ISSUES: Why 'Whore' Isn't the N-Word

Was Tom Brokaw right when he told California gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown that calling someone a “whore” is "to many women the same as calling an African American the 'N' word”? Not quite, Joan Walsh writes in Salon. “Whore” is a “crude and loaded word that doesn't belong in a political campaign,” Walsh says, but it’s “become gender-neutral, especially when applied to politicians”—it just means you’d do anything for money.

The supposed controversy stems from a Brown campaign aide calling Meg Whitman a “whore” for making a deal with a union in exchange for an endorsement. But most women don’t think the slur is equal to the N-word, and if anything is, it’s “that nasty C-word,” Walsh writes. “People are using the euphemism ‘the N-word’ while ‘whore’ seems to roll off a lot of pundit's tongues. This is a made up controversy, and California deserves better"