April 11, 2010

Where's the gender equity?

There's a common expression, "dick move." Is there no female equivalent? Or are we just not willing to openly talk about it — and if not, why not? It exists, and is — presumably — different, perhaps subtly different.

Discuss!

74 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Don't be such a cunt is about the same thing.

I have also found it interesting how women are much more likely to cock block than guys are.

Unknown said...

isnt calling someone a bitch (in certain uses) very similar ...

...like Tina Fey describing Boehner last night on SNL.

Meade said...

It's after 10:00 on a Sunday evening.

Sweetheart, I think that's just about enough blogging for one day.

Meade said...

Come on now... tomorrow's another day. Let's say nighty night to the blog for today.

TMink said...

There is a difference. A dick move is something someone does. Being a cunt is something someone IS. That is much more derogatory in my mind.

Trey

Ann Althouse said...

I wonder where I got the idea for this post?

Meade said...

Say goodnight, Gracie.

Lyle said...

Cunt and pussy just aren't as kosher to say as dick (see dickhead) or cock (see as mentioned above cock block).

I so would like cunt and pussy to be more kosher. Lets make it happen people.

I usually say coochie around the ladies, myself.

EnigmatiCore said...

That was bitchy comes to mind.

Anonymous said...

I think you can be a cunt temporarily when you are in bad humor. I don't think it's a lifetime branding of any kind.

Anonymous said...

Lyle -- Have you tried hair pie?

Ann Althouse said...

Well, a cunt move is clearly different from a pussy move! It's the former that I'm talking about.

Unknown said...

you're right though, bitch and 'dick move' are sublely different. the later has more the connotation of being cowardly. calling someone a bitch (usually, person x is 'acting like a little bitch') can can also mean cowardly, but typically has the connotations of being whiny. A 'dick move' has the connotation of someone being a jerk ... sort of redirecting that cowardliness by expressing it in a slightly different way meant to absolve those cowardly feelings ...

Penny said...

"Where's the gender equity?"

Between my ears.

Unless it's between my legs. ;)

Moose said...

Never EVER heard that term before, and I work with 90% men. I would just call them pricks. Its a clearer term. I like the fact that apparently calling women cunts is worse than calling men pricks.

Why?

Anonymous said...

Pussy has more of a feminine quality. For example, you would ask someone who is being cowardly or lazy: What? Does your pussy hurt?

Cunt is just a brazen term of awfulness.

Unknown said...

woah, do you realize who you're talking to Meade ?

watch yourself !

Anonymous said...

Scratch what I just said. I chose a terrible adjective. Pussy has more of an unmanly quality, where manly means brave and having a strong work ethic.

Lucky for you people I don't delete my egregious mistakes, like that one.

Lyle said...

Machos,

I have used "Bush" comfortably in front of women before.

Anonymous said...

I don't think they have bushes any more. Not on the websites I peruse.

Unknown said...

i wonder what Meade did to get Althouse to start this post.

Did you hide her iPad ?

Anonymous said...

I think Sunday night after 10p may be special at the Chez.

exhelodrvr1 said...

"I so would like cunt and pussy to be more kosher."

Doesn't that depend on them being properly handled?

Anonymous said...

There's always "bearded clam," which is a more acceptable ... oh wait, it is tragically obsolete today :(

Peter

William said...

To pull an Oprah--the queen bee move. It's when you occupy such space and mass that all within your vecinity become satellites. A dick move is purposeful motion; a queen bee move is the serene repose of an immovable weight. Such mass subordinates all purposeful motion to orbits about its sphere. Some think that Kitty Kelley's book has met the event horizon of Oprah's black hole. Not true. I bet Kitty is in Oprah's orbit and the revelations in her book will be about how cruddy her ex lovers and bosses were, and how noble and long suffering Oprah is. In the presence of the queen bee, the body chemistry changes and all become drones.

themightypuck said...

Dick move is male because men tend to be dickish. Women can be cunts though. A specific one can also be "the Pele of anal." Which I just saw on hulu and was funny to me.

q12345q6789 said...

May I suggest, "Cunty". As in: "that's a cunty move." But 'cunty' sounds like (and in practice may be like) 'catty'. Which isn't the same a 'dick-y'. Why? Because women don't have dicks; by which i mean Althouse is onto something when she intimates that the impulse of the behavior and its results may be similar, but the action would be different and more gender specific. Also, "bitch" clearly has two separate meanings when applied to the genders. "Bitch" towards a woman can be close to "Dick"; but "Bitch" towards a man is closer to "Pussy" (i.e. "unmanly"). But "Bitch" as a word is beginning to be so overused as to have no meaning at all or lots of meanings at once (like "F*ck" before it). P.S. We are witnessing (socioblogically) the Althouse-Meade mating rituals

WS: lumalik: "That was a lumalik move, dick-bitch."

traditionalguy said...

