List of sexual slurs Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
The following is a list of
sexual slurs that are, or have been, used to refer to members of a given sexual
minority,
gender,
sex, or
sexual orientation in a derogatory or pejorative manner. Each term is listed, followed by its definition, usage, and origin. Not all terms on the list are considered equally offensive.
Many of these terms are used more widely than would be imagined based on their "definition"; for example, gay may be used as a term of disparagement to refer to any person or thing the speaker thinks is stupid. The key here is that the person using the slur intends to harm the person so labeled by associating them with a sexual minority. The motivation for using a sexual slur is often sexism and/or anti-gay bias (see homophobia).
As seen above with the term gay, words which at one point had predominantly positive connotations and came from the minority groups themselves are often eventually used against them as slurs. It is also not uncommon for members of minority groups to appropriate an originally disparaging term and use it for themselves, as an act of self-assertion. However, they may be extremely offended if it is used by members of the majority group. The word nigger is an example. Queer, on the other hand, has been re-claimed by many members of sexual minorities and is the term by which these individuals would prefer to be called, as long as it is in a respectful manner.
Some of the slurs used against women are also used aganist men, but with the addition of the qualifier male. So slut becomes male slut, and whore becomes male whore. These uses are problematic because they imply that being a woman is a normal characteristic of a slut or a whore, and thus when a man is a slut or whore it must be specified. Similarly, by common usage being a man is the implicit state of a prick and a female prick requires the specifier. See the article Non-sexist language for a discussion of related issues.
Many of the terms which people propose as gender equivalents — sets of different terms to describe the same trait in males and females — are actually asymmetrically biased in favor of males. For example, bastard and bitch are commonly used as in roughly equivalent ways for the two genders, but the former originally meant a child born out of wedlock while the latter is a term for a female dog.
University of New England researcher David Plummer argues that the following anti-gay terms that often connotate effeminate behaviour are also used when young boys betray "peer group solidarity" or fail to, "measure up to 'hegemonic' boys' standards rather than necessarily being 'feminine'." Thus, he argues, "homophobia has its early roots in boyhood 'otherness'—specifically in being different from the collectively authorized expectations of male peers." [1] (PDF file)
See also: List of ethnic slurs
See also: List of pejorative political slogans
A to C | D to G | H to K | L to Q | R to Z
A to C
- African queen - black gay male, U.K.
- anal astronaut - gay male, refers to anal sex
- ass bandit - gay male, refers to anal sex
- ass goblin (gobblin') - gay male
- ass monkey - gay male, refers to anal sex
- ass pirate - gay male, refers to anal sex
- ass rammer - gay male, refers to anal sex
- ass spelunker - gay male
- battle axe - a very masculine, domineering woman.
- batty boy - gay male, mainly british usage
- bent - opposite of straight, gay, mainly british usage
- bastard - person born out of wedlock or "illegitimately"; jerk, or the male equivalent of bitch despite its common use to describe women
- bender - gay male
- bitch - female dog; overly aggressive and spiteful female; woman who does not conform to society's behavioral, sexual, and clothing norms; a person (usually male) who receives anal sex (originated as prison slang); a man who is dominated in a relationship by another
- booty bandit - gay male, refers to anal sex
- breeder - straight person, usually used by gays but also by persons in favor of birth control
- broad - woman, typically an outspoken one
- bubble biter - gay male, refers to analingus
- bulldagger - lesbian, variant of bulldyke
- bulldyke - lesbian (esp. masculine), variant of dyke, possible variant of bedecked->bediked->bulldyke
- bumhole explorer - gay male, refers to anal sex, british
- bumhole surfer - gay male, refers to anal sex, british
- bummer - gay male, refers to anal sex
