He that does not love a WOMAN sucked a sow

Meaning & Analysis

A man who dislikes women must have been nursed by a pig instead of a human mother, implying he is unnatural, brutish, and subhuman.

Insights

Dehumanization and Brutishness

The proverb equates a man's failure to love women with a fundamental lack of humanity. The act of suckling from a sow symbolizes an animalistic nature, suggesting the man is coarse, base, and outside the bounds of civilized human society.

Misogyny as an Unnatural State

It frames the hatred of women not merely as a personal opinion but as a profound perversion of the natural order. This unnatural sentiment, the proverb implies, must stem from an equally unnatural and corrupt upbringing.

Enforcement of Social Norms

The proverb serves as a powerful tool of social policing. It uses extreme insult to enforce the cultural expectation that men should desire and appreciate women, punishing non-conformity with social ostracism and ridicule.

Historical Symbolism

The sow has long been a symbol of uncleanliness and base instincts in Western culture. By linking a man's character to being nursed by a sow, the proverb leverages deep-seated cultural revulsion to create a powerful and visceral insult.

Social and Gender Norms

The proverb functions as a tool for enforcing patriarchal norms. It posits love for women as a fundamental, natural trait for men, thereby framing any deviation—such as homosexuality, asexuality, or simple misogyny—as a grotesque perversion of one's humanity.

Psychological Othering

The shocking and grotesque imagery reflects a psychological need to 'other' and dehumanize those who do not conform to societal expectations. It pathologizes the dislike of women by attributing it to an unnatural and debased origin, effectively silencing dissent through disgust.

Rhetorical Devices

Hyperbole

The proverb employs extreme exaggeration to create a shocking and memorable insult. The image is not meant to be taken literally but to convey the utmost contempt.

Dysphemism

The use of the sow as a surrogate mother is a powerful form of dysphemism, using a deliberately offensive and degrading image to express disgust and condemnation.

Animal Symbolism

The proverb relies on the negative symbolism of the sow to transfer qualities of filth, baseness, and animalism onto the man being described.

genderinsultdehumanizationhyperbolesocial-normsmisogyny

Analyzed with gemini-2.5-pro on August 15, 2025

Transcription

Quotations

My officious friend, said I, he that does not love a woman sucked a sow.

— 1667, R. L'ESTRANGE, Visions, 4, p. 216

— 1732, FUL., no. 2083

And they say, he that hates woman, sucked a sow.

— 1738, SWIFT, Pol. Conv., I, p. 424

Related Proverbs

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