“Cuck,” short for “cuckold,” has become the insult of choice in this surreal political season, at least amongst alt-rightists and anime Nazis and other elements of Donald Trump’s political army.
The insult, inspired by a specialized porn genre in which white “hotwives” have sex with black men while their white “cuckold” husbands watch, is intended to suggest not just emasculation but also a kind of racial treason. Or at least that’s what the insult originally meant; at this point it gets thrown at anyone and everyone who stands in the way of the Trump revolution — including women, who by definition can’t be “cucked.”
The people who are most fond of this insult seem to think it has some sort of magical power. In a recent post on the alt-right site The Right Stuff, a guy who calls himself Auschwitz Soccer Ref declares that, in the word “cuck,” he and his comrades had found a sort of right-wing version of “racist,” which he describes as “a powerful, weaponized term” that leftists use to take down, well, racists like him.
The word “cuck” is an “absolutely devastating” insult, he explains.
“Cuck” works for the same reason that “racist” works: it is an irrational word that cannot be deconstructed with reasoning. Just as “racist” hits rightists hard because it attempts to psychopathologize the healthy preference for our own race, “cuck” is devastating to leftists because they are being described as the most humiliating kind of man possible, one who gets aroused by letting another man—or other men—have sex with his wife.
There’s only one problem with Mr. Soccer Ref’s theory: “cuck” isn’t “devastating to leftists,” or indeed to any white dude who isn’t pathologically preoccupied with the specter of black (or Muslim, or Mexican) men having sex with “our” white women. In other words, “cuck” only really stings as an insult to the very people who are tossing the insult around.
And insofar as the related term “cuckservative” actually bothers conservatives, I suspect they are less bothered by the sexual and racial overtones of the term than they are by the implication that they are not bona fide conservatives.
[J]ust like “racism” transcends political terminology like “fascist” and brings morality into the discussion, “cuck” transcends political terminology like “traitor” and brings sexuality and gender into the discussion, thus widening its implications. For years this kind of transcendent, weaponized term was missing from the right’s lexicon, but now it’s here, and that’s why “cuck” is so hurtful to the left and kosher conservatives.
Nope. One of the reasons that “racist” has the bite that it does is because the insult is so often true. What’s strange is that the insult doesn’t just bother garden variety racists; is also bothers alt-rightists and others on the far right whose ideologies are actually rooted in racism. Most racists hate to be labelled as such; that’s why you find so many of them on the far right resorting to euphemism, describing themselves as “race realists” or proponents of “Human Biodiversity” rather than simply admitting that, yes, they are huge bigots.
At-rightists and Trump enthusiasts aren’t the only ones obsessed with cuckolding. Men’s Rights activists are as well, though their definition of “cuckolding” comes not from porn but from one of the term’s original meanings. MRAs worry endlessly about the prospect of their wives (real or hypothetical) cuckolding them by conning them into raising children fathered by another man, presumably some alpha male lover she has on the side.
Indeed, many MRAs and Evo Psych professors have convinced themselves that this old-school variety of cuckolding is exceedingly common, with up to a third of the world’s ostensible fathers unknowingly raising kids who are not theirs.
But a new study published in Trends in Ecology and Evolution suggests that this is nonsense. Using genetic testing and genealogical research, the authors of the study found that the real rate of such cuckoldry has “stayed near constant at around 1% across several human societies over the past several hundred years.”
Somehow I doubt that this study will lead MRAs to be any less paranoid about being cuckolded, much less convince the internet’s Anime Nazis to give up an insult they think is “absolutely devastating.”
H/T — Thanks to both readers who alerted me to the new cuckolding study.
wait, are mras and alt-right not mostly the same group?
Never heard this term until last night, on Friendly Atheist Hemant Mehta’s Facebook page of all places, which has been taken over by MRAs.
Not sure I understand why this is an insult; for those who are not into this particular sexual fetish it’s just a wild accusation that doesn’t apply and thus has no teeth and even makes the accuser look nuts (because of course he is); and for those whom it DOES apply, that is, those who are into having other men bang their wives, it’s not an insult. It’s like accusing someone who likes steak of liking steak.
