 F/C,D/I;NEG;MET (dys) hardtonguer years, commonlaw bitch harlot C,D;NEU (eu) C,D,+A;NEG;P/W (dys) wife) bird harridan lady of the night fastfanny dog hedgewhore lovely lady E,D;NEG (dys) mattress hoyden C,D;NEG;P/W (dys) hetaira nutcracker hustler C,D/I;NEG (dys) poxbox quail leasepiece tart brown-eye E,D;P0S (dys) sow leg-over bimbo gullybum courtesan...wife Magdalene drab lowgap F/C,D/I,-A;NEG;P/W (dys) meatvender galleywench pinkpot E,I;NEG (dys) ass (piece of) narycherry Jezebel pink toes Delilah nellie lay sink-o-perdition F/C,D/I;NEG;P/W (dys) nobjobber moll toll hole E,I,+A;NEU (dys) cunt peddlesnatch rum-and-rut ventrenter concubine fleshpot pigpoke trollop gash pillowgut C,D,-A;NEG;P/W (dys) piece poontang C,D/I;NEG (eu) flapgap tail potlicker mama flap priest-layer prick pocket courtesan, falls under legalized, state- meatcooker, meat grinder, organgrinder, sausage- sanctioned sexual use, along with marriage. rinder, smokehouse, bull's-eye, cockeye, With the categories occupied by courtesan, furrowbutt. goldmine, honey pot, chamberpot, common-law wife, and wife we arrive at the nightbag, pipecleaner, ragbag, rawhide, ringer. point at which the state and the church have We exist only as holes for men, as fields to be institutionalized the use of women. The state plowed, as "pots" full of good things for men. of marriage, signified by the application of And the semantics of this sub-class of metaphors the term wife, 1s one in which the man pays perhaps explains the neutralization of the and pays, sometimes for life, for his use, and features (+A) and (-A) that I mentioned earlier exclusive property rights, to one woman. What 1n the CHEAP/BRIEF CONTACT area of the semantic we can see in this diagram is a movement from field. Such features are irrelevant in terms general terms, applicable to any woman 1n the that define women as passive, Inanimate objects; world, to the specific term wife. The more no action 1s expected, required, or desired. time and money that a man is willing to invest in a woman, the more he legitimizes her exist As 1t 1s, If we were to set up a parametric ence in our society. grid, we would find that there are 2,160 possible interactions of parameters, but only More specifically, an examination of the 44 of these possibilities are realized in the metaphorical terms for prostitutes reveals semantic set. Of these 44 semantic categories, the object classes to which women who relate only ten occur 1n the EXTENDED CONTACT range. sexually to men are compared. The classes The other 34 are 1n the CONTACT IRRELEVANT or themselves reflect the traditional views of BRIEF CONTACT ranges. In Appendix I of this "woman's place," from bedpan and slopjar, paper you will find a list of the 220 terms, woman as receptacle for the excretions of broken down Into Dysphemistic and Euphemistic, men, to narycherry and woman of ill-repute, then listed alphabetically, with their the woman who has not "lived up" to the chaste, semantic features, under these two categories. Madonna stereotype. In a list of classes of objects, none of which I can sincerely call My sources were varied, and there will "unobjectionable," the least objectionable probably be a large number of terms with which class contains only three lexical many readers are unfamiliar. Aside from items: entertainer, full-o'-tr1cks, and dictionaries like the OED, Partridge's cornergiFT I say "the least objectionable" Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, because the terms in this class at least Wentworth and" Flexner's Dictionary of American compare the prostitute to other persons. Slang, I have also drawn from books-Tike Down Thus, she "entertains" in the sense that she in the Holler, a book on Ozark slang, from "amuses" men; she is a "girl" who stands on The Sod-Weed Factor by John Barth,2 and I have the corner; she is "full of tricks" insofar used Information provided by friends, as she "performs" for men. colleagues, and students. Omitted from this list are some terms that are limited in their The next largest class of objects con use to literature, like bona roba, demimondaine, tains the names that compare women to animals: callat, callet, giglot, blowen, and fricatrice. bird, bitch, dog, quail, sow, fuckin' fillies, canvasback (?), bat, biddy, crane, nannygoat, I have also excluded strictly literary coinages like the Victorian no better than she should be. In nightbird, bedbug, pig, and sweathog. We can see general, I incTuded terms that I found in two In these terms the underlying conceptual categories or more sources because the lexicography 1n this Into which men place women: They're something to area 1s uneven, often apparently whimsical. For be hunted and killed, a quail or a canvasback; they this reason, you will find split-tail in the 11st, should be subordinated and domesticated, as a horse, which 1s used 1n The Sot-Weed Factor and cited 1n a sow, a dog; they should always be like "a bitch Down in the Holler. To give you some idea of the 1n heat," receptive to men; and they're things to problems with Isolating the origins and usage of fear, like bats. these terms, Randolph and Wilson provide the follow ing definition of split-tail. But whatever else women should be, they are classified as the exclusive property of men, and Similar to feisty 1s the noun they're to function only as the objects of men's split-tail, a disrespectful name desires and sexuality. The third class of for an active young woman. A metaphors, In which women are compared to in split-tail is not necessarily a animate objects, breaks down into two sub-classes. The first labels women as passive objects on or woman of bad morals, but rather through which men "relieve" themselves. In this class we find the terms mattress, baggage, pisspallet, cotwarmer, warming pan, mattressback"! quarterback, saltf11 ten, slop jar, bedpan, and L\ queried John Barth, trying to find out corn-hole~ All of these terms aefine women as exactly how many of the terms he had made up in the long exchange between the two prostitutes objects upon which men act out their sexual dramas. (Sot-Heed Factor, 466-72). In his letter of But the second class of inanimate metaphors makes September, 1972, he told me that he could no the role of women even more explicit: we are longer remember which he had made up and which specifically "holes" into which a long object is he had heard over the years. Even if he made inserted—nothing more. This 1s, of course, the up as many as 20 of the terms used in the exchange, that would still leave 200 terms, basic metaphor that governs our lives and defines plus all the ones that I found after I'd the nature of our existence; 1t is the metaphor reached my cut-off point in compiling the list. upon which our culture is founded: women have I don't think there can be any question re holes, men have external appendages that were garding the extraordinarily large number of made to fill those holes, and that's the reason terms referring to the sexual activity of women. In addition, if I could ascertain the terms that that we have holes. It's all so beautifully Barth had created, they would follow the simple, and the sub-class includes nutcracker, semantic patterns described in this article. one who 1s too lively, perhaps only Insofar as 1t refers to a man demeaning himself Inclined tn some sort of Indis by accepting money from a woman. A gigolo gives up cretion. his "right" to dominate a woman because the accept (1953:107) ance of money represents dependence and passivity 1n the relationship, and paying money represents It Is hard to tell where one should draw the line, choice and power over the other person. The gigolo but I have tried to make the list representative thus violates the prerogatives assigned to men by and diverse. Sweat-hog has been used in south surrendering his power. The term carries positive Georgia, split-tail is Ozark slang; flap is connotations when it refers to the same violation archaic, but low-rent 1s current slang. Bimbo, of sex-role stereotypes, but also draws attention a term I had never heard when I began my research, to the fact that it's a woman paying for sex In has been used three times on television in the stead of a man, and the users find the role-switch past year, and I've heard it used recently to re humorous. Third, words like animal, beast, and fer to a male regarded as "stupid" by the speaker brute, which do refer to male sexuality, and which (also male). I should also point out that this are used pejoratively