BodiMojo Teen Health Blog – Teenage Nutrition, Fitness, Stress, Relationships & More

Editor’s Note: Warning, this blog contains words that may be offensive to readers.

By Remy Marin

After joining Facebook a few months ago, my mother nearly fainted at the messages that teens wrote to each other. She was shocked at my explanation that “love ya bitch” and “you’re such a skank, xoxo” were common exchanges among friends, and she seemed a bit concerned about the impact of this trend.

It turns out my mother isn’t the only person worried about the use of derogatory slang as terms of endearment might affect teens. In a recent Florida Times-Union article, Girl Scout Research Institute Director of Research and Outreach Judy Schoenberg said, “If you grow up and someone keeps calling you a ‘bitch’ and a ‘slut,’ you start growing up thinking that’s what you are. You internalize it, and that’s very dangerous.” In the article, Ridgeview High School senior Angie Epifano adds that girls, “will become those things. … They think if that’s what someone is calling (them) then maybe it’s true, maybe it’s OK to be that. They allow themselves to become something they’re really not.”

In addition to causing teen girls to internalize negative stereotypes, derogatory terms of endearment have other negative impacts as well. I think it’s possible this behavior may cause boys to begin calling girls these names as well. And since girls base much of their self-identity on how boys think of them, it can be connected that girls using derogatory slang affectionately may lead to even more damage.

And what about the sexual connotation of these terms? Many of these terms, such as slut, hoe, and whore, “unnecessarily sexualize girls at a younger age – some of whom are not even sexually active – making them grow up too fast,” says Schoenberg. Especially with all the buzzed-about concerns that adolescents are becoming too sexual at a young age, I believe that the last thing teens need is more sexual pressure, least of all from their friends.

I have never been one to call my friends bitches or sluts, or really anyone else for that matter. Nicknames that are derived from someone’s name or personality are more personal and aren’t hurtful. There are a lot of negatives that come from using derogatory terms of endearment, and no one should be given the impression that it’s OK to call girls derogatory names.

A good, old-fashioned “BFFs!” or “Hey, girl!” is good enough for me.

For more information, you can check out these links: Urban Semiotic and Kat Wilder Blogs.

Remy Marin is a Boston-area high school junior who is interested in humanities and foreign languages.