Crude Comments About Women

Double Standard & Normalization Biases   High Impact
Table Of Contents

Explanation of Conservative Trope

Stories need conflict and crude comments are a part of that. The problem is that crude comments are far more common about women than men. And this helps contribute to changes in the Republican party where Trump and fellow conservatives often single out women for insults.

Conservative Trope Examples

  • Laird (James Franco) tells Stephanie (Zoey Deutch) her mom "is a MILF. Like, a genuine MILF. And if it wasn't your MILF, she'd be a MIWF, a mother I would f*ck" even after she asks him to stop talking about "how hot my mom is."
  • A woman tells Beckett that a pregnant woman who lived with her was "knocked up" and had "no money, no prospects."
  • The Hangover Part II (2011)
    Phil (Bradley Cooper) tells Stu (Ed Helms) he should be thankful for their prior trip to Vegas because if it didn't happen he would have "married a c*nt."
  • Rick's (Owen Wilson) young kids ask him if their mom doesn't wear a bikini anymore because "of her fat ass." He sighs heavily and says "yea, I guess," before realizing that he's talking to his kids and tries to walk it back.
  • Rick "Owen Wilson" and Fred (Jason Sudeikis) talk about "the shiny new set of cans on Mandy Bohan (Alyssa Milano)" and agree her breasts have to be fake or else "she's buying her t-shirts at Baby Gap" and then begin debating the breasts of all the other women in their group.
  • Fred says "that woman needs something in her mouth!" about a woman in a nightclub who has recently quit smoking as if putting his penis in her mouth would instantly alleviate her anxiousness due to nicotine addiction.
  • My Best Friends Girl (2008) | Body Shaming Women
    Tank (Dane Cook) fat shames a woman at the bar by cruelly comparing her to NFL linebackers and wondering if her new infant was "delicious" because it looks like she "downed the whole thing."
  • Michael Clayton (2007)
    A top male corporate lawyer calls an aggressive woman financial journalist the C-word over the phone for simply doing her job by asking for comment on a true story they are guilty of that she plans on publishing the next day. He relents handing the phone to the company head for comment saying very dismissively, "she will not go away."
  • Seth (Jonah Hill) tells Evan he is "truly jealous you got to suck on those t*ts when you were a baby" after Evan's mom, wearing a very tight and revealing shirt, leaned into Seth's car to have a chat with her son.
  • Katherine's (Alison Scott) boss suggests she use the gym membership the company is providing her to "tighten" up some (as he takes both hands that are apart and moves them closer together) because she'll be in front of the camera a lot. He goes on to say he doesn't want her to "make everything smaller," inferring that he doesn't want her breasts to get smaller. While they say they can't "legally" tell her to lose weight, she's told to weigh herself at home, "subtract it by twenty," and then to "weight that much."
  • Jeremy (Vince Vaughn) says "tattoo on the lower back. Might as well be a bullseye" as the camera zooms in on an attractive woman's lower back tattoo.
  • Bridget Jones The Edge of Reason (2004) | Crude Comments About Woman's Appearance for Laughs
    Bridget's (Renée Zellweger) manager tells the control room to "give me a close up of the porker" and the camera zooms in on her excrement laden backside after she crash lands in a pig pen at the end of her skydiving bit.
  • Love Actually (2003)
    Hugh Grant, playing the Prime Minister of the UK, shows interest in his secretary Natalie, and there are many interactions with his staff about whether she is overweight that were played for laughs such as her being "the chubby girl". In a later scene, a frustrated Hugh Grant asks aloud to himself, “Who do you have to screw around here to get a cup of tea and a chocolate biscuit?” His secretary Natalie happens to walk in at just that moment with tea and biscuits, and it's funny because they have been hinting at a romance between the two. He eventually decides to fire her because she was too much of a distraction to him, and -- later realizing that was a mistake -- seeks her out at her home. In their final scene together he quips, "God you weigh a lot!", and she responds coyly "Oh, shut your face" and kisses him.
    Other Tropes: Body Shaming Women
  • Bridget Joness Diary (2001) | Body Shaming Women
    Lara (Lisa Barbuscia) tells Daniel (Hugh Grant) "I thought you said she was thin" right in front of Bridget's (Renée Zellweger) face.
  • Pamela (Gemma Jones) tells Bridget (Renée Zellweger) "you'll never get a boyfriend if you look like you've wandered out of Auschwitz" and insists she go upstairs to change into something else.
  • Bridget Joness Diary (2001) | Body Shaming Women
    Bridget's (Renée Zellweger) female friend expressed shock that Mark (Colin Firth) doesn't want her to be "thinner," "cleverer," or have "slightly bigger breasts and a slightly smaller nose" after Bridget tells her friends that Mark privately confided to her that she was perfect just the way she was.
  • Sonny (Adam Sandler) and his young son are shopping in a grocery store when they run into Connie (Leslie Mann), who is wearing a white shirt that doesn't cover her entire stomach. Sonny takes a look at her and casually says "you guys wear the same size t-shirt. That's cool" as he points at both his young son and Connie.
  • 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
    Walter (Larry Miller) says "My insurance does not cover PMS!" after an argument with his daughter Kat (Julia Stiles).
  • Varsity Blues (1999)
