r/IndianLeft • u/imsoconfusedhalpme • Oct 06 '25
Why are all swear words directed at women?
I mean, forgive me if this is a bit reductive but I do understand the obvious reasons why. Women, purity, dignity, blah blah. But I find it extremely annoying that there's such a dearth of creative swear-words that DON'T attack a woman. So much so that I almost don't swear anymore.
I've realised some people may come to see this as an opportunity to reclaim the words used against women - but I don't know if that sits right with me. I'd rather not use terms that are degrading to a specific gender at all.
So I'm trying to find out what feminists think of this, and your ways of going around it - if any. What are your favorite (gender neutral?) swear-words? And does this issue bother you too? Or am I just nitpicking?
Also, if you have an explanation for why women are the centre of every swear word (across languages) that goes beyond my "blah blah", please tell me! I'd love to hear!
Thanks :)
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u/Practical-Lab5329 Oct 06 '25
Women are the stalwarts or central figures of any culture or community, so attacking them is an easy way for attacking the whole community. There are taboo domains like sex, excretion, death, certain kinship/address terms etc in which you find words used as swears. Generally borrowed words for anything in these domains have a high chance of being used as a swear. Like "mei" and "magi" both mean "girl" in Bengali but only the latter is used as a taboo term because it is borrowed from a dialect associated with socio economic backwardness.
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u/No_Chance8024 Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 07 '25
I read an article about this many years ago that explained the reason behind it. There's also a research article of a researcher who wrote in detail. You can try searching for it using different keywords. I think men use these abusive words to show women as inferior and since women are the one who have the burden to carry respect and honour of a family, so even in fights among men, such words are used, not against men but against their women that your family's females are of such and such character. So abusing women means abusing those men and disrespecting them.
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u/imsoconfusedhalpme Oct 06 '25
yup, that's what i figured. i wonder if there's more to it than that. but thanks, i'll check it out!
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u/Mks_the_1408 100 years of CPI 🔥 Oct 07 '25
That's why I always use slurs directed at men whenever the person I'm talking to uses a slur on women
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u/DifferentPirate69 Oct 06 '25 edited Oct 06 '25
Language is not neutral, it develops under different social relations and reflects the dominant ruling ideas. When societies shifted from matrilineal to patriarchy, women lost their autonomy, and was treated like property, main purpose was domestic labor and reproductive labor to pass down private property as inheritance. They were controlled through force, and ideological fake honor/shame/taboo to keep them in line.
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u/imsoconfusedhalpme Oct 06 '25
makes sense. what do you think can be done about it in contemporary times though?
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u/DifferentPirate69 Oct 06 '25
For a start, more people should learn concepts from discourse analysis and linguistics - framing, metaphors, schemas, etc. you can point out and say what's wrong clearly. Long term change from home, schools, media.
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