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A View of the “Whores”
The meaning of this hurtful slur is changing…but into what?
When the topic of women in sex work comes up, I get a bit rambunctious, and not (just) in the way you probably think. It’s complicated. There are so many meanings and feelings there…and for me at least, they are mostly positive. And this is after a long portion of my life where I would think of and use this word predominantly as a pejorative. So let’s talk about “whores” for a hot minute.
We all recognize the usual negative ways the word “whore” is used in mainstream culture. It is a derogatory synonym for “prostitute”. Or it is an aggressive slur against a promiscuous woman, loaded with implicit bias; this is the word a wounded partner or a spiteful rival might choose to lash out with. Metaphorically it can also mean the debasement of oneself for gain: “what an attention whore”. It makes regular appearances in pop culture — the lyrical “ho” is ready-made for a rhyme, and THOT fits right into our memes and media feeds like butter on biscuits.
The Christian set will happily quote the Bible’s prophesied ruination for the “whore of Babylon”. The fact that the entire Book of Revelation is an exercise in prophetic symbology rather than literal meanings does not seem to get in the way of a good shaming, mind you. But even among the devoutest of holy-rollers…
