Okay, Let’s Stop the Word ‘Thot’ (Which Stands For ‘That Ho Over There’) Before It Even Gets Started Good

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Rappers 2 Chainz, The Game, and Juicy J have crafted anthems in praise of the new, awful phrase (translation: ‘that ho over there’), while Rihanna invoked it during a spat with TLC.

It’s easy to see why the word “thot,” one of the endlessly changing and inventive slang terms that’s emerged from hip-hop, has spread like wildfire: It’s fun to say, like saying “hot” with a pleasing “th” sound to give it added oomph. As an insult, which is absolutely what it is, it satisfyingly rolls off the tongue, as all invective should.

But as pleasing and innovative as the word is linguistically, it’s all too old-fashioned in its sentiments. “Thot” stands for “that ho over there,” and it’s yet another in a long line of words concocted to shame and control women by using their sexuality as a weapon against them. It’s yet another example of a conundrum that has haunted pop music for a century, in all its permutations. Pop music has so much power to be a force for liberation, but all too often it’s used to churn out the tired repressive forces that it should be freeing us from.

That “thot” is purely an insult isn’t in dispute. Unlike words like “bitch” that are both used to insult and are also reclaimed as terms of power, “thot” has little ambiguity in its use. It’s just a fancy new way to call someone a “slut” and to implicitly argue that women who embrace the same kind of sexual freedoms that men take as their right should be ashamed of themselves. In “THOT,” a song bragging about having sex with “thots,” rapper The Game makes this quite clear, saying he intends to “expose these bitches for who they are.” In the tune “Macaroni Time,” Chief Keef is skeptical of the ambitions of so-called thots, rapping mockingly, “I know this bitch a thot she wanna meet my momma now.” In the thot anthem “Beautiful Ones,” Juicy J describes the woman in question with, “She only get out of bed, so she can twerk on Vine.”

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Source: The Daily Beast | Amanda Marcotte