mangina

It’s long been a trend for men to mock others by comparing them to female genitalia. Consider twat or pussy. The term mangina—a blend of man and vagina—is just one of the more recent additions. Real original, guys.

One early instance of mangina appears on an internet Usenet group in 1996. Here, a man used it to humorously describe the appearance of his own genitalia? 🤷‍♀️

By the end of the decade, though, mangina was far less playful and down right offensive: It was demeaning the genitalia of trans persons.

In the early 2000s, a New York performance artist, Patrick Bucklew, helped popularize the term in his act, The Mangina, in which he walked around the city while naked except for an artificial vulva over his genitalia. Only in New York, right?

Also at this time, mangina was in use in gay slang for the anus. Use your imagination.

2005 first acquainted viewers with the character of Old Gregg, who appeared on the series The Mighty Boosh. Old Gregg, as played by Noel Fielding, was a hermaphroditic merman with genitals that he referred to as being a mangina.

By the mid-2000s, the term mangina started being applied as a general insult for men perceived as not being masculine enough, e.g., for enjoying shows like Sex and The City or feeling comfortable crying.

The wider public was likely exposed to mangina in 2008 when the comedy film Step Brothers contained a whole sequence where the word is used to humiliate Will Ferrell’s character for performing in a musical. The implication is that he isn’t a straight man for being in theater.

In the mid-2010s, mangina was adopted by conservative internet trolls, particularly from the alt-right, who use it similarly to the term cuck. It especially insults men seen as submissive for supporting such causes as gender and sexual equality, as if they are betraying their manhood.

CUCK CASTRATI LIBTARD CUCK MANGINA CUCK CUCK CUCK CUCK CUCK CUCK CUCK

— Alt Right Robot (@altrightrobot) July 12, 2018