Douchebag: The White Racial Slur We've All Been Waiting For

[ESF]

Has this been discussed?

gawker.com/douchebag-the-white-racial-slur-we-ve-all-been-waiti-1647954231

The whole piece is long, but an entertaining read.  Here's the main takeaway ---



The douchebag is someone—overwhelmingly white, rich, heterosexual males—who insists upon, nay, demands his white male privilege in every possible set and setting. The douchebag is equally douchey (that's the adjectival version of the term) in public and in private. He is a douchebag waiting in line for coffee as well as in the bedroom.

There are plausible objections to "douchebag". It feels like an overused insult. And its origins lie in the male insult culture that identifies women's bodies as the object of contempt. But even as such, it's an accidental monument to male blindness. An actual douchebag isn't feminine; it's a quite literally useless, sexist tool. It's alienated from women.

And with that particular understanding, I believe the term "douchebag" is the white racial slur we have all be waiting for.

We have only to realize this, for it has been there all along. In fact, it is white privilege itself that has blinded us to the true nature of the douchebag's identity. In the same way that white hetrosexist males are thought of as an unmarked category, regular people, the douchebag has—at least until now—been similarly unmarked. It's insult that refers to ordinary men. Who happen to be white. Whiteness' inability to see whiteness has so far blinded us all to implications of the douchebag. But no longer.

The precise race, class, and gender position of the douchebag marks this identity as a specific subset of the asshole, another identity on the rise in the twenty-first century. The asshole—as brilliantly defined by Ta-Nehisi Coates—is someone who insists that all social encounters occur on their terms, as in, "Hey that person over there with the Google Glass is an asshole!" (Glasshole! Get it?)

While anyone can be an asshole, though, the douchebag is always a white guy—and so much more than that. The douchebag is the demanding 1 percent, and the far more numerous class of white, heterosexist men who ape and aspire to be them. Wall Street guys are douchebags to be sure, but so is anyone looking to cash in on his own white male privilege.

[summer]

I've been trying since FOREVER to find the German equivalent for "douchebag" I so often need that particular word.

That is all I have to add. Carry on.

[ESF]

Oct 21, 2014 13:28:24 GMT -5 summer said:

I've been trying since FOREVER to find the German equivalent for "douchebag" I so often need that particular word.

That is all I have to add. Carry on.

I say just use it anyway. It is a word that cannot be translated.  We use Schadenfreude, you use Douchebag.  

[ijack]

I once got into a bar fight for calling a guy a douchebag

[busybodyk]

I do not segregate douchebags. Every one has an equal opportunity to be called a douchebag by me. Even women.

[summer]

Oct 21, 2014 14:00:23 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

I never rarely use this word. Cause asshole works for me. Or fucker.

I differentiate.  A douchebag has a certain kind of irritating smugness that accompanies their assholery, imo. 

[wawa]

Oct 22, 2014 4:00:13 GMT -5 summer said:

Oct 21, 2014 14:00:23 GMT -5 @soudesafinado said:

I never rarely use this word. Cause asshole works for me. Or fucker.

I differentiate.  A douchebag has a certain kind of irritating smugness that accompanies their assholery, imo. 

I used it once to describe a coworker to my old boss in a moment of frustration.  She kinda blinked at me and then said, "what in the WORLD does that mean?"  And I was like, "oh...right.  It's a pretty common insult now among the younger crowd for guys like him.  You know...smug, usually have money, act like total pricks?"  and she was like, "oh, well that makes sense.  They think they're hot stuff, but really they're just a big bag of warm douche.  I'm going to start using that."

It was a highlight of my career.  Awesome boss. 

[PinkSquirrel]

Douchebag came into use around when douching started to be commonly recommended. How the hell are the sexist origins not even on the authors radar. I really don't know why this surprises me, it's fitting that the "white men's racial slur" is sexist in origin.