English term
Libertine/ free spirit/unchaste woman
what do you call women who like to live freely, who act as if they were young, and do as they please despite society?
They live their lives the way they want to and doesn't care about rules or customs. Please note that I'm searching for a word or term that indicates that society doesn't like them (a disapproving word/term). Also, can we add "girl" to a free spirit? A free spirit girl (I mean) or it doesn't sound English.
My suggestions:
A free spirit
A free spirit girl (because she acts like a girl)
Unchaste girl
Libertine
Please, feel free to suggest your translation.
Thank you in adavance for your help :).
3 +2 | party girl/wild thing |
Ramey Rieger (X)
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4 +2 | promiscuous/loose/"liberated"/etc. |
Arabic & More
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4 +1 | wild woman |
Yvonne Gallagher
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3 +1 | free spirit |
Tariq Ali
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4 | loose woman |
airmailrpl
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3 | modern-day hippie |
Kiet Bach
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Aug 7, 2022 11:02: writeaway changed "Field (write-in)" from "Slangs " to "slang"
Aug 7, 2022 14:22: Andrea Capuselli changed "Visibility" from "Visible" to "Squashed"
Aug 7, 2022 14:23: Andrea Capuselli changed "Visibility" from "Squashed" to "Visible"
Aug 7, 2022 14:23: Andrea Capuselli changed "Term Context" from "Definition and explanation: what do you call women who like to live freely, who act as if they were young, and do as they please despite society? They live their lives the way they want to and doesn\'t care about rules or customs. Please note that I\'m searching for a word or term that indicates that society doesn\'t like them (a disapproving word/term). Also, can we add \"girl\" to a free spirit? A free spirit girl (I mean) or it doesn\'t sound English. My suggestions: A free spirit A free spirit girl (because she acts like a girl) Unchaste girl Libertine Please, feel free to suggest your translation. Thank you in adavance for your help :)." to "Definition and explanation: what do you call women who like to live freely, who act as if they were young, and do as they please despite society? They live their lives the way they want to and doesn\'t care about rules or customs. Please note that I\'m searching for a word or term that indicates that society doesn\'t like them (a disapproving word/term). Also, can we add \"girl\" to a free spirit? A free spirit girl (I mean) or it doesn\'t sound English. My suggestions: A free spirit A free spirit girl (because she acts like a girl) Unchaste girl Libertine Please, feel free to suggest your translation. Thank you in adavance for your help :). " , "May Offend" from "Not Checked" to "Checked"
Aug 7, 2022 14:34: writeaway changed "Field" from "Art/Literary" to "Other"
Responses
party girl/wild thing
agree |
writeaway
: With party girl. It's not quite as offensive, anachronistic or misogynistic as other options.But I still feel this sort of question sets an unhealthy precedent and goes beyond certain acceptable limits.
2 hrs
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agree |
Anastasia Kalantzi
7 hrs
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neutral |
Yvonne Gallagher
: Party girl implies a young woman, who dresses provocatively and yes, goes to parties. Not necessarily someone who doesn't follow the rules//and "wild thing"(the song) was simply slang for sex
8 hrs
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neutral |
Daryo
: as used by most people, that is not really a term that shows disapproval. From the point of view of people using the term Asker tries to translate, it's like calling a terrorist a freedom fighter.
6 days
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wild woman
I agree with others in Dbox.
"free spirit(ed)" is not really disapproved of by many of us in Western society and why should it be? We don't (and shouldn't) disapprove of women who are free spirits unless we also disapprove of such men.
Of course it's different for women living in patriarchal societies that are still somewhere in the middle ages as regards the position of women. And there are people (mostly men but also some women) who dispprove of such women in western society too These are people who also haven't realised we are now in the 22nd century. :-(
Also, do not conflate "girls" and "women". Any female over 16 in western society does not like to be called a "girl"
Many of us don't disapprove of a "wild woman" or a "wild-at-heart woman" either but the word "wild" has more negative overtones than "free" so it might suit your purposes (which aren't really clear by the way?). Context is scant.
https://wildsimplejoy.com/signs-wild-woman/
https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/exploring-female-chara...
"The Wild Woman is also one of the fastest evolving character archetypes. As the world changes, so does our definition of wild; what would have gotten a woman crushed with heavy rocks or burned at the stake four hundred years ago is now admired as a character quirk or a woman embracing her thunder. ..."
agree |
Tony M
: I agree with your comments, and I think your analysis is correct, subject to the lack of context.
8 hrs
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Many thanks Tony!
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neutral |
Daryo
: you are missing the point: the question is about what term of disapproval would be used by some die-hard conservatives - whether the targets of the said disapproval like or not the term used is not part of the equation.
6 days
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YOU are the one missing the point. I gave a reasoned answer to the question as asked, more than some people have done! And then completely wrong answer gets chosen!
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modern-day hippie
A member of a counterculture originating in the United States in the 1960s, typically characterized by unconventional dress and behavior, communal or transient lifestyles, opposition to war, and liberal attitudes toward sexuality and the use of marijuana and psychedelic drugs.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/hippie
neutral |
Tony M
: The trouble is, that really does conjure up a certain historical period; and in many peoplke's eyse, would be seen as positive rather than negative, as the text seems to require.
1 hr
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neutral |
Arabic & More
: I agree with Tony on this.
8 hrs
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neutral |
Daryo
: a "modern-day hippie" in today's Morocco?
6 days
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promiscuous/loose/"liberated"/etc.
Free-spirited is generally positive, as indicated above, but this could also be turned into a negative with the use of quotation marks: a so-called "free-spirited" woman who drinks and sleeps around.