by women, refer specifically is by no means an exhaustive list and does not to those personality traits encouraged by rever include bob-tail, gill-flirt (or jill-fllrt), ence for machismo but not especially sought by spoffskins, blister, streetwalker, and many others. women in sexual relationships. Fourth, the I stopped when I had collected 220 terms because remainder of the terms are all used with positive I'd reached the point of diminishing returns. I connotations and a "boys-will-be-boys" intonation. think any term for prostitute/woman would fit If a man is a cockhound, one shrugs one's into one of the categories that came out of the shoulders; if a woman is a slut, the moral fiber terms I analyzed. In fact, this semantic set is of the nation is in danger. one that's infinitely expanding; although some terms may become archaic, new terms are always being added, probably faster than lexicographers To complete the picture of "woman as sex can record them. The very size of the set and object" 1n our culture, let me, 1n closing, make the impossibility of collecting ALL the terms for one or two additional observations. Only a woman prostitute is itself a comment on our culture. can "go astray"; only a woman can be "loose." As linguists, we assume that the existence of a But only a man can be a "cuckold"; there 1s no new lexical item indicates a cultural need for a term for a woman In a similar situation. But a term that expresses a new concept. Isn't it woman can be called a cocktease and a pricktease strange that the set of terms that refer to if she doesn't "put outT" Women insult men by prostitutes 1s one that's constantly expanding? reference to unpleasantness in their personalities, If there is a "cultural need," surely 1t is but men insult women by reference to their that only of men, defining and asserting their availability for sexual use. That is, we insult "masculinity" through their use of women's men as individuals, but women as a class. If bodies. you want to compliment a man, you can say "He has balls," but we cannot say of a woman "She There is one semantic features for which the has labia" or "She has ova." terms 1n the appendix aren't specifically marked 1n the lexicon: The feature (+FEMALE) 1s the What I have described is a semantic set and inherent feature shared by all of these terms. If its features that provide a paradigm of the a term 1s (-Female), that is, 1f 1t refers to a definition of women in our culture, a culture man, then the feature must be marked, and 1t that defines the "nature" of woman on the basis surfaces 1n such cases, e.g., male prostitute, male of untested assumptions, embodies these assump hustler, male whore. tions 1n its metaphors, and uses these metaphors to create the stereotypes of women with which we have to live. I did collect a relatively small number of terms for promiscuous men, but the two sets cannot really be compared. APPENDIX I TERMS FOR MEN WHO CHASE WOMEN The list of terms provided below makes an initial division of the terms into dysphemistic animal hooko and euphemistic. In the spaces that follow each ass man letch term, denotative features are given first, and Casanova male hustler then the connotative features are given. Following cockhound male prostitute these primary features will be (P/W) or (MET), if cocksman male whore either of these classifications applies. cunnyhunter snowman DOM (dirty old man) sport Don Juan stud DYSPHEMISTIC TERMS gigolo Svengali arsebender [F/C, D/I, +A; NEG] good old boy whorehopper arsievarsle [F/C, D/I, +A; NEG] hanger-on whoremonger ass (piece of) [F/C. I, -A; NEG; P/W] backbender [F/C. D/I, +A, NEG] backgammon [F/C, D/I, -A, NEG] First of all, there's no linguistic reason why the backscratcher [F/C, D/I, +A; NEG] set 1s so small. As I've indicated though, most of baggage [F/C, D; NEG; MET] these words refer to the sexuality of men 1n terms ballbuster [F/C. D/I, +A; NEG/POS] of the degree of their success 1n pursuing women. bat [C, D; NEG; MET] Three of the terms, male hustler, male prostitute, bawd [F/C, D/I. +A; NEG] and male whore, are actually terms that refer to bedbug [C, D/I. +A; NEG. MET] bedpan [C, D/I. -A; NEG; MET] womerTTFat are marked with the feature (+ male). bellylass [F/C. D; NEG] Second, only