Is “Frape” Offensive?

If you are a regular user of Facebook, you are probably aware of the term "frape"- perhaps you yourself have fraped a friend or been fraped. Changing someone's status to something silly can be very amusing, (probably not for the person who forgot to log out) but the word itself has raised a linguistical dilemma for many. Is the word "frape" offensive, disrespectful and insensitive or simply a slang word that people are looking into too much?

 

 According to The Rice University Neologism Database (http://neologisms.rice.edu) frape is defined as:

"verb, blending of the words "Facebook" and "rape"
To gain access to another's Facebook account without the individual knowing and posting or updating the profile with things he or she would not. This arose as a comical prank among friends and became known as frape because it is an unwanted violation of one's Facebook account."

 

Some people are outraged by the term and its misuse of the word "rape," particularly feminists. Instead, they suggest some more politically correct versions such as, "facebook hijack" or "facejacking." (http://community.feministing.com/2010/05/26/to-frape-or-not-to-frape-a-feminist-linguistical-dilemma/) But are they overreacting? I mean, it's just a word, right?

 

For Lucy Tobin, author of the dictionary for adults 'Pimp Your Vocab', it is just a word. It's an example of jargon adopted by British youngsters. Speaking to The Guardian, Tobin seems to recognise the word's serious connotations: "On discovering a pupil talking about being fraped, should you call the police?" But she passes it off as simply "teenglish" terminology.

 

For many people, however, "frape" is not a slang term to be laughed at; it is offensive and potentially triggering to victims of abuse. A post about the word on feminist blog, www.thefword.org.uk says,"it is worrying that for many young men and women rape is increasingly seen as something laughable." The author argues that people should "stop equating rape with a minor inconvenience or childish prank."

 

Similar arguments can be seen on various blogs with many suggesting that the word "frape" trivialises rape. However, views are fairly divided with one blogger commenting, "'I could murder a bowl of cornflakes.' Is that trivialising murder?" (to see this interesting debate click here) Language does change over time and a word's meaning can alter. Perhaps words such as murder and rape have gone through the process of amelioration. When people use the word "frape" they aren't literally referring to the crime rape, just the idea of, as the earlier definition stated, "an unwanted violation."

 

So what do you think? Are you going to continue using the word "frape" regardless of its possible connotations or will you opt for a more politically correct version?

 

Any young feminists might like to visit: http://thefbomb.org/, a blog/community created for teenage girls who care about their rights as women. They also have an interesting post on the word frape.

 

By Tayla Ansell