Is There A Male Equivalent Of “Butter Face”?
Posted by: Jessica Wakeman
Filed in:
news
10:00AM, Tuesday July 14th 2009
Yesterday’s Urban Dictionary word of the day was “butter face,” defined as:
“n. A girl who is hot, except for her (but her, butter) face.”
Basically, it means a girl with a sexually attractive body but a less-attractive face. So of course I put the link to “butter face” definition in my Gchat away message with some grumbly comment about the obnoxiousness of the phrase.
But then a male friend IMed me to say, “Simmer down, that’s not sexist! ‘Butterface’ just means the same thing as calling a man ‘ugly.’” But really, it doesn’t! “Ugly” can apply to both men and women, but “butterface” labels a woman only by her appearance. Men are always going to assess women’s face, legs, ass, boobs—that’s just what healthy human sexual attraction is. But labeling her based on what he considers to be her worst feature is just mean and nasty. It’s crueler still because there is no male equivalent.
My buddy said he doesn’t think women care as much about a man’s appearance and “that’s just the way it is.” The way women are branded with these nasty labels—butterface, pink wig, paper bag—while men are allowed to have less attractive faces/bodies isn’t “just the way it is.” I think it’s just the way we make it. Women still care how men look, but the standards for men and the standards for women are just extremely skewed. The answer isn’t to make the standards for men crueler and more judge-y—it’s to stop pretending that gendered slang like “butterface” just means the same thing “ugly.”
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Miss M
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 10:10 am: [report]
This reminds me about this guy my friends and I noticed in high school. The guy had a killer bod, but his face didn’t match the rest of the package. We called him “Hot Body Guy”, and whenever we would see him in the distance, we would hold our hand up to cover his head, and just perv on his hot bod!
soytrucknutz
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 10:11 am: [report]
The male equivalent to butterface is Ron Jeremy.
newmakcity
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 10:15 am: [report]
My friends and I have always called Michael Phelps a butterface. The thing about butterface is that the face is usually noticeably unattractive. It causes a conflict against an outstanding body, because the combination of extremes leaves you torn. The face repels you, but the body is just so enticing. It is mean and nasty, but as far as I’ve seen it’s expanded beyond being gendered.
peacock
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 10:21 am: [report]
@newmakcity- yes, Michael Phelps is perhaps the best example of the male specimen. Growing up swimming I never got the big deal about how “hot” he was. He has a swimmer’s body and that’s where it ends.
Creepy Old Guy
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 10:28 am: [report]
The male equivalent is, Dickey-do, This is where his belly, sticks out further than his, well you get it. Ron Jeremy is good example. He could have a face like Tom Selleck, and a body like John Goodman.
bogart4017
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 10:55 am: [report]
Years ago the male equivilant would be called “Mr Right Now” (lol).
LayD
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 11:02 am: [report]
There are plenty of guys that have a hot bod and an unattractive face. I just call it “a shame”. Most people (males and females) who are ugly work hard on their bodies to compensate. People who have a nice face don’t need to rely on their body as much. I think the male friend is accurate, I would call a guy ugly if he has an ugly face no matter how good his body is. Women can appreciate a male body just as much and as inappropriate as a male can appreciate a woman’s body.
saramarie
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 11:18 am: [report]
Funny, even though I know it’s supposed to be a play on the words “but her”, I’ve never taken the term to apply only to women and have frequently used it when talking about men. Or the phrase “he’s good from far, but far from good”...
I agree with LayD…I’ve very inappropriately referred to a man’s body the same way they might refer to a woman’s, especially when it comes to that V thing they get where the hips meet the torsooooooo hooooooottttt
Shasta
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 11:40 am: [report]
Reminds me of a “Rather” question that I posed to my friends, “Would you rather have a pretty face or a hot body.” All said “face,” and most responsed, “At least you can work out to improve your body a bit.” Not much you can do with an ugly face.
slemma
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 12:17 pm: [report]
me and my friends call male butterfaces “bengals” because the cincinatti bengals have ugly helmets. i think it’s funny.
WildAndCatty
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 12:18 pm: [report]
Oh at school, my friends and I use the term butterface a lot. We love our athletes, and they have great bods… so sometimes we just have to sacrifice a good face.
justme
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 01:53 pm: [report]
Could you guys please coin a term for the part of the body that saramarie just mentioned….. We all love it and don’t know what to call it. May I suggest Hip Cleavage?
Anyone?
CheeeeEEEEse
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 02:06 pm: [report]
what-his on ‘ur face! (What’s this is on your face)
ktblueyz
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 02:23 pm: [report]
i use the term “butter face” when describing guys and my girlfriends always know exactly what I mean.
wawmama
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 02:34 pm: [report]
@justme…great! There’s a technical name, which escapes me right now, but I like hip cleavage. (It’s one of my “me likey” places.)
_jsw_
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 02:39 pm: [report]
@soytrucknutz: “butterface” applies to only someone’s face. Ron Jeremy… well… no much to look at anywhere on that guy, unless maybe you want to call him a “justice stick”.
stringbeans
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 08:22 pm: [report]
where i’m from we generally call anyone with a hot body but a disappointing face a ‘prawn’ as in rip the head off cause the body is all you want to eat
GAgirlinNYC
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 08:38 pm: [report]
They’re called Wow-Ows! Wow when far away, and then you see their face and say OW!
rbrent
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 08:59 pm: [report]
@saramarie and justme
My friends and I call them Mandents (indents…man…) any way, we think it’s funny
Ally
wrote on July 14 2009 @ 11:11 pm: [report]
In Australia (where i’m from) we call them ‘prawns’ that is, rip off the head and keep the body.
I guess for you guys in the US the equivilent would be a ‘shrimp’
Lovely_lady
wrote on July 15 2009 @ 06:20 pm: [report]
well me and my friend call to monet vison, you know they look goo from a distance? yea knda snagged it from clueless lol