- bunty boy - gay male, british usage
- bush hog - lesbian, refers to cunnilingus
- butthole explorer - gay male, refers to anal sex
- butthole surfer - gay male, refers to anal sex
- butt bandit - gay male, refers to anal sex
- butt banger - gay male, refers to anal sex
- butt buddies - gay male couple, refers to anal sex
- butt fucker - gay male, refers to anal sex
- butt pirate - gay male, refers to anal sex
- butty - gay male, refers to anal sex
- cake eater - gay male, refers to analingus
- carpet muncher - lesbian, refers to oral sex
- chick with dick - a preoperative transsexual woman
- chocolate starfish invader - gay male, refers to anal sex
- cock - penis, insensitive male
- cock blocker - A third party who stops a couple from engaging in sex acts
- cock jockey - gay male
- cock sucker - gay male, refers to oral sex
- colon bomber - gay male, refers to anal sex
- cream puff - effeminate gay male
- crewcut - a masculine female, or female wearing a crewcut hairstyle
- cunt - vagina; strong term of abuse, disliked person (UK)
- cunt - vagina; female, somewhat synonymous with "bitch" (US)
D to G
- daddy's girl - a masculine female who is controlled by her father or has a good relationship with him
- dagger - lesbian, variant of dyke
- deviate - gay male or lesbian
- dick - penis, insensitive male
- dickhead - penis head, insensitive male
- doughnut puncher - gay male
- dyke - lesbian, many possible origins: may come from "dyked out" or getting dressed up; possibly from hermaphrodite->maphrodite->maphrodike or from Boudicca, a female Celtic chieftain of the Iceni tribe
- fag - gay male, short for faggot. Also a non-sexual British term for cigarrette.
- faggot - gay male; from the French fagot and Italian fa(n)gotto meaning "bundle of sticks", being derived either from the usage of the term to refer to younger boys in all male English boarding schools being forced to gather wood for the older boys fires or from the burning of heretics
- fairy - effeminate and/or gay male
- fanny - buttocks (U.S.) or vagina (U.K.), insensitive male
- femme - feminine, effeminate and/or gay male
- flamer - effeminate, flamboyant gay male
- Frenchman - gay male, origins unknown
- friend of Dorothy - gay male, origins unknown
- fruit - effeminate and/or gay male
- fudge packer - gay male, refers to anal sex; originated as prison slang
- galboy - gay male who has the "feminine" role in a relationship
- gash gobbler - lesbian, refers to cunnilingus
- gay - gay male; weak, stupid, or bad, this usage implies that gay people or being gay is weak, stupid, or generally bad; however, gay is also the preferred synonym for homosexual or other terms when used respectfully
- girl - effeminate male, as in "don't be a girl"; or a gay male who has the "feminine" role in a relationship
- goober gobbler - gay male
- gump - gay male (prison slang)
H to K
- half rice, half chips - UK: bisexual
- hetero - refers to a "straight" person; that is, a male who is attracted to females or vice versa.
- ho - abbreviation of whore: sex worker; promiscuous woman; woman who does not conform to societies behavioural, sexual, and clothing norms
- hom - gay male (short for "homo")
- homme - a masculine pr lesbian female
- homo - gay male, see homosexual
- homosexual - most often gay male, sometimes lesbian; invented in 1869. The Safe Schools Coalition of Washington's Glossary for school employees states: "Homosexual: Avoid this term; it is clinical, distancing and archaic. Sometimes appropriate in referring to behavior (although same-sex is the preferred adj.). When referring to people, as opposed to behavior, homosexual is considered derogatory and the terms gay and lesbian are preferred, at least in the Northwest."
- illegitimate - birth out of wedlock
- jammy feminist - lesbian, refers to the misogynistic perspective that all feminists are lesbians
- joto - gay male (prison slang)
L to Q
- Lavender with Rage - gay male
- leg licker - lesbian
- lemon - lesbian
- lesbo - lesbian
- lez - lesbian
- lezzer - lesbian
- librarian - lesbian
- limp wrist - gay male
- mama's boy - effeminate male who is controlled by his mother or has a good relationship with her
- man - masculine female; or lesbian female who has the "masculine" role in a lesbian relationship
- may tag - gay male (prison slang)
- moffie - Afrikaans and South African English for male homosexual. Possibly deriving from the term for a castrated sheep.
