The 'c' word

[Terfing]

As in, the 4-letter word that refers to female genitalia.

I have started a thread in 'Site Stuff' asking them to ban the use of this word on Mumsnet. Personally, i find the word hugely offensive. It is shocking that one of the worst insults in the English language involves comparing someone to female genitalia. Even worse, I've seen it many times on the feminism boards.

What are other people's thoughts on this?

I love the phrase ‘I’d call you a cunt, but you lack the warmth, depth or usefulness’. I’m still waiting for an appropriate situation to use it in. And MN is a sweary pit of vipers. I would not change it for the world.

I use the "c" word all the time.

I'm not really up for banning words and policing of so called bad language either.

That's my tuppence worth.

I am very alive to language that demeans women, and I don't think cunt does. Because I don't see it used with the same red alert that, for instance, the word bitch is.

On this board, at least, I see it weaponised by women, far more than sexist men (or sexist women).

You will often have men coming on here being outrageously sexist, whilst staying within the rules. Using the word cunt shocks the bloody life out of them. Because their nasty little sexism utterly relies on women's socialisation to not be rude or vulgar.

So I understand why people object to the worst swearword actually being a term for female genitalia. But in practice, I don't see it ever being leveraged because of that.

And yes, of course, I don't agree with banning words. Any of them.

I don't find it more offensive than other words. Like most swear words, the level of offensiveness depends on context.

Oh honestly. It's just a word and is only as powerful as you let it be. I don't think you can police how others express themselves.

I do use the c word In real life which i ought to stop...none of my friends even say fuck!! And i dont allow swearing from the children, the odd f word has slipped out from the boys and dd accidentally said cunt once....she meant kite! She never swears , ever so everyone was like this

BUT...to get back to the point, i dont want any more words banned on here

Oh an on here its quite often used as a descriptive term...and a term of endearment

So the op started 2 of these threads, and come back to neither?

Horrible word 🤭

I want to add something. Because it's an interesting concept - is the word sexist?

I'm wondering if the acid test is to whom the word is directed, rather than what it means.

The words bitch and hysterical are, for most women, an instant indication of a sexist attitude. And they are generally only ever directed at women.

The word cunt is directed at both sexes, but more often, at men. I don't think those men feel as though they are being called female genitalia. The word pussy means female genitalia, but has entirely different connotations when used as an insult. And is rarely used towards women. And why isn't that word just as offensive as the word cunt. What's the difference?

If it's the fact that it refers to female genitalia, they should be equally offensive. And they're not.

It's not a word I would use in rl very much, and I do swear like a sailor, but no, banning words is daft.

And as for the misogyny, I think it's well worth exploring why it's seen as the very worst word in some English-speaking cultures. Personally I love that it can be brought out of the rude word arsenal, when you deployed all those weedy dicks, cocks and bollocks and the most powerful word to use for shock value is a word for female genitals. Like, yeah, penises, whatever, you lot think they are what makes the world go round.

A well placed 'cunt' can stop the traffic.

So no, no bans. Also, think about what a ban on that one word would say, if we're not also banning the equivalent male genital words? This is a predominantly a site that women use, famed for the swears. And we're only allowed to use words for male genitals. Yeah, that don't sound right to me at all.

In Scotland, people just use it to mean ‘person’ half the time like ‘where’s that cunt Derek?’ with no malice towards Derek intended. So like honestly, it feels really shite when (normally) middle class English/American people start trying to say we shouldn’t use that word because it is used so often. Like ‘no, you oiks, please say ‘where is that vulgar man’ instead.’

I hate this clamouring like ‘oh it’s saying that female genitalia is disgusting’. Calm the fuck down, no one even thinks of female genitalia when they say that word in the sense of ‘what a fucking cunt that guy is’.

If you don’t like it, just don’t use it. Don’t
speak to those who use it if you are offended. But telling people what words they can and can’t use, when it’s not actually being used offensively, is fucking bullshit.

I agree with Datun about this. I really deplore the use of "bitch" and other words aimed at putting women down, but I think "cunt" is OK. Or rather, I don't think it's OK to use all the time but I don't think it's necessarily misogynistic.

The reason for that is that swear words obey their own rules. Most of them have long lost any relationship to their original meaning. So when we call someone a "bastard" we don't mean that they were born out of wedlock. When we tell someone to "fuck off" we're not telling them to go and have sexual intercourse. When we say "My phone is buggered" we don't mean that someone has had anal sex with our mobile device. In the same way, when we call someone a "cunt", we're really not thinking about female genitalia.

Cunt is a fine old Anglo Saxon word for a vital and amazing part of a woman's body. There is nothing offensive in the word — any more than the word vagina or vulva.

It's been subverted by men and used as a term of abuse — to abuse women and men. There's nothing wrong with the word, just the way it's been used. We can reclaim it by using it to accurately instead of using euphemisms and by challenging men who use it as an insult. If/ when I encounter a man who uses the word as an insult it tells me everything I need to know about him.

There are no bad or unacceptable words, just words stolen and abused to express hate. Am I the only one to have read Dale Spender's Man Made Language?

I really deplore the use of "bitch"

I don't like 'bitch' because I think it's so unfair to dogs :( The only time btiches are aggressive is when they have pups they're protecting. What's wrong with that?

Am I the only one to have read Dale Spender's Man Made Language?

No, you're not, and I wish more women would read it. It was one of those books that completely opened my eyes to how language is biased towards the male perspective. Sadly, very few people seem to mention it now when talking about classic feminist texts.

Sorry, can't agree that continuing to use a part of the female anatomy as an insult is a feminist thing to do. Is it really empowering to adopt the language of your oppressors? If the worst thing you can call a man is the word used to name the definitively female part of our bodies, what does that mean?

One of the reasons that cock and knob and prick are satisfying to say is that they are all good single-syllable Old English/ Middle English/ Old Germanic words that make good pithy insults.

Cunt is also Middle English.

Oops sorry - you already said that.

It's misogynistic to use cunt as a term of abuse but I love the way way it's been reclaimed on FWR to refer to adult human females in the phrase 'women - the cunty type'.

No ban, please.

Fucking hell. It's pretty difficult to compose a post on fwr without risking a ban for wrongspeak, we don't need anymore banned words.

Ah I thought you were going to discuss the three letter word. I don’t like the word cunt, but after watching people tying themselves into knots over the words vagina and vulva, it seems quite simple. We all know what it means and it separates us from those men who like to appropriate the word woman.

I don't like the words 'moist', 'plimsoll', 'peppy' or 'gusset' but I just get on with it. Oh, but the expression 'poo juice' (nappy spilled over) is worse than anything.

As an aside as it's not to do with offence, I've never been keen on the word vagina as it means sheath - so something only a woman has is defined by its relationship to something (penis?) that will be put into it and is not considered something in and of itself.

And yes moist and gusset give me the shudders...