gigolo, and perhaps stud, carry the biddy [C. D; NEG; MET] same denotative features as the larger set for women. bimbo [C. D/I; NEG] Stud, however, has only positive connotations when bird [F/C, D/I; NEG; MET] 10 TTT used, and gigolo carries negative connotations bitch [F/C, D/I; NEG; MET] breechdropper [F/C, D/I, +A; NEG] nookie [F/C. D; NEG] mama [C. D/I; NEG] broad [F/C, D/I; NEG] nutcracker [F/C, D/I; NEG; MET] painted lady [C. D; NEC] brown Bess [C, D; NEG] nympho [F/C, D/I, +A; NEG] pretty little flowers [C, D; NEG; MET) brown-eye [C. D; NEG; P/W] organgrinder [C, D, +A; NEG; MET] pro-girl [C/E, D; NEG] bullseye [C, D, -A; NEG; MET] paramour [E, D/I; NEG] professional [C/E, D; NEG] bumbessie [C, D; NEG] peddlesnatch [C, D; NEG] roundheels [F/C, D/I; NEG] bumpbacon [C, D; NEG] pick up [F/C. D/I; NEG] scarlet woman [C, D; NEG] bunter [C, D; NEG] piece [F/C, D/I; NEG; P/W] shortheels [F/C, D/I; NEG] •canvasback [C, D, -A; NEG] pig [C, D/I; NEG; MET] social girl [C/E. D; NEG] capercock [C, D, +A; NEG] plgpoke [C, D; NEG] sweet cream lady [C, D; NEG] chamberpot [C, D; NEG; MET] pillowgut [C, D; NEG] warming-pan [C, D, -A; NEG; MET] Charlotte Harlot [C, D; NEG] plnkpot [C, D; NEG; P/W] wlndowglrl [C, D; NEG] chippie [C. D; NEG] pink toes [C, D; NEG; P/W] woman of 111-repute [C, D; NEG] chubcheeker [C, D; NEG] pipecleaner [C, D; NEG; MET] woman of pleasure [CD; NEG] claptrap [C, D; NEG] pisspallet [C, D, -A; NEG; MET] working girl [C, D; NEG] cockatrice [C, D; NEG] pole climber [C, D, +A; NEG] cockeye [C, D, -A; NEG; MET] poontang [C, D; NEG] cocktail [C, D; NEG] posthole [C. D; -A; NEG; MET] codhopper [C, D; NEG] potlicker [C, D; NEG] codwinker [C. D; NEG] poxbox [C, D; NEG; P/W] APPENDIX II concubine [E, I. +A; NEU](more servitude prick pocket [C, D, -A; NEG; P/W] involved) priest-layer [C, D; NEG] January 7, 1974 conycatcher [C, D; NEG] prossle [C, D; NEG] corn-hole [C, D; NEG] prostitute [C/E, D; NEG] Dear Ms. Stanley, courtesan [E, D; POS] puddletrotter [C, D; NEG] coxswain [C, D; NEG] put out [F/C, D/I; NEG] Thank you for sending your paper, 'Paradigmatic crane [C, D; NEG; MET] puta [C, D; NEG] woman: The prostitute.' The paper has interesting craterbutt [C, D; NEG] quail [F/C, D/I; NEG; MET] points, but I am sorry to say that it 1s not what we cunt [F/C, D/I; NEG; P/W] quarter-piece [C, D; NEG; MET] are seeking in this area. Setting aside the ques Delilah [E, I; NEG] queen [C, D; NEG] tionable thesis that the prostitute is a paradigm dell [C, D; NEG] ragbag [C, D; NEG; MET] for the place of women (what about the cultural diddler [C. D; NEG] rawhide [C, D; NEG; MET] myth of the whore with a heart of gold? or the doe [F/C. D/I; NEG; MET] ringer [C, D; NEG; MET] complexity of William Carlos Williams' treatment of donah [F/C. D/I. NEG] romp [C, D; NEG] the theme of virgin and whore in Paterson?) — the drab [C, D/; NEG] rum-and-rut [C, D/I; NEG] problem for our ethnographic perspective is two doxy [C, D/I; NEG; P/W] rumper [C, D; NEG) fold. We would want to know about validation of the fastfanny [C, D, +A; NEG; P/W] rutter [C, D; NEG) semantic attributes used to classify the terms-- fatback [C, D; NEG] sally-dally [C. D; NEG] preferably in contexts of use—and we could not flap [C, D. -A; NEG; P/W] saltflitch [C. D; NEG; MET] imagine that there is anywhere a single speaker or flapgap [C, D, -A; NEG; P/W] sausage-grinder [C, D, +A; NEG; MET] group for whom all the terms are pertinent. In fleecer [C, D; NEG] scabber [C, D; NEG] addition, many questions arise about the terms. For fleshpot [F/C, D/I; NEG] scrubber [C. D; NEG] instance, my wife, who had an English grandmother, scuffer [C, D; NEG] recalls being called 'biddy' as a girl, and recently floozy [F/C, D/I; NEG] the term was suggested on television (CBS NEWS in fluter [C. D; NEG] sink-o-perdition [C, D; NEG; P/W] slattern [C, D; NEG] morning) by someone as an alternative to 'senior frisker [C, D, +A; NEG] citizen' insofar as women are concerned. fuckin' f1U1es [C. D, +A; NEG; MET] slop jar [C, D; NEG; MET] full-o'-tricks [C, D, +A; NEG; MET] slut [F/C, D/I; NEG] furrowbutt [C, D, -A; NEG; MET] smokehouse [C, D, +A; NEG; MET] There seems to be missing any notice of ways, gadder [C, D; NEG] sor-whore [F/C, D/I; NEG] and terms, in which women exploit