It makes the accuser look racist and weirdly obsessed with other people’s sex lives, such as is demonstrated with this comment two above yours:
Why does Glenn care so much about the state of David’s sex life? A mystery for the ages.
It doesn’t make them look nuts, though, because racism and weird obsessions with other people’s sex lives are not mental illnesses. You may want to check the commenting policy for more information on why this is not the kind of meme we want to spread, even accidentally or without intending to do so.
Okay, but if manginas or white knights or whatever silly thing you call non-misogynist men can’t get sex with attractive women, then why are you guys so fond of calling them cucks in the first place? If you know an insult doesn’t apply to or faze the target, what’s the point?
Glenn,
It’s just a very silly insult. I can tell you dearly wish it had the power to do harm, but it doesn’t. You’re trying, though. Bless your little heart.
How much of your self worth is tied up in other men’s estimation of your sexual partners? More than a little bit, huh? That must suck. I guess it sucks so much that you have to be cranky on the blogs of men who don’t share your need for validation through the approved sort of associations with the aproved sort of women. You ever wondered why you feel the need to use women to impress other men? If not, I’d say now might be the time to give it a little thought.
@Glenn
Hmmm. “David.” Who could that be? Probably not “David,” the statue of King David by Michelangelo.
Or is it David Copperfield?
David Beckham?
David Bowie?
Oh! You must mean David Futrelle, the guy who runs this website!
And you are obsessed with the presumed level of attractiveness of his partners because _____________? (Fill in the blank.)
Is it possible that if you had a life of your own you wouldn’t feel the need to share your fantasies about other people’s lives?
Gotta laugh at everyone here! Not obsessed with David’s sex life, just explaining why “cuck” would never apply to him…
A bunch of amateur psychoanalysts here LOL….
@Glenn
Really? That’s the best you can do to dispel the negative emotion associated with the contents of this thread?
Of course it’s not David’s sex life you are really interested in, and neither is explaining why cuck would or would not apply to anyone. It’s an attempt at a cheap dominance display for the purpose of distracting from discussion of the utterly pathetic nature of the insult and other insults from that sort of people.
One would have no other purpose in applying insults that have nothing to do with the topic of the thread.
Everyone in this article = Cucks
After all the entertaining trolls we’ve had lately, Glenn is bit…meh.
@Glenn
Cuckolding has nothing to do with anybody’s attractiveness. You might want to squeeze some time in between reading Stormfront and reading Infowars to read a dictionary; if you’re going to spray that ridiculous word around like a diarrhoetic hippo, it’s a good idea to know what it means.
Hey, the bigoted chickens are here! I wonder if Glen and Dan will do their little cuck-cuck-b-cuuuck dance for us, or if their ability to write only extends to what they fondly imagine to be one-liners?
Glenn,
When you seek to insult other men by guessing their sexual partners are not attractive to other men, we don’t need to be a psychoanalyst to know You have some serious issues with letting other men’s dicks define you. You just told us that you are very concerned with whether or not other men approve of your lovers. You just told us that before your own opinions and feelings matter, the approval of male strangers matter. You don’t choose partners for your own pleasure, but for the staus you imagine getting from other men approving of your partners. We can see how that affects you and it affects you deeply enough that you came here to comment on the women you spent time imagining David fucking. You cared enough about who you imagined him fucking and what you imagine random strangers think of who he fucks to seek out this blog and comment…twice.
If you did not live in fear of one wrong move negating your “man card” and if that fear did not guide your actions, you wouldn’t even think how attractive someone else finds your lover mattered. But you do. It matters very much to you. In fact, you think it is some sort of weapon to be used to hurt people when really, it just showcases your insecurities.
Glenn ol boy, you got problems and you should see to them or you are gonna live and die a miserable douche who lived his life for the approval of random people who didn’t actually know or care about you. I mean, it is your life and if this is how you want to waste it, it is your choice. But dude, you’re kinda a mess. Thats not something you should advertise. But, go on and tell us again how much time you spend imagining David’s sex life and how much imagined random opinions of those lovers matters to you.
Maybe this time it will sound as clever as you hoped it would this first two times.
Everyone: “Calling people cucks is goofy as hell.”
Dan: “Cucks!!!”
