r/PoursTea • u/Timbucktwo1230 🫖 Mod ☕️ • 2d ago
FeministTea👩🏻🎓👩🏿⚖️👠🥾 The Weaponisation Of A Word
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u/MusicalIlliterate 2d ago
Uh... bullshit?
The etymology of 'whore' in English is... hore.
It basically has not changed from Old English.
It doesn't 'trace back' to any word meaning "dear, loved".
From one source: "Its Proto-Indo-European forbear is *ka, which carried a sense of desire, the same root that gives us caress, charity, cherish, and Kamasutra." https://www.wordorigins.org/big-list-entries/whore
When we talk about the "Proto-Indo-European root" of a word this isn't like the meaning of a word in a single language changing. We are talking about the speculative origin of some words in multiple, multiple languages in a lexicon of dead language that been reconstructed.
From Wikipedia: "Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family"
So "whore" didn't used to mean any of those other words also derived from *ka. Part of its meaning MIGHT come from the same root part of PIE as those other words: the concept of desire or lust.
Here: https://www.etymonline.com/word/*ka-
Insane bullshit on the internet these days.
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u/Fluid-Impress9920 1d ago
Sure, its weaponised, but...
This is low effort bullshit. Disinformation in its purest form. The word whore has roots in ancient greek and roman culture, where it was low status already
We should treat humans with respect, and we should not need false narrative to do so. This just undermines the struggle
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u/Apprehensive_Tax195 1d ago
We should treat humans with common courtesy first… respect is something that has to be earned
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u/NugsFolly 2d ago
Dead Islands Purna has an ability called "Gender Wars" that is not the name the devs had for it in the files. It was called FeministWhorePurna.
Really narks me off that stuff like this in gaming exists. It's never been a boy's club but it always caters to the Cis Het Men and shitty attitudes towards people that aren't Cis Het Men 😑
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u/No_Tell5399 2d ago
I'm pretty sure that's a reference to Russian feminists who wrote things like "feminist whore" on their bodies during rallies. They were very popular back when Dead Island came out, but they were quickly and pretty brutally suppressed by the government unfortunately.
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u/IHerebyDemandtoPost 2d ago
Cherish comes from Old French (Latin) and whore comes from Old English (Germanic).
You have to go back to PIE to find a shared root word for the two. But presenting that connection as a meaningful point in a discussion about the relationship of langauge and women is quite a stretch.
There are lots of modern words that were derived from PIE that bear little resemblence to their original PIE meanings.
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u/peter_venture 2d ago
And yet at the same time it's okay to call men anything and everything and no one loses any sleep over it. Sticks and stones and all that.
Words have power over you only if you let them.
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u/Excellent_Month_2025 1d ago
There is not even a male equivalent for the word "whore" - but there should be, because men are much more sexually promiscuous than women are.
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u/thebuscompany 1d ago
"Dick", "douchebag", to a lesser extent "asshole". There are many slurs that are predominately directed at men.
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u/Lopsided-Ticket-4062 1d ago
It's whore. Men use it for other men too.
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u/potentatewags 11h ago
It shifted to manwhore for a little while. But there's also lecher. The official definition still cites it as specifically a man.
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u/This_Background7442 1d ago
I think it's a little hypocritical to want to deconstruct a slur and also repurpose it on another group of people at the same time. Like which is it can I be a sexual person without losing my humanity or can I not?
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u/athaluain 17h ago
People are forgetting that men have invented loads of derogatory names for women and their sex organs.
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u/Gold_Wrongdoer_5178 2d ago
Does someone want to tell OP that women themselves were involved in this 'linguistic shift' and used the words derogatorily?
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u/Leslawangelo 2d ago
You can see it with the word “incel.” They openly admit that the meaning of words changes over time, and they consider it perfectly normal and natural.
