What'd You Call Me?
There’s an discussion going on at Hollywood Elsewhere in a post titled “Pussies,” in which Jeff Wells discusses Clint Eastwood’s Esquire interview where Eastwood says, in part: “We live in more of a pussy generation now, where everybody’s become used to saying, ‘Well, how do we handle it psychologically?’ In those days, you just punched the bully back and duked it out. Even if the guy was older and could push you around, at least you were respected for fighting back, and you’d be left alone from then on.”
There’s an interesting side conversation in the comments now over the use of the term “pussy” in this context. Is it a sexist term? Eh. One the one hand, you can say that the derogatory use of the female sexual organ in that sense implies that to be female is to be weaker, or less than desirable. And sure, I’ve heard more than a few men use it that way on their sons, as in, “Oh, get up, son, don’t be such a pussy. Get back in that game!” And you could substitute “Nelly” or “Mary” or “girly-man” or “girlie” in there for “pussy,” and it would mean pretty much the same thing, albeit in a less overtly vulgar way.
On the other hand, I replied in the comments there that “The word “pussy” in this context obviously doesn’t refer to female anatomy, DeafBrown. I use that word all the time, as in “Jesus H, would you stop being such a whiny-ass pussy?” And, for the record, I’ve called many people “dickhead” too, although, depending on the person, “douche” or “worthless choad” may be more appropriate.”
Which is true enough, but I suppose that linguistically and logically, even in that context the word “pussy,” while meaning “weak or whiny person,” does derive that meaning from a worldview of women being weak/whiny/annoying/easy target. And I suppose that that does, to some degree, make the term inherently sexist, which I guess, given my own frequent use of it, makes me a sexist feminist. So I’m going to have to have a long talk with myself and really lay into me for being contradictory.
Where were you, T. Holly, to jump into the fray and call bullshit?
On the plus side, this all spurred a much more interesting discussion of whether men are, in fact, pussies about being sick. (Duh.)
Can I call someone a gaping Oscar hole? I’m gonna do it.
T Holly,
Hell, yeah. We should come up with a list of movie-centric, yet totally PC terms to use when we can no longer safely use the ones we know and love. Although, so far as I know “dumbass” and “asshole” are still gender-free and therefore safe to use. 🙂
Technically speaking it’s gender neutral like junket whore and festival slut, which reminds me how much a reflection some non-fiction award categories are of how little they mean because they’re so intent on sending a message about who they are and who’s in charge of the new ghetto.