    Tweeder (Scott Caan) makes sexist comments throughout the movie including "Bitches are all just panty droppers", "fell out of the I'm-gonna-suck-your-dick tree" and "sophomore chick who wants to bathe you with her tongue"
  • Half Baked (1998)
    The burger joint Scarface (Guillermo Díaz) works at calls their burgers "heifer's," which is technically a female cow, but it's also a well-known slang for an obese or overweight woman.
  • Fletcher (Jim Carey) enters his apartment elevator and very blatantly stares at a woman's excessively portrayed cleavage followed by his trademark silly smirk at the camera as the doors close. The camera continues with a zoomed in shot of her breasts and they make small talk where Fletcher says the reason everyone's been really nice to her is because "you have big jugs." He makes further crude comments about the size of her breasts and the next transition is the elevator opening with Fletcher holding his face because she hit him.
    Staff Aside
    It's funny because the premise of the movie is that he cannot lie and so these must be honest, natural impulses and because she was too oblivious to notice his excessive ogling.
  • Scream (1996)
    Sidney (Neve Campbell) asks Billy why he and Stu killed her mother and he responds that they "did your mom a favor, Sid. That woman was a slut-bag whore who flashed her s*it all over town like she was Sharon Stone or somethin'."
  • Billy Madison (1995)
    Completely random and unprovoked, Principal Anderson inexplicably refers to his wife as a "dirty, dirty, tramp" as he warns Billy and his nemesis Bradley against cheating during their academic decathlon.
  • Billy crows "Oh Veronica Vaughn. So hot! Want to touch the hiney! Arrooough!" in a high-pitched voice as Ms. Vaughn walks back to the classroom after scolding Billy for making fun of a student.
    Staff Aside
    Of course, she lets the immature sexist comments slide. The worst is when women are written to act normally in the face of very sexist behavior. The second worst is when over the top sexist behavior can be dismissed as humor because it is so over the top. The third worst is when over the top sexist behavior can be dismissed as humor because it is expected because of the specific genre (in this case it's an Adam Sandler movie so we know anything sexist is meant to be a joke to be laughed at. ha ha.)
  • Bus driver Chris Farley says "that Veronica Vaughn is one piece of 'ayyce.' I know from experience, dude, if you know what I mean" after looking up Ms. Vaughn's skirt as she walks up the bus stairs.
  • Harry encourages Larry to "look at the buns on that one" as a woman in tight pants and her male companion walk past them on the sidewalk.
  • Dazed and Confused (1993)
    David (Matthew McConaughey), an adult years removed from high school, asks high school freshman Mitch Kramer "how's this year's crop of freshman chicks lookin'?" Don warns him he's going to "end up in jail sometime really soon," but he brushes him off and marvels that what he loves about high school girls is that "I get older, they stay the same age."
    Staff Aside
    This is an iconic scene that many men still quote to this day and it's obviously played for laughs. Even though that's the case, the scene still normalizes the idea of grown men making inappropriate comments about underage girls.
  • Lisa (Lark Voorhies) asks a teenage girl who called a teen crisis hotline how much she weighs and proceeds to gratuitously shame her for being fat, going so far as telling the teen that "maybe it's not in your mind." She continues to pile it on, telling her to "never wear white. You'd look like Shamu at a wedding" before encouraging her to join "overeaters anonymous."
  • Lisa (Lark Voorhies) asks a teenage girl who called a teen crisis hotline how much she weighs and proceeds to gratuitously shame her for being fat, going so far as telling the teen that "maybe it's not in your mind." She continues to pile it on, telling her to "never wear white. You'd look like Shamu at a wedding" before encouraging her to join "overeaters anonymous."
  • Die Hard 2 (1990)
    One of Colonel Stewart's henchmen tells reporter Samantha Coleman, "no pictures, you pinko bitch" after she tries to get a comment from him.
    Staff Aside
    He is a bad guy but this still propagates right-wing anti-media propaganda campaigns that have been going on for decades in before this movie came out in 1990. Pinko is a pejorative term for communist and the right loves to make asinine claims of people being communists and ad hominem attacks on the media, especially women reporters. So 'bitch' and 'pinko' are right in line with today's Republican party.

How Trope is Biased

Double Standard

  • There are far more crude comments made about women on screen than men
  • There are many more different negative terms unique to women than men

Normalization

  • Crude comments made on screen normalize their use off and make it more acceptable to use them in real life.

Conservative Biases

  • The most popular conservative sports news website has referred to their female writers as "broads" or "chicks" with links from their main header
  • Republicans make crude comments about women they feel threatened
  • Donald Trump made a reference -- during a Presidential debate -- to Megyn Kelly having "blood coming out of her whatever" -- and that is for a big time conservative

Impact of Trope: High

Severity: Major   Prevalence: High
Women in real life have to deal with being called many different crude names directly to their face or talked about behind their backs in part because movies and tv shows promote and normalize their use. This includes "catcalling" on the street or stereotyping women with negative terms.