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u/A1000eisn1 1d ago
I'm not sure what argument y'all are trying to make but a woman calling another woman "whore," is still misogyny. Being a part of the group you're biased against doesn't mean you aren't biased.
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u/Eillon94 1d ago
You guys are so twisted up...
Women slut shamed other women in civilized societies because, as a general rule, it was a good evolutionary strategy for them to make a man earn it by showing commitment to them first. Promiscuous women threatened that strategy by allowing men to get sex without commitment.
And then women feel that they have to put out or else no one will take interest in them. This creates weak and virtueless men, and then society denigrates until something radical and horrible happens.
Its a race to the bottom, baby!
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u/shallpasss 1d ago
It is not actually. It is social order because people don't accept this specific behaviour.
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u/Gold_Wrongdoer_5178 1d ago
No, it's not. Misogyny is the hatred of women, for no reason other than they are women.
"whore" is weapon often used to insult or attempt to shame a person (It's used for men too, just not as prevalent.)
"All women are whores" would be closer to misogyny but still borderline.
My point, which you missed, was that men didn't weaponise this language against women. Women were just as culpable.
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u/polarjunkie 2d ago edited 2d ago
The semantic derogation of women by turning neutral terms into insults originated from contemporary women who rejected traditional roles deriding contemporary women who practiced them.
Hussey didn't go from wife running the household to sexually immoral woman in one step.
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u/Mor_Padraig 2d ago
I have never, and genuinely never, encountered an instance where say, Anita Bryant was called ' whore '.
Lots of other things, Accurate things. You know. Bible thumper, tight-ass. Pie face.
So don't talk crap.
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u/A1000eisn1 1d ago
Whore hasn't been neutral since before modern times. You can find plenty of centuries old writings using it as an insult.
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u/polarjunkie 1d ago
Whore was never a neutral word. It was always negative before it was applied to women. It's proto Germanic roots 2500 years were the last time it was neutral ish but it still had negative connotations.
The word hussey is a much better example of a neutral or even positive word becoming a pejorative.
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u/AgeZealousideal1751 2d ago
Funny how the most I ever hear female-derogatory insults is from other women, no alcohol or anger required, just casually calling other women derogatory terms because they exist. (They said, wore, did, etc.. which is why they are a ___)
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u/Tracerround702 2d ago
Funny, because as a woman, the times I've heard it most were right after rejecting a man who was coming onto me
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u/A1000eisn1 1d ago
I hear it a lot at work. Sorry I'm not going to let some lazy 22 year old make me do his work, I'll tell him to do his job and let him call me names if that makes him actually do something.
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u/WtfisThis1122 2d ago
"me smart, my life equals all women experience the same thing" fyi DV on women is done mainly by women
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u/ProudPlate9375 1d ago
What is this dogshit sub and why does it keep showing up in my feed?
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u/Zarkarin- 1d ago
If you dislike it why are you complaining instead of muting it? Commenting just makes it appear in your feed more.
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u/SLAMMERisONLINE 15h ago
What is this dogshit sub and why does it keep showing up in my feed?
It's run by Alex Jones style nutballs who think a grand conspiracy called the "patriarchy" secretly rules the world for the explicit purpose to control women.
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u/narco-sub-admiral 2d ago
Israel, the US and Germany? I wonder why those were the countries they studied, seems kinda arbitrary.
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u/Mintyytea 2d ago
Wow this is so good. I like it when knowledgeable people speak about these things for us general public
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u/A1000eisn1 1d ago
This is completely made up bs. You might need to add an /s if you're being sarcastic.
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u/Future-Still-6463 1d ago
So are we cherry picking Freud's theories then?
Also I'll wait for the time a feminist talks about the use of the word pick me to police women.
Cuz that's something that women do to each other but is rarely addressed.
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u/A1000eisn1 1d ago
Pick me isn't gendered.
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u/Future-Still-6463 1d ago
When are men called that?
Simps is the male equivalent. Pick me isn't.
