To be enormously offended by the C-word

[AmericasfavoritefightingFrenchman]

So today a man called me a c* during an argument, and I was assured by everyone around, including three women, that this is no longer an insulting word, not shocking or taboo, and that I was unreasonable to be enormously offended.

This idea is shocking to me. Surely it’s very offensive and deeply misogynistic? I was definitely offended, and hurt that the women I was with thought it was no big deal.

Or am I unreasonable? Is it so unoffensive these days as to be a casual, unremarkable part of conversation?

People always say this.

It's really not. It's just as offensive, just as inappropriate as it is anywhere else. Just because the Frankie Boyle types use the word doesn't mean the rest of us do.

OP

Do not watch The Gentlemen

@RandomGeocache my comment was lighthearted tbh. However, I have to say my weegee pals who inhabit a variety of class and culture use the word with abandon.

The Dutch variation of this word is being used in everyday sentences

Like : what a c* weather

I am totally numb to the word.
It has been used so much it lost all meaning.

Like saying a guy is a dick
You dont get all upset and offended by that.

It is just a word

I live in Glasgow, none of my friends do. The ones born and raised here, the ones who moved here for uni and stayed, the ones from other parts of the UK/Europe/World. Yes you hear people on the bus using the word or whatever, but it's not a part of everyday speech, thankfully.

It's a very satisfactory word to say though. Feels very emphatic in the mouth. It's a word I think we ought to reclaim.
I've got one. What am I supposed to call it?

I don’t like it. And I do often wonder how women who would probably call themselves feminists, can use a word meaning female genitalia, as a term of strong abuse.

Men call each other dicks as an insult all the time and they all think their genitalia is GREAT

It's not necessarily a term of abuse. Sometimes it's just an expletive.

I don’t think YABU for being offended at being personally insulted. However I wouldn’t be any more offended by being called c*nt that I would being called an effing bitch or something.

Cunt is absolutely part of everyday speech in many parts of Glasgow and surrounding areas.

Maybe less likely in leafy Giffnock than down the Forge shopping centre, and maybe less likely with those over the age of 40 than those under the age of 20, but still very common use and not intended offensively in maybe 80% of use.

It is offensive but no more than other swear words imo.

I wouldn't be happy at a man calling me any form of slur - bitch, cunt, slapper etc.

However I don't see it as worse that he chose cunt over bitch for example.

Me too, generally. It's horrible and there is no point to using the word as an expletive or to describe someone.

It is misogynistic, even when it's used toward a man. It should never be used. It's not clever. Where I used to work I noticed it's become a kind of fashion among upper-middle-class women to use it, possibly as a display of how free-thinking they are. They should know better.

I use it often. Even as a term of endearment with my friends.

But it is valid to feel offended by it, just as you might with any other slurs.

If it wasn't offensive, he wouldn't have used it. Hence why he didn't call you a currant or a cucumber.

Yet on this site it's used very frequently towards men and women, before looking at MN I'd never really come across it. Why is it unacceptable aimed at women but acceptable, presumably, aimed at men?

I don't think it is acceptable for the word to be aimed at either sex and there is no need to use it at all.

It isn't a humourus word like fanny or minge, it is the real McCoy. Someone could call another person a minge and it would be lighthearted, likewise calling a man a prick. The C word is authentic and harsh. One could say it is widely misused.

Weird that some women are so overly offended to something they all have, whilst dick, bellend, cock is just fine.

There is a huge difference between using the word in conversation as in god what a cunt he is, or it was such an cunt cutting that tree down, and actually calling someone a cunt to their face in an argument.

id not bat an eyelid for the former and I’d be hugely offended and incandescent if anyone dared to call me a cunt to my face.

Do,you genuinely not know the difference, I’m assuming you’re a male and being goady.

I’m taking the diminish view here that it’s a word used about women and to des rive women’s vagina / vulva and therefor seen as so much worse than words describing men’s, therefor the whole
Idea that cunt is worse is misogynistic !!

I am a woman. I don’t use the word , I don’t sweat an awful lot but I do think people should examine why they are so triggered by something they have themselves. Internalised misogyny, we have the power to change the world for the better but instead we keep each other chained. It BS

I agree and I’m female and genuinely not being goady. There are more offensive things to be called that a piece of my anatomy- I will not be part of this horror at the mention of it - it’s just a cunt - no big deal.

I think the point is that it's offensive to use a slang word for a woman's body part as an insult: see also twat. It's especially offensive on MN in my opinion when women describe the worst of men as a cunt or a twat, like there's nothing worse they could possibly be.

Nah I don’t find any words other people use offensive.

I reserve use of the C word though for discussing my stepmother 😂