men as objects via galleywench [C, D/I; NEG] sow [F/C, D/I; NEG; MET] sex. E.g., 'sugar-daddy', 'john'. It is not un gamester [C, D; NEG] split-tall [F/C, D/I; NEG] known for women to define sex themselves as 'not game woman [F/C. D/I; NEG] spreadeagle [C, D, NEG] free', and to control its disbursement as a means of gash [F/C. D/I; NEG; P/W] sprlngherder [C, D; NEG] maintaining power. Then again there have been some gipsy [C. D; NEG] strawglrl [F/C, D/I; NEG] apparent exceptions in both sexes to the 'not free' gullybum [C, D; NEG; P/W] strumpet [C, D; NEG] • 'price' attitude. Though an alternative way of gutterflopper [C, D; NEG] Strumpthumper [C, D; NEG] regarding the matter, would be to insist that inti hack [C, D; NEG] sweathog [C, D/I; NEG; MET] macy entails obligation, rights entail responsi hag (F/C, D/I; NEG] swill trough [C, D; NEG] bilities. It is not really clear how the analysis hamhocker [C, D; NEG] tail [F/C, D/I; NEG; P/W] relates the demeaning economic interpretation of hardtonguer [C, D; NEG] tart [C, D/I; NEG] 'free'-cheap' etc., to the interpretation in terms harlot [C. D; NEG] termagant [C, D; NEG] of personal responsibility. harridan [C, D; NEG] Tess Tuppence [C, D; NEG] hedgewhore [C. D; NEG] tollhole [C, D; NEG; P/W] I am sorry to be negative about a paper which hetaira [E, D; NEG] tramp [F/C. D/I; NEG] has obviously involved much work and dedication. hipflipper [C, D, +A; NEG] trapan [C, D; NEG) Right now we are deluged with papers which take up hooker [C, D; NEG] trick [C. D; NEG] one or another facet of this general problem, but hotpot [F/C, D/I, +A; NEG; P/W] trollop [C, D/I; NEG] have not received anything which has the specific hoyden [C, D; NEG] trotter [C, D; NEG] ethnographic focus that would be most pertinent to hussy [F/C. D/I; NEG] trull [C. D; NEG] the particular role of the journal. hustler [C, D; NEG] tumbler [C, D; NEG] Jezebel [C. D/I; NEG] tup-me-upr1ght [C, D; NEG] Sincerely yours, lay [C, D/I; NEG] two-bit whore [C, D; NEG] leaseplece [C, D; NEG] ventrenter [C, D; NEG, P/W] Dell Hymes, Editor leg-over [C, D; NEG] wlficTrcf 6; REGJ NEG1 Language in Society loose woman [F/C, D/I; NEG] whore [F/C, D/I; NEG] lowgap [C, D; NEG; P/W] low-rent [F/C, D/I; NEG] EUPHEMISTIC TERMS May 13. 1975 Magdalene [C, D; NEG] Dear Julia, mattress [F/C. D/I; NEG; MET] call girl [E, D/I, +A; NEG] mattressback [C, D; NEG; MET) cornergirl [C, D; NEG; MET] meatcooker [C. D, +A; NEG; MET] cotwarmer [C, D, -A; NEG; MET] I regret that the editorial committee did meatgrinder [C. D, +A; NEG; MET] entertainer [C/E, D; NEU; MET] not find your article "What's in a label . . . meat vendor [C, D; NEG] fille de jole [C, D; NEG] suitable for publication in ETC. We recommend minx [F/C, D/A, +A; NEG; MET] giftbox [F/C, D/I; NEG; P/W] some man's magazine as an outlet. mistress [E.D/I. +A; NEU] goldmine [C, D; NEG; MET] moll [C, D/I; NEG] honey pot [F/C, D/I; NEG; P/W) All good wishes. nannygoat [C, D; NEG; MET] hotel Matron [C, D; NEG] narycherry [C, D; NEG] joygirl [C. D; NEG] Sincerely, nellie [C. D; NEG] lady of the night [C, D; NEU] nightbag [C, D; NEG; MET] lamp-post Lorelei [C, D; NEG] Thomas M. Weiss, Editor light heels [F/C, D/I; NEG] ETC., A Review of General nightbird [C, D; NEG; MET] lovely lady [C. D/I; NEG] nobjobber [C, D; NEG] Semantics 11 Hollander, Xaviera. 1972. The Happy Hooker. February 20, 1974 New York: Dell. Dear M1ss Stanley, Key, Mary Ritchie. 1972. "Linguistic Behavior Thank you very much Indeed for the article of Male and Female." Linguistics, 88:15-31. "Paradigmatic Woman: The Prostitute" which you submitted for publication 1n LINGUISTICS a few weeks . 1975. Male/Female Language. Metuchen, ago. Interesting and important as the subject Scarecrow Press. treated undoubtedly 1s, I do not think your study N.J.: resulted In a piece of work for which LINGUISTICS should be considered the proper outlet. I hereby Kramer, Cheris. 1973. "Women's Speech: A want to inform you that the paper has been returned Separate But Unequal Language." Mimeo. to you by separate airmail. Lakoff, Robin. 1973. "Language and Woman's Thanking you for having considered Mouton, I remain, with my feelings of respect, Place." Language in Society, 2:45-80.

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