PIMP your Profile? Come on Hub Staff

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   Jamie Gatesposted 14 years ago

   I know the word 'Pimp' is mainstream now but look at what it means, really. It's so demeaning to women as is the word 'Trick'. As  woman, I resent either of those words being used. No one would use the phrase - let's say Put an 'noose' around your topic and generate traffic.
   
   I mean, come on. Sexism is rampant and Hub management isn't doing anything to help. Kids are totally desensitized to these words and the violence they represent.

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      AEvansposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      
      
      It isn't HubPages :

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      C.Ferreiraposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Jamie...you make a good point here, but here's a spin on it...
      
      Kids these days are not desensitized to these words. These words have an entirely different and acceptable meaning to these kids. There is every chance in the world that they do not have the slightest clue what pimp or trick actually mean.
      
      As far as Hub management...are you talking about the people running this web page? If so, I would argue that while sexism is obviously not a good thing, it is still a freedom of speech, and as long as what people are saying isn't threatening in any
      way, management should not do anything.
      
      If you are talking about writers managing themselves and not writing this kind of thing, well I agree with you there.

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   darksideposted 14 years ago

   I take it you're not a fan of Pimp My Ride?

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3. 73

   Eaglekiwiposted 14 years ago

   I agree
   
   We tend to forget that HubPages is just another Internet Site driven by commercialism too, that our hubs promote ,go figure

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      Jamie Gatesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Good point Eagle. Thanks

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   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   I must have missed something. Where does Hubpages tell us to Pimp our Profiles?

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      Kelsey Tallisposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Yeah, I wasn't sure about that either.
      
      As far as feminism goes, I don't find it all that offensive really. But then, I think of myself as a human being before I am a woman... pimp is anyone trying to make money by exploiting something or someone, doesn't have to be sexist as far as I'm concerned.
      
      And while I do get SERIOUSLY pissed off at the sex trade, I think that goes beyond focusing on a single word, that problem is one of psychological slavery, and not just women are coerced into prostitution...

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         HubPoliceposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks, that's a rational viewpoint I enjoyed reading.  (As you say) A word holds no more malice than the intent with which it's used.

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5. 59

   Jamie Gatesposted 14 years ago

   Well, it was one of ads on 'My Profile Page'.  Naturally, it's not there now. I would assume that HubPages changes the ads frequently.
   
   The previous pimp ad was about dressing up the hubs we write. I understand that thought, which may be helpful. It's the way they went about it that offended me. I don't think the Hub writer's market is composed mainly of gangbangers who would be attracted to that sort of description.

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      BristolBoyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      If it is an advert I don't see what there is to worry about. 
      
      Also what is worng with the word trick? :S  Have I missed something as last time I heard the word I thought it was another word for prank etc

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         Mrvoodooposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Pretty sure a 'trick' is the act of sleeping with a customer for cash, or possibly the act of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, etc.

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      darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      Ads on HubPages are served by Adsense. It won't be an actual HubPages ad. Unless a third party is advertising about HubPages.
      
      It's likely to be some ad aimed at Myspace users, advertising a site that allows people to use custom themes to 'pimp' (do up) their profile page. It may have targeted your profile page because it has the word 'profile' in the hubbers image, and the URL has profile in it.
      
      Because you can't actually change the look of a HubPages profile page.
      
      So if it helps any, HubPages aren't the ones responsible for the ad. But on the other hand, the word pimp has infused itself into our modern day vernacular. Language evolves. The word pimp has been around for hundreds of years and meant something different before being appropriated for the use that we find distasteful.

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   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   I understand how you feel Jamie. I am often amazed at how much thug culture has entered the mainstream these days.
   
   And it's just not kids. When the Sopranos hit big, I was so amused at the grown men I knew who had to say badda-bing to everything. That might not be the exact prhase but they were emulating the hit man character.
   
   I guess that there is a lot of money to be made from it.

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7. 79

   Uninvited Writerposted 14 years ago

   Then I guess you won't like what's been going around in the library field: pimp my bookcart. I don't think most people associate that term with gangs and prostitues.

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8. 0

   Nelle Hoxieposted 14 years ago

   When I say a word has become mainstream. I mean people take a word that usually has a bad or naughty meaning and apply it to their lives in order make them sound like more interesting people.
   
   Instead of pimping out library carts you could personalize or decorate. But that doesn't have the exotic twist that pimping has.
   
   In doing so, I do believe that you have made the street pimp a less violent and threatening person and a new word will soon have to be created for that profession.
   
   I find it interesting that people also pimp out their cubicles. To me this implies a rebellion against corporate authority.
   
   Perhaps we do have a cultural gap going on. In my world it is a direct description of a man or woman who runs prostitutes and often abuses them.

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9. 61

   Princess Kariposted 14 years ago

   I don't mind dressing up my profile but then there should be some nice pretty templates on this site for us to choose from. Without having to install anything. You know, just something simple for hubbers to click on and play with pretty colours and patterns.

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10. 76

    Shadesbreathposted 14 years ago

    Well, there's always a continuum of cultural progression, with the older crowd, stoop-backed and cantankerous, brandishing their canes and crowing, "Kid's these days," and the younger crowd having the audacity to do things and think things that no young people in the history of mankind thought about.  The reason that it's not "just kids" is that there isn't a concrete divider separating the "old" from the "young."  There is just a vast, complicated social universe within which everyone must live, the old always hark back to "better days" and the young continue to discover sexuality and ways to express it that allows them to be something "other" than their parents as they evolve into adults, and a whole bunch somewhere in the middle.  Over and over and over.