You could also say that she is promiscuous or loose (meaning that she sleeps around) or has loose morals (which could include other behaviors as well). A lot really just depends on the context...and it is not always the specific word that you use, but the sentence as a whole and what it conveys.
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Note added at 2 hrs (2022-08-07 12:38:04 GMT)
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As for "unchaste," it can be used in certain circumstances, particularly if the text is a religious (Islamic) text. However, it only refers to sexual relations outside of marriage and does not cover behaviors like smoking, drinking, etc.
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Note added at 10 hrs (2022-08-07 20:35:29 GMT)
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My opinions on some of the other options provided by other posters:
I agree with "party girl" as a possibility but feel it mostly applies to younger women and would generally not be used with those who are older. Also, it implies that the woman literally goes to parties (usually frequently) and enjoys them, which might be the case in your particular text.
As for "wild," this may be used in some places, but I don't think it would be very common to say wild thing or woman in the US, so you may wish to take this into consideration as well depending on your target audience.
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Note added at 10 hrs (2022-08-07 20:36:03 GMT)
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I meant to say: which might *not* be the case in your particular text.
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Note added at 16 hrs (2022-08-08 03:08:11 GMT)
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Another term you may wish to consider is rebellious. For example: She rebelled against all of the values she was raised with to live a life of sin / to live as she pleased / etc.
neutral |
writeaway
: What word do you suggest for men who behave in exactly the same way? /What context would that be and in what country?
2 mins
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The question is specifically about women in a particular cultural context.//The Asker addresses this in the discussion box.
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agree |
Daryo
: "loose" would be the nearest.
5 hrs
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Thank you for your input.
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agree |
Tony M
: "loose" as I suggested some time ago in discussion. I'd avoid 'promiscuous', which has a particular and always sexual connotation, suggesting in particular multiple sexual partners. As we've all been saying, more context is needed.
8 hrs
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Thank you, Tony. The need for more context is one thing we can definitely all agree on.
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neutral |
Victoria Britten
: These are three - quite different - terms!
20 hrs
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They are meant to present a wide range of options, depending on the overall tone and purpose of the text.
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free spirit
agree |
writeaway
: With free spirit. Even if they are hated and despised in some societies, this is what they are: free spirits.
44 mins
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loose woman
loose woman - Wiktionaryhttps://en.wiktionary.org › wiki › loose_woman
Noun. loose woman (plural loose women) A sexually promiscuous woman;
Loose woman - The Free Dictionaryhttps://www.thefreedictionary.com › loose+woman
1. loose woman - a woman adulterer. adulteress, fornicatress, hussy, strumpet, trollop, jade, slut.
What does it mean if someone is loose?
sexually promiscuous or immoral; unchaste.
Discussion
Just an idea: what term would Mary Whitehouse have used?
In my wild days, I was referred to by conservative U.S. Americans as a anything from slut to degenerate to low-life. A free spirit would be a kind term, utterly devoid of social disapproval. LOW-LIFE may be an option here. We are all pussy-footing about somewhat and being far too mild, which reflects our hesitance to 'call a spade a spade' as the source text implies (I think). It would be MOST useful to have more context!
(Or one could go to some less civilized message boards and find out what slang the degenerates are using to describe unpliable women nowadays.)
I am just one person, however, so maybe others from the US would feel differently.
BTW Arabic & More "wild woman" is a term used on BOTH sides of the Atlantic, and basically relates to a self-confident woman who does what she likes when she likes without getting too concerned about social mores. And it's not just about sex or morals either. Though if you just want something to describe being disapproving of those you could say degenerate (you disapprove of them because you think they have low standards of behaviour or morality). I think that may be too strong here, but not enough context to know tone required. https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/exploring-female-chara...
It's just that in modern Western culture, this sort of misogyny is so frowned upon that there is a lack of 'formal, official' terms to describe the kind of person we are all imagining here. Hence the terms available for translation will perforce tend to be 'slang' ones, which may or may not sit well with the register and tone of the document — about which we know so little!
Without that information, it's very difficult to judge the tone required here, and the cultural differences mean there is a real pitfall for the unwary.
Finally, lest anyone forget: we are translators, and we translate the ideas of other people. Such phrases appear in a wide variety of places, including movies, novels, etc. It’s not up to us to sugar-coat the situation or pretend that such attitudes do not exist. Yassine does not have to qualify his question or say what he personally thinks or believes in order to ask the question. The question does not set an “unhealthy precedent” or go beyond “certain acceptable limits.” We are merely discussing how a certain concept is best expressed in English.
You see how very difficult it is for us to try and make targetted suggestions, without knowing a lot more about the wider context of your document, and indeed, of the culture of the intended readership. this is far more than a mere translation issue, and demands deeper cultural understanding of both source and target cultures.
'free spirit' (no you can't add 'girl') possibly conveys some of the right ideas — but as others have already said, is more likely in European culture to be regarded positively. The only way you could qualify it would be to say something like 'a [person] with a free spirit' — but that wouldn't be a normal or idiomatic way to express it in EN.
It does also depend on the tone and register of your document — there are various options available in a 'slang' register that might be wholly unsuitable if your document context is more formal.
An old-fashioned term that might possibly suit is 'loose woman' — the suggestion being she has 'loose morals', literally implying that she "sleeps around"; but this might be extended to encompass things like drinking, smoking, going out alone, etc.
In a slightly more literary register, you might consider 'a dissolute woman' — 'a woman who leads a dissolute life' That certainly covers more than just the 'casual sex' aspect of the idea as a whole.
The problem here is that free-spirited young women are not generally disapproved of in English-speaking cultures. They can have sex without being married, and have multiple partners without being stigmatized.
"Free spirit" is the only one of your suggestions that works, but it has positive connotations.