Pick me is exclusively used by women to police other women.
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u/Lopsided-Ticket-4062 1d ago
Can confirm as a non toxic feminist. I get called every single slur for men every day. When i say im a woman, I'm a pick me.
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u/Future-Still-6463 1d ago
I'm glad people like you exist.
Seriously. You give me hope unlike the other person arguing with me needlessly.
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1d ago
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u/Future-Still-6463 1d ago edited 1d ago
Lol sure. You don't know me buddy.
I was just calling out the obvious misogny behind the word " pick me".
Adults can make their own choices, people should stop policing them.
You're really mad people are calling out misogny behind words.
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u/Future-Still-6463 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah most of Freud's theories are debunked.
Why not actually look it up. Instead of yapping here.
Did someone spit in your morning coffee?
You seem real mad at my other comments calling out misogny.
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u/BananasPineapple05 2d ago
I'll go one further.
I can't believe that we are this far into the 21st century and women still find themselves labeled as either a whore or a madonna. It is bullshit. We should be over these reductive categories by now.
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u/_henceforth_ 2d ago
Yes!
For those who are not aware of the Madonna-Whore Complex:
The Madonna-Whore Complex is when someone sees women as either pure and good or sexual and bad, instead of whole people with both sides.
This is a harmful belief that affects both men and women's mental health.
Men who follow this complex may struggle with healthy relationships and mental health issues.
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u/FeelGoodNotBad 2d ago
We should be, but thanks to the red pill manodorks, we still have a long ways to go.
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u/Future-Still-6463 1d ago
Women police other women too.
Pick me is the common term used to police women these days.
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u/Most_Attitude_9153 1d ago
Perhaps hold off on the insults if you want the same treatment.
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u/FeelGoodNotBad 1d ago
Ooo, a little sensitive aren’t we? A bit thinned skinned?
That’s not very manly. 😏
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u/Mintyytea 2d ago
To me it’s one health check of how far we come towards equality. I’ve realized some negative words to describe gay people now sound very old, like if someone called a gay person the f word I would look at them like theyre a dinosaur. It’s in the category of “Jesus Christ!” to me. And now the new target of conservatives are trans people. But yeah I notice for women though, with time only new words for women have come up like thot, c word, karen, foid. Only when society as a whole respects women will these nicknames lose their kick
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u/CoolCereal20 1d ago
Bonnie Blue probably hears worse than „whore“ everyday. I wouldnt be surprised if she got death or rape threats pretty regularly. If that doesnt stop her, you could come to the conclusion that calling her a whore doesnt stop her behaviour either and all youre doing is degrading yourself by insulting a stranger who doesnt care lmao
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u/Prestigious_Set_4575 1d ago edited 1d ago
Who said anything about "stopping" her?
I said if there is no stigma attached to it, there will be a lot more Bonnie Blues in the world, but ironically the Bonnie Blue would probably quit the "industry" entirely because she's no longer "special" now that everybody is disgusting. She does what she does because there is stigma and taboo, not in spite of it. She has a personality disorder, most likely histrionic personality disorder.
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u/CoolCereal20 1d ago
You think women aspire to be Bonnie Blue and those stigmas are holding them back…?
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u/SailorRemnant 1d ago
The idea that we have to abuse women by calling them whores in order to prevent them all from engaging in prostitution with 1000 men is a ridiculous fear mongering cop-out. Remove slut-shaming and most people would still avoid that extreme choice due to common sense and the risks involved. It's disingenuous to pretend that a woman or girl even has to have sex like Bonnie Blue to be called a whore in the first place.
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u/Prestigious_Set_4575 1d ago edited 1d ago
Good job that wasn't my idea then, that was just a reductive strawman.
Remove "slut-shaming" entirely, as in make the entire world magically non-judgemental towards any kind of promiscuity, and millions more people would be working that job, although ironically a histrionic personality disorder case like Bonnie Blue would probably lose interest because it would dilute the attention she gets as an extremist.
