User:Stepshep/Sandbox/Tea Party

Use of term "Teabagger," "Teabagging"

The use of "Teabagging" as a verb was seen early on in Tea Party protest signage at the first national Tea Party protest. Shortly after the idea of mailing tea bags to Congress was first proposed, one of the participants used the slang term "teabagging" as a double entendre referring to a sexual act.

The term "Teabagger" was also frequently used by members of the news media to describe the movement, many of whom seemed oblivious to its slang-based sexual connotation. This included mainstream outlets such as the Associated Press and PBS, as well as some of the conservative hosts on the Fox News channel. To some degree, this moniker may have been a nod to other recent burgeoning political movements with nicknames such as the birthers and truthers. As the somewhat obscure slang sexual term became more well known in connection to the growing movement, others began intentionally using it as a pejorative term. As Jay Nordlinger of the National Review said, "conservatives started this... but others ran and ran with it." MSNBC host Rachel Maddow frequently poked fun at the "hot teabagging action" going on at the protests.

While some protesters continue to embrace the term despite its slang connotations, it has become increasingly controversial, with most participants preferring to self-identify as "Tea Partier". As the controversy has spread, a number of people in the public sphere have been criticized for their continued use of the term, such as Bill Clinton and PBS Newshour host Gwen Ifill, who later apologized saying she was completely unaware of the slang-based sexual connotation.