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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

The H Word

posted by on April 11 at 16:16 PM

One thing that has troubled me (and others) during this whole Don Imus scandal is the media’s willingness to use the word “ho” when quoting Imus’s racist, misogynistic tirade. Why are words like “bitch” and “ho” acceptable material for “family newspapers” while words like “nigger” and “faggot” get rendered “the n-word” and “the f-word”? (Here’s an example from the Seattle Times that ran just today.) Is it because the latter terms are degrading to African Americans and gay men, respectively, while the former are “only” degrading to women? (Come to think of it, the high-minded Seattle Times uses the term “dyke” without asterisking out any letters, too). Personally, I’m all for judiciously quoting racist (and sexist, and anti-Semitic…) remarks without any hankie-clutching redaction: The more Imus gets quoted, the more his racism and misogyny gets exposed (and discussed) for what it is. But it seems pretty hypocritical for so-called “family” newspapers hypocritical to print slurs against women while redacting all the others.

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1

Probably cause bitch and dyke are also actual words in addition to obscenities while nigger and faggot are just obscenities (at least in Standard US English).

Posted by Andrew | April 11, 2007 4:21 PM
2

and "ho"?

Posted by ECB | April 11, 2007 4:22 PM
3

What annoys me about the Imus thing is that everyone talks about the racist aspect but no one talks about the sexist aspect.

That comment was WAY more sexist than racist.

Posted by Andrew | April 11, 2007 4:23 PM
4

When does "faggot" get bowdlerized to "the f-word"? The only f-word of my acquaintance is four letters. And, are you really suggesting that gay men have more social clout to suppress negative epithets than women do?

Posted by Nat | April 11, 2007 4:27 PM
5

Ho is a word as in "ho-ho-ho".

Its not a matter of social clout, its a newspaper's official printing policy.

I don't fucking work for the times (or read it for that matter), but when I was working for a certain newspaper at a large seattle-area state school (years ago) we had a policy where certain profanities where outmatically turned into asterisks unless
1) it was a direct quote (maybe the case in the Imus ordeal)
2) it was a necessary for it to make sense

Words that weren't on the list were never turned into asterisks so bitch would stay but faggot wouldn't.

Now that I think of it, I bet the direct-quote thing plays a lot into this.

Posted by Andrew | April 11, 2007 4:32 PM
6

I did some tree pruning this past weekend and now have a faggot in my backyard. I hope that bitch next door don't pee on them! Or my hoe.

Posted by DOUG. | April 11, 2007 4:33 PM
7

No words should be asterisk-ized to hide them from our delicate eyes. People don't need to be protected from words. It's so ridiculous.

Posted by pox | April 11, 2007 4:47 PM
8

Don Imus is a racist who mean-spiritedly made a joke at the expense of a group of women who were "public figures" because they played basketball. If they had acted the way a lot of professional sports players often do, maybe he would get away with it (though he could have just called them thugs or something asexual).

Imus might not have intended to hurt their feelings, but he didn't care about their feelings either.

I think he should be fired because he's a dick in the same way I can do without Ann Coulter because she is a twat.

(Is twat OK? I was trying not to use the C-word).

Posted by elswinger | April 11, 2007 4:49 PM
9

won't somebody think of the CHILDREN (who read the NYT cover to cover everyday)?!

Posted by Max Solomon | April 11, 2007 4:50 PM
10

Doug, I did some yard work too. Then I slept for a while in the afternoon and woke up all nappy-headed with my hair sticking out.

Posted by pox | April 11, 2007 4:50 PM
11

Seeing cagles comic index on the subject, I see that Hip hop has yet to apoligize. And with all this banter back and forth so what. Will it all come down to better rap lyrics and comedians watching their mouth, or will it be a racewar if we blast NWA within earshot of black people if we are white and like those songs? Or are we supposed to not like those songs?
How bout will we be arrested or defamed if we bump Too short at the clubs. Oh hes nasty. Put on 50 cent. Oh hes no different. Money makes the language stick around. No apology is going to change anything. The apology needs to come from within the circle of fire that created the nonsense. But that would suck. A lot of people are not just going to stop fueling that fire by suddenly wakeing up tomorrow and throwing out their records and covering their ears. Imus was an idjit.
Just a lot of people realize their is a double standard and if we don't do anything, little johnny and little mary are going to spout off insults till the day they die. And there kids kids. We humans like it rough and tuff and raw. Sensitivity is cool, but most people say it sucks. "Its not keepin iot real man!" they all say.
Leave it to beaver was sensitive weren't they. Not once in their show they slam blacks. But along comes 21st century and its fairgame to turn the wife from that show into a "ho' and thats funny material now. Its more interesting when its been made fun of and sexualized and racist.
Thats our culture black or white we can't figure nothing out. We point fingers without looking at ourselves and realizing we are just as guilty.