Women all go into the restroom together and sort out dominance, who is the designated enforcer and get vows of allegiance and silence...all in 7 minutes. A man or woman who has just dicked moved them or their friend had better lay low until suitable apologies and gifts have been made. But that is in a social group...do we use those anymore?

Unknown said...

I don't think women generally speak in those terms. I know, chicks are supposed to be as foul-mouthed as guys, Gloria Steinbrenner said so, and Eve Ensler would just die if women didn't use a vulgarism for their privates, but I never recall ever hearing anything of the sort in my travels.

Of course, guys' equipment is a little more in evidence and we tend to anthropomorphize it.

Meade said...

It's after 10:00 on a Sunday evening.

Sweetheart, I think that's just about enough blogging for one day.

Come on now... tomorrow's another day. Let's say nighty night to the blog for today.


Ann Althouse said...

I wonder where I got the idea for this post?

Meade said...

Say goodnight, Gracie.

Are you guys having a fight or, uh, does somebody want something else?

WV "dadeep" Where The Zero's real birth cert probably rests.

q12345q6789 said...

OH YEAH! (Kool-Aid Man style), If you haven't seen the infamous "Team America: World Police" take on this linguistic topic and it's real-world implications; do yourself a favor and check it out ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqHfYcJ52NQ ) **WARNING SPOILERS** this scene comes at the end of the film.

Adam said...

I think AA and Meade shouldn't argue in front of the komment kids. As Dan Rowan used to plea, "Say goodnight, Dick."

Drew W said...

A "dick move" is an obnoxious action by a man. A "pussy move" is a wimpy action by a man. It's a lose-lose situation for guys!

And while we're at it, I think women using the word "bitch" is no more amusing or edgy than a black person using the word "nigger."

And finally, this thread reminds me of that Rodriguez comic strip that ran in the National Lampoon back in the '70s, which featured civil rights attorney William Pricksler . . .

Ann Althouse said...

We're not having a fight. Don't worry.

Kakashi said...

Prolly would involve the c-word.

Scott said...

My boyfriend's hip-hop argot is pretty raunchy, but I have never heard him say "dick move". I think it must be a white thing.

If you download his mix tape from his web site, though, there is a song with the hook "get off my dick".

reader_iam said...

...It exists...

That'd be both the nut and the clue-bat for this post.

Adam said...

We're not having a fight. Don't worry.

That's a relief. You and the Instacouple are the fun twosomes of the internet.

Scott said...

Here's a link to the streaming audio for "My Dick" by Bone Intell featuring Pegg Starr.

Anonymous said...

But you were both gone for awhile.

traditionalguy said...

Now if the NYT folks assigned to read this Blog for creative ideas start to do articles on the gender equity of "Dick Moves" by women, then we will see that The Professor has hooked them like Limbaugh does. The world has learned of Tea Bagging and Dick Moves vocabulary so that it can better regulate everday conduct that no one had even heard of 10 years ago.

Palladian said...

I've never heard "dick move".

Dick meeting on the other hand...

Anonymous said...

Urban Dictionary nails it:

An action by one male to another male friend which violates understood social expectations, especially where the transgressor obtains a slight advantage in comparison with a relatively large inconvenience imposed upon the aggrieved party.
It was a dick move when Tom encouraged several dancers at the strip club to order drinks, then left his friend Bill to pick up the tab.

Tom and Bill were both interested in the same girl at the bar; when Tom falsely insinuated to the girl that Bill had erectile dysfunction, that was a dick move.

Adventurer said...

My fiancee and I both like the c word better than b. A man calling a woman "bitch" sounds less than manly. Women are the experts who know bitchery, a female black art, and so they are the ones who should call it out.

I didn't say black female art, for the record.

Cunt is clean, clear and comforting, at least in my experience.

Joke: how many putzes does it take to make one johnson?

JAL said...

Women don't have "dick moves."

They are off in the corner doing the vagina monologue.

wv lated
Right. Professor -- it's lated. Meade says so.

traditionalguy said...

Query: Will a dominant lesbian with an artificial dick be given credit for a dick move by another such dominant lesbian? This could further confuse Gender Equity as a concept since it has to be assessed among 7 different genders. God stopped creation at male and female, but He is notoriously limited in his concept of what having a good time means.

Synova said...

I'd never heard "dick move" either. Lots of "dick" remarks, but not as a distinct phrase.

I would think that being a "dick" is sort of like being a "pussy."

So... equality.

But as a reference to dick-ish behavior I think it would be "bitch" if one were talking about a girl.

Anonymous said...

Is it more of an insult to call a man a loser or a coward? I'd say coward, but it's a close call.

Peter

Anonymous said...

Definitely a coward. Losing happens to the best of us. Cowardice is a choice you didn't even want to make in the face of fear.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

At this stage of the game, if there is any gender equity still missing, it might be because it's overrated.

Like the federal income tax and PC speech, gender equity (in higher and higher dosage) can only promote the toxic side effects.

For example..

