''Chickenhead'' is an

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

slang A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...

term that is typically used in a

derogatory A pejorative word, phrase, slur, or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility ...

manner toward women. The term mocks the motion of the head while performing oral sex on a man, but contains social characteristics and cultural relevance as well, and is frequently heard in popular

hip hop music Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music Music genre, genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African Americans, African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide r ...

. More recent uses of the term have seen it used by hip hop feminists and entertainers as a symbol of sexuality. "Chickenhead" is also a term used in overseas sex trafficking for individuals that facilitate and monitor a person's transition into

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

Etymology

The word, a chiefly American colloquial term, is usually written "chicken head" or "chicken-head", according to the

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

, which has 1903 for a first recorded use meaning "foolish or stupid person". It cites

John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...

's East of Eden'' (1952) for its earliest use as a "refer nceto prostitutes". A secondary meaning, first recorded in 1988, is "U.S. derogatory slang (esp. in African American usage)", used to refer to "a sexually promiscuous woman" or a woman in general. Dr. R. Flowers Rivera used the term "chickenhead" more recently, in a poem that identifies it as a woman who is impoverished and an alcoholic lacking empathy. In transnational sex trafficking, a “chickenhead” is typically responsible for facilitating transportation, acquiring temporary lodging, and monitoring activities of the new prostitute, similar to the activities of a "pimp".

Disempowering or empowering

Ronald Weitzer and

Charis Kubrin Charis Elizabeth Kubrin is an American criminologist and Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). Education and career After receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2000, Kubrin tau ...

note that "A favorite rap term is 'chickenhead,' which reduces a woman to a bobbing head giving oral sex."Pdf.
/ref> Bakari Kitwana argues that many rappers refer to women, black women in particular, with demeaning terms names such as "bitches, gold diggers, hoes, hoodrats, chickenheads, pigeons, and so on." Johnnetta B. Cole argues that hip hop's tradition to refer to black women in such terms disrespects and vilifies them. In Joan Morgan's ''When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost'', she notes the derogatory tendency of the term "chickenhead", and further defines it as a woman who uses sex to get the things she wants. As a black, hip-hop feminist, Morgan offers that chickenheads simply use the tools afforded to them when other means are not efficient, and that all women may have something to learn from the use of sex as manipulation.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * {{Cite journal , last1 = Stephens , first1 = Dionne P. , last2 = Phillips , first2 = Layli D. , title = Freaks, gold diggers, divas, and dykes: The sociohistorical development of adolescent African American women's sexual scripts , journal = Sexuality & Culture , volume = 7 , issue = 1 , pages = 3–49 , doi = 10.1007/BF03159848 , date = March 2003 , s2cid = 143036176 African-American gender relations African-American slang Criticism of hip-hop Fellatio Hip-hop phrases Sexual slang 2000s neologisms

Etymology

Disempowering or empowering

See also

References

Bibliography