not quite a rant...

[ratcreature]

...but am I the only one who's somewhat put off by the whole terminology that Sweet Charity thing uses? The way they use "ho" in their slogans and frequently refer to participants as "hos", I mean. I've seen the charity auction linked on my f-list quite often, so even though I don't intend to participate I checked out the site, and their "I want to be a Charity Ho!" and so on really rubs me the wrong way.

I get that it's supposed to be a play on selling our talents to a bidder, or funny, or maybe clever for merging the old madonna-whore polarity into one "charity ho", or whatever, and that fandom appropriated related terms before, like in "pimping a fandom", which somehow doesn't bother me as much though, but still.

Comments

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

See, and I thought the terminology was being used because Sweet Charity is the name of a musical about a prostitute (well...a "taxi dancer" in Fosse's American version, but definitely based on the story of a prostitute)

"Big Spender" Lyrics:

The minute you walked in the joint
I could see you were a man of distinction
A real big spender
Good looking, so refined
Say wouldn't you like to know what's going on in my mind?

So let me get right to the point
I don't pop my cork for every guy I see
Hey, big spender!
spend a little time with me

Do you wanna have fun, fun, fun?
How's about a few laughs, laughs?
I can show you a good time
Let me show you a good time

(etc.)

You're right that fandom uses a lot of highly sexualized vacabulary - and often related to prostitution - but this entire fund raising venture is named after something specifically related to "selling yourself" in that exact context.

[ratcreature]

Huh. I never even heard of that musical. It doesn't make the site theme much more attractive to me though, that it refers to a musical about a prostitute. I mean, the "sell yourself" references and such and the reference to that musical, okay, but calling participants "ho" constantly in the FAQ, I really disliked that.

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

Oh, I agree...It's just that clearly the folks who put it together originally were thinking about the 'ho' connection when they named the community. Sweet Charity does good work, but I can't say that I'm impressed with the terminology either.