Chickenhead (sexuality)

"Chickenhead" is derogatory American English slang that can refer either to someone who performs fellatio for everybody[1] or, derisively, "dumb female".[2] The term is used to describe the motion of the body, similar to the bobbing head of the chicken, during oral sex.[3] "Chickenhead" is also a term used in overseas sex trafficking for individuals that facilitate and monitor a persons transition into sex work.[4]

Etymology

Contemporary use of the term may have originated in African-American sexual slang and gained popularity through use in hip-hop, notably the 1996 skit "Chickenhead Convention" on the album Muddy Waters by Redman. Additionally, the song 'Chickenhead' by Project Pat (featuring La Chat and Three Six Mafia) introduced this black vernacular term to a more mainstream audience.

However, widespread use of the term almost certainly predates this significantly, extending across the demographic makeup of American society. Examples include John Steinbeck's 1952 Novel "East of Eden", in which the (white) proprietor of a brothel indirectly refers to the working girls of her establishment as "chickenheads".

A chickenhead in the transnational sex trade is typically responsible for facilitating transportation, acquiring temporary lodging, and monitoring activities of the new sex worker, similar to the activities of a "pimp".[4]

History

Ronald Weitzer and Charis Kubrin note that "A favorite rap term is 'chickenhead,' which reduces a woman to a bobbing head giving oral sex."[2] Bakari Kitwana argues that many rappers refer to women, black women in particular, as "bitches, gold diggers, hoes, hoodrats, chickenheads, pigeons, and so on."[5] Johnnetta B. Cole argues that hip hop's tradition to refer to black women in such terms disrespects and vilifies them.[6]

Bibliography

  • Morgan, Joan (1999). When chickenheads come home to roost: my life as a hip-hop feminist. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 9780684822624.
  • Bulbeck, Chilla. "Young feminist voices on the future of feminism". Sociological Sites/Sights, TASA 2000 Conference, (6-8 December). Adelaide: Flinders University.
  • Springer, Kimberly (Summer 2002). "Third wave Black feminism?". Signs. University of Chicago Press. 27 (4): 1059–1082. doi:10.1086/339636. JSTOR 10.1086/339636.
  • Massey, Carla (1996). "Body-smarts: an adolescent girl thinking, talking, and mattering". Gender and Psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing (PEP). 1: 75–102.
  • Stephens, Dionne P.; Phillips, Layli D. (March 2003). "Freaks, gold diggers, divas, and dykes: The sociohistorical development of adolescent African American women's sexual scripts". Sexuality & Culture. Springer. 7 (1): 3–49. doi:10.1007/BF03159848.

References

  1. ↑ Richardson, Elaine B. Hiphop literacies. London; New York: Routledge, 2006, ISBN 978-0-415-32928-6, p. 42.
  2. 1 2 Weitzer, Ronald; Kubrin, Charis E. (October 2009). "Misogyny in rap music: a content analysis of prevalence and meanings". Men and Masculinities. Sage. 12 (1): 3–29. doi:10.1177/1097184X08327696. SSRN 2028129. Pdf.
  3. ↑ Hunter, Margaret; Soto, Kathleen (2009). "Women of Color in Hip Hop: The Pornographic Gaze". Race, Gender & Class. 16 (1/2): 170–191.
  4. 1 2 Chin, K; Finckenauer, J (2009). "Chickenheads, Agents, Mommies and Jockies: The Social Organization of Transnational Commercial Sex". Crime, Law and Social Change. 56: 463–484.
  5. ↑ Kitwana, Bakari. The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2002, ISBN 978-0-465-02978-5, p. 87.
  6. ↑ Cole, Johnnetta B. "What hip-hop has done to Black women". Ebony, March 2007.


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