The fascinating intersectionality of the word “cuck”

Last updated on: June 28, 2017 at 3:19 pm by Morgan Guyton

The fascinating intersectionality of the word “cuck” 2017-06-28T15:19:10-05:00 Morgan Guyton

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

A cuckold woodprint from Elizabethan England

One of the most bizarre phenomena of the Trump era is the reintroduction of a quaint Shakespearian insult into the English language: “cuckold” or usually “cuck” for short. In Shakespearian English, cuckold was the word used for a man who knows that his wife is sleeping around but doesn’t do anything about it. It reentered the English parlance officially in 2007 with an entry in the Urban Dictionary, and its use took off explosively during the 2016 presidential election campaign. What’s fascinating about the modern use of the word is its almost exclusive use in attacking racial “political correctness.” What does racial political correctness have to do with letting your wife sleep around? It’s completely bizarre and doesn’t make any sense unless you excavate the sublimated segregationist legacy beneath the modern white family values movement that arose as a direct backlash against the civil rights movement.

Several years ago, when I was looking for internet images for a sermon series that drew from Martin Luther King, Jr, I stumbled across a photo from a segregationist counter-protest. A white teenage boy was holding a sign that said “States rights and white womanhood.” It was such a perfect image that I saved it, but somehow I lost it and have never been able to find it again. What made white segregationism work was the paranoid fear that horny black men were going to rape white women. Protecting white women from black men was the raison d’etre of southern white manhood. The zeal of your racism was the measure of your white masculine virility. They didn’t use the phrase “cuck” in segregationist times; they just called you a n****r lover if you were less openly racist than they wanted you to be. But now that’s socially unacceptable, so the word cuck has to be used as a code word.

The primary means by which white segregationism has always justified itself is through contrasting the alleged sexual chastity of white people with the alleged sexual promiscuity of black people. In segregationist times, it was socially acceptable to talk openly about the alleged moral inferiority of black people, but this contrast has been sublimated in the white family values era. The racial subtext helps explain why the politics of family values have little to do with advocating policies that protect families from economic strain or any issues other than sexual normativity. Because family values is not a movement to defend the family as such; it’s a movement to showcase the superiority of the white nuclear family to the black “broken” family. The investment of the movement is in making this comparison the narrative that explains every aspect of our socioeconomic reality. White people are rich because they kept their pants on until they put their wedding rings on; black people are poor because they didn’t.

None of this is to say that there aren’t very important practical messages to be shared about sexual intimacy. There are good reasons why physical intimacy ought not to occur without spiritual intimacy and covenant. I’m not willing to say that consent and contraception are the only two requirements for having sex. There are valid points to be made by traditional sexual ethics. But they have been completely lost amidst the overwhelming need for racial self-justification. This self-justification is what makes sexual normativity a priority above every other ethical consideration. Without the racial subtext, it wouldn’t make any sense for family values politicians to say that it’s good for families who can barely pay their rent with minimum wage jobs to lose their health care and their food stamps.

The reason why opposing gay marriage and transgender bathroom use are the most important political causes for family values is not because normalizing gay or transgender identity actually threatens “the family” by making straight people divorce more often or randomly have sex in the streets, which is completely bizarre logic with any reflection. What queer identity and family structures do is to complicate the meaning of family, which undermines the clarity of the racial comparison between chaste white families and broken black families that justifies white supremacy. That’s how it all fits together. As long as white men are the patriarchal heads of household in their families and in our government, everything will be in line with God’s design for the universe. Many white men are trapped in their patriarchal roles upholding white supremacy by their fear of being cuckolded.

So every time the word “cuck” gets used as an insult, it’s a gift because it exposes the way that patriarchy, white supremacy, and queerphobia are all interlocking mechanisms of the same ideological system. That’s why I’m thankful that white nationalists have replaced the polite racial code words with a cruder, more blatantly misogynistic one.

Check out my book How Jesus Saves the World From Us!

Please help our campus ministry NOLA Wesley reach our goal of 100 monthly patrons!

Previous Post

June 23, 2017

Atonement: a basic explanation

Next Post

June 29, 2017 False Prophets Are Known by Their Fruit

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Advent Beauty Will Save the World Bible Big Picture: Ephesians Bloggers Book Christian salvation and the Beautitudes Culture Daily Office Danceable Homiletics Deadly Sins Deep Roots: Genesis Devotions Dominican Republic May 2011 El Principio Misericordia (The Mercy Principle) Five verses God tattooed on my heart Fundraising FutureGospel Good Biblical Words Henri Nouwen Interview Jennings' Christian Imagination Jesus inside the beltway Jesus Is My Candidate Jesus vs the Pharisees Jesus vs. Plato Journey to Eternity Looking Back on 2012 Love Actually Monday Merton Monday Merton Music Occupy the manger On Earth As It Is In Heaven Original Sin Podcast Poetry Politics Prayer Psalm 119 Radical Jesus 101 Reviews Sermon on the Mount Sermons Spanish Bible study Special Series Spiritual but not religious Synchroblog Theology Things that made me think Thomas a Kempis Ugliness Into Beauty Uncategorized Viaje Dominicano 2013 Walking in the Valley (Lent) Welcome: It's More than a Mat Wild Goose 2013 Wrestling

Select a Month March 2022 January 2022 December 2021 September 2021 April 2021 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What is the longest prophecy in the Bible given to an individual?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Joseph’s Dream John’s Revelation Isaiah’s Suffering Servant Daniel’s 70 Weeks