Thursday, 19 January 2012

Wife Beater or Singlet?

Several days ago, I came a across the word "wife beater" while talking with my friends. This started when I mistook her describing a tank top with a tube top.So she explained to me the differences between a tank top and a tube top. While I was trying to digest this new information, the word 'wife beater' came out of nowhere. So  asked her "What's a wife beater? Is it some sort of a sweater or something?" She told me that it is similar like a singlet.

This got me thinking.


Why wife beater? I don't understand why would anyone called it that? Why can't they call it singlet? Why can't they call it a husband beater? The name is so degrading and not to mention sexist and overpowering. I was still puzzled by this that I decided to look it up in the net, surprisingly woman can also wear a wife beater! So if a woman do wear a wife beater, do they still call it a wife beater or just beat-er? (Excuse the pun)

A man wearing a black wife beater



A woman wearing a black wife beater
The term wife beater in someway not only degrading to women but also to men as well. It carries the message that men are violent creatures and that they only know how to use brute strength instead of their brains.

I tried to look up for the origin of the word and I found two sites that kind of give me the explanation. Here and Here.



But what I want to ask is that..why can't we just call it a singlet?



p/s: I am not a hardcore feminist.
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3 comments:

  1. hakeem19 January 2012 at 22:24

    true true. wearing that 'top', a neutral word that I prefer to use will make us men look so evil and heartless. a wife beater? that is as if men are incapable of being civilized.

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  2. David Deterding20 January 2012 at 02:10

    Interesting. But I think it may actually be insulting to men, not to women. The idea that anyone who wears something 'macho' like that is likely to beat his wife is pretty insulting about the wearer, but it doesn't say anything about his wife. And women wearing it -- well, that doesn't make any sense at all, except to illustrate how words get a shifted meaning, which is interesting.

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  3. Unknown3 May 2013 at 09:01

    Dk Diana, A very understandable reaction and questioning as to why they are called 'wife beaters'

    Yes it is a bit harsh to call a singlet that but i would have to take a guess that you're friend was either from Australia or New Zealand? because for us this is a very common slang term and thus has lost any negative connotations. It is generally referring to your general dark blue singlet
    It is this because it started out as a generalisation of the type of people who wore these, rough looking bogans who could pass as a degenerate domestic violence perpetrators.
    We have a weird humour.

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