The main barrier to entry for sex work is shame. Proving shame is a very necessary and valuable feeling people can learn from. It evolved for a reason.
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u/Future-Still-6463 1d ago
Nah Bonnie Blue is actually a good stress test for feminism as a whole.
People wanna label her as a victim. Louise Perry a feminist herself was perplexed by Bonnie's behaviour.
She's someone who both feminists hate and so do conservatives.
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u/Lopsided-Ticket-4062 1d ago
I've no doubt she was a victim. No one exhibits that level of oversexual behaviour without some sexual trauma in the past. That's safeguarding right there. But, as a consenting adult having sex with many men doesn't make anyone a victim.
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u/Akkilles78 2d ago
It’s interesting that dudes go for that insult when they’re angry at women, but here’s the thing…
Men would absolutely hate to live in a world where women never wanted to have sex.
So why they always go for that insult is beyond me. Promiscuous women are some of the best people to hang out with, they’re honestly less judgy and won’t make you feel like a loser.
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u/narco-sub-admiral 2d ago
Right, either a woman is a whore or a prude I guess. They have to exist within acceptable boundaries between the two to be humanized. Gross.
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u/Akkilles78 2d ago
My acceptable boundary for them is to exist and try to be decent people. I can get along with any decent person.
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u/narco-sub-admiral 2d ago
100%. The concept of decency has been under assault for like a decade lol. We have to speak up for decent people and look out for each other.
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u/A1000eisn1 1d ago
Y'all do know this is made up right?
You can easily Google the etymology of the word whore.
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u/Johndevlad 1d ago
This isn’t something people do to weaponize words against women, this is literally just how language changes and evolves over time… we have countless words that have certain original meanings, but mean something entirely different today. For example, “nice” used to mean foolish, ignorant, or silly, but now it means pleasant, kind, or agreeable; “awful” used to mean worthy of awe, or full of fear and dread, now it means extremely bad, unpleasant, or terrible; “bully” used to mean a darling, sweetheart, or good friend, now it means someone who intimidates or mistreats others; a common one most people know is the word “gay” which used to mean joyful, carefree, bright, or showy, now it’s used to refer to homosexual men.
Words are always changing meanings, it’s not “men bad, men change meaning of word to hurt women,” it’s just a natural change of meaning behind these words.
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u/SpiritualCombatant 1d ago
Why does everyone want an N word... Do black people make oppression look so cool that everyone wants to claim their oppressed.. The fact that any white woman in America would call herself oppressed is just delusional..
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u/Miserable-Ear-4095 19h ago
The oldest you can trace it back to is adulterer or one who loves, so basically it doesn't mean cherish or love but rather the one who cherishes someone who isn't their spouse.
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u/potentatewags 11h ago
Don't let actual history get in their way. They always take just enough and then retcon it to be something else. Like women not being able to have hank accounts or jobs.
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u/GuillimanCrow 1d ago
This is exausting, words only control you in so far as you let them get to you. and dont say this word is meant to control certain people, youre the one injecting that notion into it, just let it be, having this attitude is a bad look for women. Just wear skimpy clothes to the gym, who cares an edgy comedian made a provocative joke, learn to laugh at yourself sometimes, you know, exactly how Shane laughed at himself in that same joke, when he said he was the creep in the tik tok videos.
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u/kodeks14 1d ago
This happens with all language. Woke used to have a positive connotation, now its the opposite.
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u/Ok-Importance-2282 1d ago
“Cracker” is one of the oldest weapons aimed at white people. It was built to control them, and it still does.
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u/FutureStation1418 1d ago
Anecdotally I must say I mostly hear women use the word against each other as an insult.