Posted by summertime | April 11, 2007 5:05 PM
12

It's confusing but here's what my coworkers came up with -

For hipsters to say "Jew" is always antisemitic. Faggot is always OK to use because gay men call each other faggot as a joke. Even The Stranger had a column "Hey Faggot". Nigga should be banned from all music and black people should be forced to stop using it.

Ho is deeply offensive to me as a woman. The only thing worse would be a hipster at a party saying "Here comes the Jew". So I agree Imus should be fired for saying "Ho". But Isaiah Washington can say "faggot" on TV as much as he likes.

Posted by Shoshana | April 11, 2007 5:11 PM
13

Actually whatever Carlos Mencia is gonna say about the subject I will probably agree. He is one funny "mo fo" ha debate that word. And most of the time he is right on.
Mencias Rappin Shiek on the culture of hip hop was on the money. keepin it real sensitive huh?

Posted by summertime | April 11, 2007 5:13 PM
14

Andrew @3: What makes you think that it was more sexist than racist? I would say it falls into a category of racist and sexist (rasesit?) where the insult is particular to one's gender and race. No one call's Black men's hair nappy or white women's hair nappy. Nappy-headed is an insult reserved for Black women because we are Black and because we are women.

These women were targeted with a slur that was specific to their race AND gender.

Summertime @11: People ARE talking about and boycotting music that degrades Black women--whether the "artist" is 50 Cent or the Rolling Stones. There is a movement, you can join it.

Posted by Papayas | April 11, 2007 5:19 PM
15

So, the times would be bad to refer to Ellen Degeneress as a Dyke, but it would be very, very bad of them to refer to the dyke march as a Lesbian walk?

Posted by I'm confused | April 11, 2007 5:36 PM
16

Why? Because those didn't used to be used in print in the first place, that's why.

The rules haven't caught up with the times.

Posted by Will in Seattle | April 11, 2007 6:02 PM
17

It's not that confusing. Think about it.

Faggot is always OK for black athletes and entertainers to use because gay men call each other faggot.

If those Rutgers women Basketball players had said "we hate faggots" on television no one would care. Lots of black athletes hate faggots and say so in the media.

Female sexuality is fluid so calling a woman a dyke is a slur because next month she might marry a man a have a child. So do not use "dyke" or "lesbian". To say "lots of female basketball players are dykes" would be extremely insulting.

But to say lots of male interior designers are faggots is funny. There's even a show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy".

But there could never be a show "Hot Basketball tips from Nappy headed Dykes".

Capice?

Posted by Shoshana | April 11, 2007 6:09 PM
18

Erica, you have such a sweet smile next to your column in the print edition. For all your bitching and the amount of troubling news you slog about, isn't it hypocritical to be looking so happy? Probably not, because you like doing it. But as far as I see, you are A#1 as the pot calling the kettle black. Well, not really, they're are many people out there who are paid to bitch. They just don't have Birch Steen's comments at the front of your paper to ignore or never take seriously. The Stranger is getting less funny every day. Shoshana, you go girl.

Posted by I'm not paid to bitch, Hooray! | April 11, 2007 6:44 PM
19

#14 agreed about how we hate insulting
music. But I think we need to tow the line between whats acceptable because thats a whole lot of PC policing to clean up everyones act. From the high reaches of entertainment(big money0 to the classroom and the streets. I cringe at any cuss words and I have always categorized sexists and racist comments as such---plain old cuss words. If we had distinguished them as such e

Posted by summertime | April 11, 2007 7:03 PM
20

So if we can't refer to someone as a Jew, does it not follow that it would be wrong to refer to someone as a Catholic or a Muslim?

Posted by elswinger | April 12, 2007 9:19 AM
21

You do realize that it's possible to be both Black and female, right? That 'nigger' is genderless and, while you may associate it with Black men, it does get thrown at Black women, too?

Posted by Black AND Girl | April 12, 2007 10:57 AM
22

Because being black isn't a crime, but being a stupid bitch is.

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23

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24

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