tumblinas.

The Term "Douche Bag"

Hello Tumblinas! My name is Stephanie and I’m new to the group (thanks for adding me on :-) and to bloging in general. I have thoroughly enjoyed looking over the posts. I didn’t go through all of them though, so I don’t know if this has already been addressed, but I was wondering how you feel, as women, about the term “douche bag”? I wrote about it on my blog a while back. This is what I posted:

[And about the word douche bag…

When douche bag became a word people started to use as an insult I was very offended. The douche bag, like other vaginal washes and perfumes, was invented and marketed to make women feel insecure about their vaginas. Companies have made a lot of money from this female insecurity and fear of not being “fresh”. “Ever get that not so fresh feeling?” umm…well then take a shower! Those products are actually bad for you. As an insult men are already called pussies. Did we really have to add douche bag to the list of terms? Why not just call men tampons and pap smears while you’re at it?

It was after I saw a skit on SNL (it was the douche bag award skit) that I realized there really is such a thing as a Douche Bag. There are certain specific traits attributed to one. The definition is more precise then, say, asshole. It really does describe a certain type of guy in our society. There are a lot of definitions floating around on the internet (i.e., Urban Dictionary, Cracked.com) but basically a Douche Bag is a guy who thinks he is cool but is really an idiot. He’s not necessarily aggressive or mean, just annoying and very self centered. Sadly there are a lot of them.

So I’ve embraced the term Douche Bag, although I do wish these kinds of men were labeled a different name. In the end, if the term helps to identify and criticize moronic guys then I really can’t be that against it…I guess.]

I’m still uncomfortable with this term. As much as I try to get used to it I still find it offensive. Couldn’t they have found another term or phrase to describe what a “douche bag” is? What are your thoughts? Are you offended when you hear this term?