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u/RSlashWhateverMan 1d ago
I've only ever heard the word 'whore" spoken by women. Guys say "slut" or "for the streets." Also none of those are slurs. Unless you're a woman living in an extremist Islamic culture you're not oppressed. Stop playing the perpetual victim & blaming your misfortune on everyone else. Build a personality and a skill. Stop whining and prove yourself as equals to men!
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u/Cheesey23 1d ago
I really don't give a fuck if the word whore is upsetting, there are literally women out there right now calling to abort all male fetuses. How about giving the ladies a lecture for once?
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u/Skepticulation 1d ago
Don’t you think you’re getting a little emotional about all of this?
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u/Nashley7 2d ago
In most normal guy circles men are not calling women whores. That only happens within groups of toxic males, like the red pilled or incel circles. In most normal guy circles calling women whores will get you dirty looks. In my friend group, a guy would check you real quick. We wouldn't even wait for any of the girls to do it, we would take care of that, immediately.
But if we are talking about weaponising words, in most normal girl circles calling a guy trash gets you voracious applause. Not even looked down upon. Strongly encouraged, other women are more likely to demand more. My aunt is raising a little Clancy feminist. She says it to her little brother all the time. He just has the weird confused look, wondering why his big sister who he idolises is calling him trash. And does the mom say hey dont say that to your brother? No she laughs. She fucking laughs.
Fuck that. I pull him to the side and tell him you are not trash, she's just being mean. If you were trash she wouldnt ask you to play with her all the time, would she? Because why do women who say this shit love hanging around boys? It makes no sense. What? You like being around trash?
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u/saintsithney 2d ago
It is so weird how men are using the most prominent female family annihilator, even with her being severely mentally ill, to discredit all women, when just during her trial for killing her three children, five men annihilated their families, killing 19 children.
Do you know the name of even one of these men who killed his wife, his children, usually a parent, maybe some cousins, and then himself?
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u/Lopsided-Ticket-4062 1d ago
I've raised this trend from mothers and I get slapped down and called every skur going because they do not want to aknowledge how evil they are now.
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u/YonderWindow364 2d ago
thank you for trying to help your cousin not lose all his self esteem, it's disgusting your aunt is that way and is raising her daughter that way. Feminism is meant to aim for actual equality not trying to oppress men and boys back.
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u/DramaticMoment6743 2d ago
Thanks for the post. Never knew what the history behind it. Either way I'm going to keep using it to refer to women who act as whores.
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u/MusicalIlliterate 2d ago
That history is made up.
Whore comes from Old English and always meant prostitute. The only lingual shift has been from literal prostitute to just promiscuous. It derives from hore in Proto-Germanic, where it also meant prostitute.
The "shared root" with other words like "cherish" (derived from a proto-Franc word) is the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) cognate word *ka, being an expression of desire.
The fun thing about that is PIE is the theoretical reconstruction of the lexicon of a dead language. It's all speculation.
OP is just posting clickbait bullshit that is trusting nobody as sad & autistic as me would stumble across it.
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u/ABR5796 2d ago
What a word for selling sex is bad and dehumanizing? No way guys!
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u/kmb218 16h ago
Why are there no dehumanizing words for men who buy sex? There are way more men buying sex than women selling sex, yet these men’s existence was never made into a gendered slur.
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u/Excellent_Month_2025 1d ago
They really are - many of them are so porn brained that they think about sex 24/7.
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u/SuburbanMilf 2d ago
Honestly, if you left everyone alone, kept your eyes to yourself, and wiped down the equipment after use most people would leave you alone. The difference is you would be wearing that to engage with others, and that’s what would make them uncomfortable. Does that help?
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u/RedRider1138 2d ago
Probably not. They might go 🧐.
And none of them would call you a whore.
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u/IntrinSicks 2d ago
And dont words change meaning a lot, the entemology doesn't give all these answers that are speculation, this is expecting a truth and finding evidence to verify its claim
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u/cougarsbite 2d ago
I'm waiting still waiting for someone to call me a "whore"....and it actually be true! Hoping for that.😆