There are zero putdowns in the English language for sexually promiscuous men, but so many ways to say that a woman is bad by virtue of being "loose" (slut, bitch, whore, just to name a few). And now hip-hop culture has brought us "ho."
The word came into the mainstream through rap music of the '80s and '90s. "She ain't nothing but another ho..." rapped KRS-1 in 1990--sounding very tame, actually, next to groups like NWA, 2 Live Crew and, later, Eminem.
"Ho" comes from the Southern pronunciation of the word "whore." But dropping the "r" sound is also supposed to dull the insult (sort of the way "nigga" takes some of the racial slur out of "nigger"). We're not calling you a whore, the argument goes; that's just what we call women.
Whatever the offense taken, or not taken, there is no shortage of misogyny in the word's illustrious past. In the flashy gangsta rap videos of the '80s and '90s, the ultimate sign of success was a backdrop of near-naked "bitches and ho's" jiggling on yachts and nice cars. Some rap artists really ran with the pimp-fantasy theme, all the way to lyrics about keeping their women in line with a "slap."
And over the years, the word has stretched to fit most things you could say against a woman--or anyone. Sightings include "hoe" (ugly woman), "ho-bitch" (dislikable woman) and "hobeast" (almost likeable, but too much of a wannabe slut). Not to mention "garden tool" (get it? from "hoe") as a general term for a woman.
As some people see it, time and changing music styles have taken the word "ho" down a notch; it's funnier now, and sometimes even friendly.
Some women in hip-hop are not so sure, however. They have chosen to keep the pressure on--ever since Queen Latifah made her first call to action in 1989, rapping: "Every time I hear a brotha call a girl a bitch or a ho/Tryin' to make a sista feel low/You know all of that's gotta go."
Hoes Wit Attitude took it a step further in the 90s, using their own name to make their point with the same sense of irony and humor behind Missy Elliott when she calls herself a "crazy ho."