- muff diver - lesbian, refers to oral sex
- nance - variant of nancy
- nancy - effeminate and/or gay male, see mama's boy
- nancy boy - variant of nancy
- nellie - variant of nelly
- nelly - effeminate gay male
- no name - pejorative term from Latin America and the Philippines
- nonce - pedophile (British slang)
- nympho - short for nymphomaniac
- old lady - wife; a gay male (prison slang)
- on the down low - A closeted homosexual who carries on a superficially heterosexual life, often with a wife and children, but actively practices homosexuality in secret; particularly in the African-American community.
- one of them - homosexual
- pansy - an effeminate male; used as a synonym for gay
- pederast - male who has relationships with a pubescent boy; slur when used to describe same sex relationships or sexual acts that are not
- peter puffer - gay male, refers to oral sex
- pillow biter - a gay male who receives during intercourse
- pillow muncher - a gay male who receives during intercourse
- pink taco maxican - lesbian, refers to cunnilingus
- pink mafia - lesbian
- player for the other team - homosexual (not necessarily a slur)
- pole smoker - a person who performs fellatio
- poof - short for poofter
- poofta - variant of poofter
- poofter - effeminate and/or gay male (UK)
- pooter poker - gay male, refers to anal sex
- prick - penis, insensitive male
- puff - variant of poofter
- puffta - variant of poofter
- puffter - variant of poofter
- punk - In prison slang, punk refers to someone who is treated as a sexual submissive
- pussy - vagina, effeminate and/or gay male. weak male.
- pussy whipped - a person in a relationship with a woman in which the woman is dominant
- queen - effeminate or cross-dressing gay male
- queer - strange or unusual; a member of any sexual minority, gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender
- queer bait - a heterosexual person who acts in a manner to attract homosexuals.
R to Z
- Rectal Wrangler - gay male (early 21st century)
- Roland - gay male
- rug doctor - lesbian, refers to cunnilingus
- rug muncher - lesbian, refers to cunnilingus
- rump ranger - gay male, refers to anal sex
- sapphic - lesbian
- sausage jockey - gay male
- seme - dominant gay male in intercourse, refers to anal sex
- she-male - a preoperative transsexual woman, or a transgendered woman
- shirt lifter - gay male
- shit shoveler - gay male, refers to anal sex
- shit stabber - gay male, refers to anal sex
- shrew - wife given to nagging
- sissy - effeminate and/or gay male
- sissy boy - variant of sissy
- sister - gay male (prison slang)
- skank - promiscuous, most often female
- skippy poofter - gay male immigrant, uncommon insult in Australia, skippy is Australian slang for kangaroo and a slur used towards immigrants
- slut - promiscuous woman, woman who does not conform to societies behavioural, sexual, and clothing norms
- sodomite - gay male, refers to sodomy
- swisher - gay male
- t-bird - masculine female, see tomboy
- tall drink of cock sucker - attractive woman, refers to oral sex
- tallywhacker toker - gay male, refers to fellatio
- tomboy - masculine female
- tibo - masculine female, variation of tomboy used in the Philippines
- tramp - promiscuous woman, woman who does not conform to society's behavioral, sexual, and clothing norms
- tranny - a transgender or transsexual person
- tuppence licker - lesbian, refers to cunnilingus (UK)
- turd burglar - gay male, refers to anal sex
- Turk - gay male, refers to common practice of sodomy among Turkish men
- uke - a gay male who takes during intercourse
- uphill gardener - gay male, refers to anal sex
- wanker - a male who masturbates, someone obnoxious
- weak sister - effeminate male
- whore - sex worker; promiscuous woman; woman who does not conform to societies behavioural, sexual, and clothing norms
- whussy poofer - lesbian (UK)
- wimp - effeminate male
- woman - effeminate male, as in "don't be a woman"; or a gay male who has the "feminine" role in a relationship
- woman on the other bus - lesbian
- woofta - variant of woofter
- woofter - variant of poofter
- wuss - effeminate and/or gay male
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