I'm not calling her a whore, I'm just saying, she has a lot of men to her house

Brainstorming session! Everyone think of a word used to describe a woman - where the word has no male counterpart!

OK there is

Slut
Skank
Whore
and

DOYENNE.

Which brings me to journalism pet peeve #3. Use of the word "doyenne" to describe well-connected women in Washington. (Alternatively -- well-connected men in Washington are just called 'power brokers.')

While the original definition of doyenne (at least online) implies some amount of respect owed --

A woman who is the eldest or senior member of a group or profession.
In journalism, it is invariably used in the context of a condescending profile of a 30-60 year old Washington woman who has a lot of parties at her house. To me, it's a socially acceptable way of calling a woman a whore. Like calling someone "asinine" when you really want to call them an ass.

Thank my lucky stars I haven't read this in the newspaper lately (probably because I haven't been reading the newspaper lately); however I encountered its use in this book I am reading called "The Strong Man: John Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate" by Fox News correspondent James Rosen. In one passage (page 215) Rosen refers to now-deceased Washington Star columnist Mary McGrory as a "doyenne," calling to mind someone who doesn't have a job, or who thinks of throwing dinner parties as a full-time job. When in fact Mary McGrory was a political columnist who made it onto Nixon's enemies list. So don't go round town calling her no 'doyenne.' Your mothers a doyenne ya SOB!



James Rosen




Mary McGrory




Propose solution: Just as transfats have no place in a healthy diet, the phrase "Washington doyenne" has no place in my vocabulary.