"Parents don’t send their kids to Yale to sleep with their professors. Why don’t we say that?"

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Sorry for using a tired medical metaphor but I'm trying to put down gender equity.. or something.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I think is a good thing that women can dress in all these various different forms shown on the September issue, while men should be a little more formal (ie the shorts)

Maybe I'm off on a tangent, but the idea that there is no female equivalent for something of a bad/negative nature is a good thing.

Revenant said...

Pussying out.

When your buds are relying on you and you puss out, that's a real dick move.

Unknown said...

Australians actually do talk about 'cunt acts' in much the same way. So there you go, we are more progressive than you after all :)

rhhardin said...

Dick comes from German for thick, as in dickhead, and so is not actually gender specific.

The mistake gives it its taboo feeling though, which feeling is why it's socially handy.

Michael Haz said...

A person in my household who is not me has been heard to say to her female friends (and to select male friends, as well) "don't be such a twat."

Opus One Media said...

as opposed to "bitch slap"?

honestly ann, unless Meade proposed this topic.....please stop mail stuff in....you are too valuable a site and a blog to do this.

Mej said...

"Dick" in the phrase "dick move" has nothing to do with penises or being a penis, ala the Patton Oswalt routine where you can say on TV someone is being a dick, but if you say they have a huge d*ck, you get beeped.

"Dick move" means doing something dickish, ala an asshole move. Chicks can be dicks just like dudes can. There's no gender equivalent necessary.

Parker Smith said...

Personally, I blame Bush.

Specifically, yours.

Jennifer said...

I've heard both "dick move" and "bitch move", though I think you're right that each connote different types of assholery.

When I think of dick move, I think of something outright assholish. Like, that fucker threw my clothes on the sidewalk, what a dick move.

When I think of bitch move, I think of something more underhanded or vindictive. Like, she acted like she came up with my idea, total bitch move. Or something cowardly. Like, he was hiding in the bathroom when Chuck Norris came looking for him, what a bitch move.

But, maybe that's my own gender biases surfacing. Maybe they're roughly equivalent.

GMay said...

Mej,

Gotta disagree there. Calling a woman a dick just isn't effective, consequently I don't think that's why I've ever heard it.

I've heard "bitch move" before, but similar to its root, it can also be directed toward a man, though gender still determines meaning.

David said...

I've seen lots of women make dick moves. It just has a little different meaning.

Shawn Levasseur said...

I think I've got it:

Douchhey thing to do = dick move

LordSomber said...

I've always thought "catty" was the catchall term for women's "dick moves."

Trooper York said...

A dick move is when you do what a dick would do.

Just research any of the postings of hdhouse.

Trooper York said...

Obviously you came up with this post after Emily hit on Meade.

Chip Ahoy said...

Last night a man told a story of a camping trip. At breakfast the spatula broke. The men fussed and fiddled finally a woman reached into the hot pan and flipped the eggs onto the plates. A male camper yelped, "That was ballsy!" But it was a woman who did it. The man telling the story asks, "Wouldn't that make those eggs ovariesy?"

Daniel Jackson said...

Naw. NO difference between men and women--except the latter have to move in closer to use it.

Methadras said...

Yeah, there is a female equivalent. It's call being Cunty.

AlphaLiberal said...

Good question. How did "dick" get to be such a bad word? Was it Nixon?

Which begs other questions like why "get fucked" is considered a bad thing to say to someone.

I've never been a fan of making words suck as "C*cks*cker" negative. Just not in my self-interest!

Thank you for this intellectual stimulation.
-------------------

Oh, and a pun I missed on the whole lesbian bondage Republican club fiasco:

"Wait, I thought the Republicans wanted to be the party of fiscal restraint!

Ha!

AlphaLiberal said...

Heh. Typo.

"I've never been a fan of making words suck as "C*cks*cker" negative."

Should be:
"I've never been a fan of making words such as "C*cks*cker" negative."

hmmm...

Methadras said...

AlphaLiberal said...

Heh. Typo.

"I've never been a fan of making words suck as "C*cks*cker" negative."

Should be:
"I've never been a fan of making words such as "C*cks*cker" negative."

hmmm...


In either case, it's appropriate for you. Your ideology sucks cock, ergo...

ken in tx said...

I never heard the term ‘dick move’ used before I saw it in a comment to a previous post here. That’s probably what stimulated the post. If the term means someone who competes unfairly for some sort of sexual advantage, a female version would be an aggressive slut who drops the guy after she has taken him away from you—leaving him smitten and you betrayed--just because she could.

Big Mike said...

I don't know why there's not a corresponding term for women, because according to my wife women do "dick moves" to each other all the time.

Perhaps there's no word for it because it's so ubiquitous?

Drew W said...

Chip Ahoy:

In college, we had a friend whose constant rejoinder was "Stop bustin' my balls!"

Whenever one friend of mine heard him say that, her reply would be "Stop bustin' my oves!"