The term "womanizer" has been used in two different conversations I've been involved in this past week, which made me start wondering, what's the female equivalent to a womanizer? I feel like I should know this...
There is no correlate, because being a womanizer requires being a part of the dominant class - thus the whole using them and disposing of them thing - and women are part of the subordinate sex class. You have to have some position of power in order to objectify and use another person that way.
Then she's just swapped out roles and taken the male position. She's the man and her lovers are the women. But nothing significant has actually changed about the roles themselves.
Maybe "femme fatale"
ReplyDeleteI thought about that, but I always thought "femme fatale" has some kind of connotations of luring the man into danger or intrigue or whatever.
ReplyDeleteBut slut is missing that whole "using them and disposing of them" thing that's kind of central to "womanizer."
ReplyDeleteMaybe that's an advantage of the updated term "player" because it can be gender neutral.
ReplyDeleteAh, that's interesting.
ReplyDeleteWhich is also an advantage of the term "man-ho"
ReplyDeleteThere is no correlate, because being a womanizer requires being a part of the dominant class - thus the whole using them and disposing of them thing - and women are part of the subordinate sex class. You have to have some position of power in order to objectify and use another person that way.
ReplyDeleteWhat if it's a fairly powerful woman who uses men though? And what if she's sexually dominant and tends to hook up with men who aren't?
ReplyDeleteThen she's just swapped out roles and taken the male position. She's the man and her lovers are the women. But nothing significant has actually changed about the roles themselves.
ReplyDeleteBeing involved with a woman who's sexually autonomous is dangerous in itself. That's where the danger and intrigue comes from.
ReplyDeleteAnd a gay man or a lesbian woman can be a player; its flexible that way too.
ReplyDeleteSo then being a female "player" is a subversive thing? I'm in!
ReplyDeleteits a cougar if she is older.
ReplyDeleteAnd ans Beyonce doth say, Diva is the female version of a hustler.
Also, trick is an interesting word. Sometimes it refers to a woman who strings along men sexually. It also refers to the man being strung along.
Ooh, I haven't heard "trick" used that way.
ReplyDelete