...... to think it is profoundly anti feminist to use the word "cunt"...

[BertrandRussell]

....to describe, for example, an abusive violent man? I find the idea that, when looking for a word to describe awful, awful behaviour, we use a word for women's genitals horribly misogynistic.

Or am I just stuck in the 70s?

YANBU

Yeah I think it's pretty gross

Yanbu.

I find Arsehole a nice non gendered insult.

If you view feminism as meaning equal to men should we use prick, bellend, dick, knobhead. I think cunt and twat are interchangeable and can be applied to both men and women as can prick etc.

I've always thought that too. YANBU.

I don’t really agree, personally. I call people dicks a lot. I also use the word cunt because I’ve never understood why it is thought to be so much worse than other terms for genitalia, although I’m happy to be educated if it does have connotations I am unaware of.

I think yabu.

I've heared both men and women called pricks, cunts, twats and knobs.

If calling someone a twat is misogynistic, what is it to call someone a prick?

We were discussing this last night, I agree in the current climate it's not the best choice of word but I also am unsure about this because we use a lot of swears like dick/cock etc so not sure where I stand on this one...

Sits firmly on fence until someone smarter comes along

I believe the mn tradition is to not call an abusive anyone a cunt as they obviously lack the warmth and depth of one.
Generally stepping away from insults with abusers is my go to and calling out their behaviour. "He likes to insult women and have power over them" insults clearly come from anger which is easy to dismiss. Cold facts. It is liberating as so few peoplelike to talk about abusive people honesty

I hate the use of this word in general. I agree with you Bertrand and that is a very rare occurrence.
I am old though. My DSs use it and I hate it. DH never does. Maybe it's generational.

Meh.

Language evolves. I've never used that word to describe my genitals anyway.

Agreed, Bertrand. I usually use dick, if I'm referring to a man, or cockwomble (thank you MN) or something similar.

Yes, loathe the word and don't understand why anyone uses it on here.

I find if funny how 'cunt' is generally regarded as the worse form of insult and yet for some men it's the only part they value of a woman

I really struggle to get worked up about it. It's just a word like any other word - I don't understand 'the shock' of it.

Like a PP, unless there is a deep meaning behind it that I don't know about, to me it's just a bunch of letters put together like any other word. I have to say though that I do avoid using it in public as I know other people have a problem with it (not that I swear much in public generally - although I did yesterday in the shops after dropping the just-bought eggs all over the floor!).

I think it's rather like the 'n' word and black people. Fine to use if female. Otherwise no.

People use all sorts of genitals as insults. Does anyone actually call theirs a cunt? YABU.

Nah, it's a great word. I don't use it to describe my genitals so I don't conflate the two notions in my head.

I’m the same as PP, I don’t get what the fuss is about that particular word
Call me blonde, fat, cunt, overweight, idiot, twat, bitch, ... I am/have all of those things

I think it's wrong that it's a word that is considered so bad to call someone, that we actually 'save' it for people we consider bad enough to be worthy of being called it - "I never call people this but I'll make an exception for this person because he really deserves it"

I sort of feel like not using it perpetuates the idea that it is the worst thing to call somebody.

Dear OP I couldn't agree more and given how keen MNHQ are on zapping threads, I'd like to see them zapping threads with offensive swearing in.

I know we might call someone a dick, but it's far milder and nothing is so offensive in the English language as using the name of a part of a woman's anatomy as an insult.

And no, it's not claiming it back. It's just vile and horrible and unnecessary.

I don't like any insults which use a part of a woman's anatomy.

YANBU but I'm curious, I've seen it used on mumsnet a million times, but I don't actually hear it much, I've only heard it used once in rl I think.

How often do you hear it? Sorry if this is a tangent from the original.

I never thought of it that way but actually I think you might be right. I will have to think of other things to call my ex partner which will be fun no doubt.