You are just so cool, Dan. We’re devastated by your witty retort.
*eyeroll*
Lea – tl;dr
@Glenndan
I’m a cuck? Oh yeah? But you’re a… JYCK!
Did that hurt your feelings? No? See, that’s how I feel too. Your random letter combination doesn’t mean anything.
I called one of my friends a cuck and she got really offended.
Apparently she prefers ‘chef’.
@GlennDan –
You guy(s) don’t seem to get that outside of the alt-right / manosphere, “cuck” as an insult is nonsensical jibberish.
Most people without your particular obsessions and peccadillos hear that and say
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/2013/09/huh.gif
While those who have read up on what the hell you mean say
http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Buzz-Lightyear-Sad-Strange-Little-Man.gif
No one’s devastated, brah.
We’re either confused or filled with a combination of pity and disgust.
Like, have you ever seen road kill and had that moment of “ewwww…awww…ewwww”?
That’s it.
That’s the feeling that people hurling “cuck” in earnest evoke.
I’m not telling you this as your friend.
This is more like saying to someone who showed up to a street brawl wielding a day-old salmon, “Naw, man…naw.”
@Dan
If by article you mean comment section… Dude, you just “cucked” yourself.
Glenn,
I bet ya did, because it was attention for you and ya just love any kind of attention. Either way, I don’t care.
@ Mockingbird
In all fairness fish can be pretty handy in a fight.
https://youtu.be/i9SSOWORzw4
@Dan:
When I was a kid, we had a way of tormenting one another called “germs.” Here’s how it works.
You say “Imaginary Petal has germs.” Immediately upon you saying it, it becomes undisputably true. He will either become enraged and attack you (in which case you can appeal to the teacher and win) or he will cry (in which case he will be universally held to be unmanly and so you win.)
We grew out of playing “germs” when we were, oh, eight or so. I’m glad to hear that you’ve kept the tradition alive.
@catscatscats
Ugh, sorry to hear that. It used to be a really good comments section; one of the few I would spend time in. It slowly started to get more and more misogynistic and racist, and I started spending less and less time there. Then there was an incident where someone compared one commenter to another by saying if they just put some blackface on they’d be this second commenter. She understandably got upset by this, and I backed her up. We both got shouted down for it and not one other person spoke up to say being fucking racist is wrong (they even denied it was racist!). Either no one there cares about racism anymore or they were fine with it in this case because she’s Christian (to them simply having Christian beliefs makes you a troll if you’re in their comment section, which is ridiculous–this girl seemed genuinely curious about atheist beliefs, and was always polite and intelligent, if sometimes annoying), which even Hemant is not all that friendly towards religious people, so….yeah. That place sucks now. I can’t do it anymore.
@Glenn
Let’s be honest here. You are here doing your little dominance display because of fear. No one engages in social conflict unless they are fighting for something and even the simplest troll targets things they like to see disrupted. The instinct to do that is rooted in fear of something. What is it you fear?
Psychoanalysis is not needed, just a logical understanding of why people would do what they do. You were not here for explanations because explanations include more than opinion.
Since there is literally nothing in the post that indicates that David is worried about the application of the pejorative “cuck”, or anything about who they might be sleeping with the whole point is your insult. It’s an interesting choice of insult because no one here cares about your standards of attractiveness and if you thought that you had something of worth to offer in that area you would be in this post discussing standards of beauty. I almost want you there to see just how sad the situation is.
You fear something here and that is what I am interested in. Since you like having social control of female people (your need for others to respect your idea of what is attractive and the usefulness of the term “cuck” that calls to mind female whose sexuality is not under one’s control) I think it’s fair to assume that you fear female people. But even that is a background fear to the fear that specifically drives you to insult David here, the fear that lack of respect for your insult will be maintained in society.
If not for fear you would be doing something more substantive than the human equivalent of pissing on a fire hydrant and pretending that your actions and words don’t actually reflect your character. If not for fear you would be offering more than a lazy “tl;dr” for a whole four lines of comment from Lea.
You are a fascinating little thing.
I just want to thank the (brilliant, multiracial) musical “Hamilton” for noticing that “cuckold” rhymes with “unbuckled”, which makes for an excellent bit of wordplay in act II.