To hate the use of the word cunt on mns

[lesley33]

I have kind of get used to it over the months I have been on here. But I still really don't like the use of this word. It is a swear word for female genitals and I guess I think it is a fairly misogynistic insult to use. And it does surprise me that posters who in other ways seem very liberal use language that I see as misogynistic and disrespectful towards women.
So AIBU to think this?

Thanks big girl - didn't know it had been posted before

I don't like the word,

however I struggle with people who equate every insulting word towards women as misogyny , its a really overused word on here.

Don't go off to feminism Lesley! Stay here!

I am with those who think of it as "taking it back" iyswim.

If it's used a lot in trivial ways it gets sort of "diluted" and stops being so offensive. Kind of takes the power away from the woman-hating knobbers.

T'is only my very humble opinion though. I think everyone has certain words they are offended by, that's the diversity of language for you.

Yadnbu though, no one can tell you what not to be offended by, that would be cuntishness of the highest order

On the other hand i'm just a sad middle class dm reader trying to sound all alternative and edgy like

lesley33 when I call someone a dickhead or knobhead, I mean it in at best that they're an idiot, and at worst they're a complete and utter nasty piece of work.

So yeah - I do use those terms as an insult. Weirdly though only with the suffix head. If I laughingly call my friend a knob, it's affectionate. If I call people I dislike something, it's usually dickhead or knobhead.

at BigGirls basket.

Sometimes I wonder if it's more the harsh sound of the word that alarms/offends people?

After all twat isn't nearly so offensive and gee (Irish slang for a vagina) is almost affectionate....And growler is plain old funny....

The very first time I heard it in a comical way, was in Chasing Amy where Jason's Lee character is the little boy in the anecdote about calling a nun a cunt rag.

It's so deliciously awful in such a naughty way - the nun, the image it brings up, the little kid, Kevin Smith's whole argument with Catholicism, the juvenile nature in the way it made me laugh. Calling someone a sanitary towel still kind of makes me chuckle.

scarlet I think I may be a 12 yo boy.

I just tittered out loud at growler

I've not heard of 'growler' either. In which part of the world, have you learned it? :)

what about muff!

Minge is awful too.

Oops, I did sound rather serious didn't I? No need to say sorry though OP.

I've got a cheek as well as us Scots are well known for using insults in jest so I insult my mates using swear words but still don't mean offense IYSWIM.

cunty cunty cunt, it's an awesome word (sorry) [gri]n

I don't like it either. But I am very old, and am prepared to accept that it could be being reclaimed.

In my cynical moments, however, I suspect that it is not being truly reclaimed but "uncle tommed".

I don't see that male genitals are positive and female negative though.

Quite the opposite really, male bits are all floppy and untidy and need adjusting every 30 seconds. Female bits are all tidy and warm and life-giving. Strong. Men need a lie down after getting a spoonful of gunk out of their genitals. Women get whole PEOPLE out of theirs.

In fact, perhaps calling someone a cunt should be seen as massive praise rather than an insult. Hmmm...need to go think about this.

No need to say sorry

And people don't tend to use mingeor muff for example as insults here. It is always cunt - as in you cunt, your people are all cunts, etc

Yes but do you use the cunt word in reality?

Cunt is not a bad word- it's the best word for a bad thing.

It also means female genitalia, although this is a less common use of the word.

Words can have dual meaning; this does not mean that one of the meanings means the other; i.e., it does not mean that female genitalia IS a bad thing. That would be absurd.

flisspaps that was brilliant. I shall now be proud every time someone calls me a cunt!

biggirl - I don't swear at all in rl - crap is about the "worst" word I use. DP actually saw me type a swear word on mns and was a bit shocked.

God I sound a prude don't I. But my feelings about cunt aren't , I don't think, based on swearing per se, but more on what I think might be underlying misognony.

Maybe it's the harsh anglo-saxon consonants? It's The consonant "c" can be said so aggressively. Combined with the U (and unpleasant vowel imo ) and the n and t, it just sounds so hard.

lesley you are uncomfortable with it being used. YANBU

When peple on here say 'you're all cunts', it is generally used by people who in reality feel shyte about their life. It. Is. True.

When the traffic warden gave me a ticket i called him a cunt, i wnet beserk and he threatened to call the police.

When I was a young feminist in the 1970s, we felt very strongly about the use of th word "cunt". It was overwhelmingly used by men as the worst possible thing you could call anyone. I don't think younger women can possibly understand how vicious and misogynist it was.

I know that the "reclamation" argument is being used- the trouble is it is still used by men in that way, and I think for a woman to use it as an insult is a very strange thing to do! Using it as a word for their cunt is another matter.

We have to be very careful with the reclamation argument. it can be a distraction, and it can also be a palliative "Look, obviously the battle for equality's been won, women can drink pints of lager and say cunt- what do you mean you want equal pay!"

Interesting seeker as I am 47, so perhaps that does have an im
pact on how I view it