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       Leta Sposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       But don't you find the whole routine a bit hackneyed, Shades?  Because man, I do.  My boyfriend's sons are like, "NOW we have this and that...," and whatever, like we didn't before and how the heck old do they think I am?  I don't go around thinking audaciously "these kids now days," I just sorta think wow, they can't see through it?  But oh, yeah, they don't read anymore, do they? .
       
       Univited-- That's cool!  Though I'd never use the word 'pimp.' I just don't like how it looks. 

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          pgrundyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Reminds me of when my girls (now aged 26 and 30) were tweens and went through this phase of calling other girls they didn't like 'sluts' and 'whores.' God that drove me nuts. I think that's why the kids used that language--like Shades points out, the point is to drive older folks nuts. They don't talk like that now, it was an adolescent thing.
          
          It's also annoying all the little suburban boys talking like they are the reincarnation of Iceberg Slim or something. Ugh.
          
          If the internet had an age, it would be around 12. And it would have a bad attitude and a potty mouth.

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             Uninvited Writerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             Ha ha...that is so right

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          Shadesbreathposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Well, just for fun and the advocasy of the Devil, kids might say the whole shocked, head-shaking, furrowed brow of dissaproval is tired too. Kids are kids. 
          
          I think the whole point of selecting language like that (even if it's totally done on a subconscious level) is to exact exactly this response from "adults."  Once a term is picked up by mainstream language, it just becomes part of the colloquial lexicon for a time.  People who get offended by it might have a valid point in selecting words to be offended by (pimp, retard, slut, whore, gay... there's lots of words to be offended by in their modern applications) but in being offended, they A) miss the intended meaning of the word often, and B) are playing right into those darn kids' hands.
          
          Now, enough of that.  I have to go chase some children off my lawn!

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       3. 59

          Jamie Gatesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

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11. 79

    Uninvited Writerposted 14 years ago

    Found this online:
    
    The word 'pimp' first appeared in English in 1607 in a Thomas Middleton book entitled 'Your Five Gallants.' It's believe to have stemmed from the French infinitive 'pimper' meaning to dress up elegantly and from the present participle 'pimpant' meaning alluring in dress seductive.
    
    
    So...we are actually back to the original use of the word

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    AEvansposted 14 years ago

    Pimp: Perfect -Intellectual- Magnificent-People, doesn't the word sound better now.

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       Leta Sposted 14 years agoin reply to this

         Naw, AE.  It still really looks bad to me.  I seriously don't like the two p's on either side.  I dunno.  I'm a poet and kinda weird, lol..

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       lxxyposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Neat! I'm calling Webster. Gonna have them put in Fornication Under Consent of King too.

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    Princess Kariposted 14 years ago

    You know what would be really cool, is if we could have some kind of glitter or something shiny for our pages that wouldnt be gaudy and wouldn't interfere with the text. I saw this gorgeous blog the other day that had pink snowing falling and butterflies and stuff. It was stunning

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       Uninvited Writerposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Please, no. Save that for MySpace. I would tend to not visit that blog again if I came across it.

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       casparposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       

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       darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       Glitter and shiny stuff = gaudy.
       
       HubPages is about content, not massive amounts of icing.

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          Paper Moonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

          Content is relevant to the beholder.  Much like peoples gardens, many look cheap and trashy, but a master gardener can zap some zen into any one who looks at it.  Sure, some would make it look cheap.  But many artistic people would add great depth and content.  This is the computer age, and multi-media has the potential to captivate if done well.   I like to think that most people on here would use it sparingly and tastefully.  I myself find the lay out too limiting.
          
          And yes, I find glitter to be gaudy, but say you are doing something on your aunts gaudy Christmas.  It could add that certain something

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             darksideposted 14 years agoin reply to this

             Behind me is a large bookshelf. On it I have over a dozen different sets of encyclopedia's (people laugh at me when they see it and say "haven't you heard of wikipedia?") in these encyclopedia's are pages and pages of content. Black text on a white page. No fancy borders. It's a beautiful thing.

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       sunforgedposted 14 years agoin reply to this

       I took this as sarcasm - please say it was

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    Eaglekiwiposted 14 years ago

    Profile Pages could at least have some color interface  added but the glitter n fluff ,well Im open ,lifes all about choices I guess.
    Bebo was excellant like that if I recall ,some quite tasteful and creative banners.

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    EasyLearnposted 14 years ago

    While agree that having more options for your profile page could be nice, there is a serious "everything is ok" culture happening.  Devaluing words is an early step to this thinking.  When you can't say a few meaningless 4 letter words on the radio, but you can still call woman the b-word or use any God's name in vain, the focus is all messed up.

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16. 0

    jami430posted 14 years ago

    The thing is, pimp is just a word. Language doesn't mean anything unless you put meaning behind it. So, if you say "pimp my profile" and just mean it to be "decorate your profile," then nobody should take offense because the meaning is just that. People are not "desensitized" to language. Language just changes every single day, and words can eventually take on entirely new meanings. You should only take offense to something if the person saying it is intending it to be hurtful.

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    lumberjackposted 14 years ago

    Oh goodness, I am incredibly offended!!!!!

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    Mishaposted 14 years ago

    LOL I wish this to be your major problems for the rest of your life

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    SweetiePieposted 14 years ago

    I work at a library and people actually still check out encyclopedia volumes for research projects.  Wikipedia is pretty funny to read, but I would never rely on that website lol.

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