(Sardonic flag on. Don’t take any of the following too seriously.)

Sometimes I find myself commenting on a blog post for a completely tangential region. Stephanie Grey takes Ludacris’ song “Area Codes” and maps out where Luda’ has, ah, spread himself around.

But the thing that got my wheels spinning is Ms. Grey’s comment about being a woman and a feminist and therefore disliking the word “ho.”

Now, maybe because I’m a guy, I can’t understand the underlying narrative thread here. While I recognize that this word can be used quite oppressively, it does portray a real phenomenon. The way I look at it, it’s at worst similar to Chris Rock’s diatribe about black people versus niggers. (And you could do a similar diatribe in any ethnic community of color, really. Or talk about white people versus crackers.)

Hos (for lack of a better source, I’ve consulted this article regarding the actual plural of “ho”) do exist. While I guess it would be clearer to use the word “slut”, or less judgmental(?) to use the word “promiscuous” to describe the behavior, in any case, it’s a real phenomenon that deserves a word for it.

And while there is an anti-feminist subtext that is associated with the word, it is applicable to men who exhibit this behavior as well. For example, a guy who (like Ludacris’) has sexual relations with a lot of women can be legitimately called a ho. As can the guy who sells himself out in order to kiss the bosses ass. So Ludacris’ can be considered a ho in multiple senses: both in terms of sexual promiscuity, and in the fact that he has sold himself out to the white corporations who control the content of so-called gangsta rap.

Which, in truth, makes the word ho analogous to the word vendido/vendida in Spanish. While it is generally translated as “sell-out”, it actually incorporates a lot of the connotation of what being a ho is all about.

• • -

The fact that the word ho originated from hip-hop street slang is significant. While people-of-color can oppress their women just as well as white people can, remember that hip-hop is a literary genre as well as a genre of dance. So it has access to the subtexts that precede it. Remember that hip-hop is an offshoot of post-modernism and post-colonialism, and that it started off as much more intellectual than Clear Channel et al would have you believe. Remember that the gangsta rap you hear on the radio and see on MTV is a cultural appropriation by the mass media, and has been sadly subverted and turned into a weapon against people-of-color. This, I believe, is the more important context of the origin of the word.

I remember hearing this definition when I was very young. What’s the difference between a ho and a whore? At least a whore gets paid. A ho just gets used. And if this doesn’t describe how some people-of-color have acquiesced to their negative portrayal in the media, I don’t know what does.