Not to want to have words that I find offensive in thread titles?

[seeker]

Well,am I?

I object very strongly to people using the word "cunt" as a perjorative term - I think it's offensive and degrading to women. I challenge people who use it in RL. Do I have a point? Or not?

And I didn't say anything about protecting children from swear words - I don't actually do that. I talk about them and their meanings to them and explain when and for whom they are appropriate. The thread I started wasn't about swearing in general or about children at all. It was about a particular word which I think has unique resonances.

And nobody has yet said anything to shift my view that cunt is a word that should not be used casually or perjoratively.

and wiimii, if your so precious about it could you not use the word shit or fuck please, my son is sat on my knee

we have been here before. MN should not be censored so if people want to 'cunt' they can.

Does anybody feel like responding to my posts? Or shall I just give up and go back to talking about potty training somewhere!

so would twat be OK instead?

quim?

Mine aren't they are sat on my knee learning to spell cunt, read my posts darling.

And i wasn't clamouring for attention by using swear words as alas i am not you are.

My children are wonderful thanks, no need to pity them, i find that remark a thousand more times offensive than a thread title with a swear word in it.

I can see why people are offended by bad language but q like the word c* (not that I would post it in a thread title) but whatever happened to freedom of speech?
When other people try to restrict what language you should use because they know what is best for you I start to feel a bit uneasy. Take a look at Milton's Areopagitica: "I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue...that which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary."
A cleaned up language simply ignores the reality of normal life with all its imperfections and idiosyncricies and unavoidable existance of unpleasant things.

(If this is another COD thread that I hope i've given you a few more points!)

Well, you asked, 'Am I being unreasonable?'

That was your question.

IMO, yes.

So you challenge people IRL.

This isn't RL.

Hide the thread then.

But I've been one of the most outspoken members on here about not censoring anything - save a certain someone who caused MN some legal troubles.

So I'm not about to stop now.

This isn't a site for children and it is up to you to police your children and what they see online. Not the rest of the world.

It's also one of the few boards where a person can speak her mind without being dinged at EVERY turn for stepping on someone's too delicate toes.

good post expat

Keeping swearing to actual posts within threads rather than thread titles doesn't seem to be an unreasonable request to me.

Personally I swear like a sailor (I actually wish I swore less but that's another day) but whilst I'd happily swear within threads, it just seems courteous to me not to do it in titles - some people are reading threads at work, some people are reading them at home with kids present, some people just find the words offensive, and all those people should be able to trawl down a list of threads and dip in and out without problem.

Really, for those of you arguing against it, what's the problem? No-one's banning any words, just limiting the initial exposure to them for those who, for whatever reason, it causes a problem to. Why is that problematic, can't it just be done out of respect for others? You can still swear as much as you like inside the threads...

LOL @ banning certain words.

Puhleeze.

Fairyfly knew she was being offensive in her thread. I think she set out to offend as many people as possible, for whatever reason.

What bothers me here is the admonition that mumsnet is for adults, so anything goes. It would be nice to think we were looking out for each other, not typing words in thread titles that would make us cringe if our kids read them over our shoulder. Being a mum is hard enough -MN is a lifeline, not just another adult site.

It's disingenuous to say that 'cunt' is just another word for female genitals. For good or ill it's one of the worst insults there is and to be accused of being one, by another mother, because you might want to feed your kids well, is sad.

So explain to me why (am fairly hardened feminist) why using cunt is misogynist?

It is an adult site, Janni.

And if you don't want your children to see it, then take steps to prevent that.

It's your computer, under YOUR control.

There's any number of threads on here that are completely inappropriate for children all day, every day.

hi i just thought i would add something
for one, i dont believe in censorship, i dont like the word and dont use it myself but far be it from me to ask others to follow in my footsteps just to pacify me, also if people didnt use offensive words in their thread titles how would you know that you wouldnt be interested in reading it unless you opened the thread and were then blinded by all of the offensive language (at least the title forewarns you) and also if you dont like the word i would avoid starting a 'discussion' about it as i have read the offending word more times on this thread than anywhere else on MN surely it is offensive for you to even read this thread?? how ironic...
YABU IMO
xx ei xx

I don't want it banned, I just wince when I see it as it is the worst word for me.
I think it's awfully distasteful
But at the end of the day, as dh says it is just a word
I don't like 'guy' for man either. That makes me wince
And OMG when I watched that Ray Winstone and Kathy Burke film- it was every other word!!

By the way, the children seeing it on MN is a poor argument.