Is the word ‘cunt’ misogynistic in the U.K.?

[QueenArseClangers]

Just that really. I’ve noticed it being a sentiment more common in the US than over here.

It's an insult but not one I get that bothered about as it's fairly generic in Scotland and usually gets uttered by drunks to anyone of either sex who pisses them off.

Tbh I’ve only ever heard men calling it each other so although I’d be a bit if a man called it a women I’d be more affronted if he called her a Bitch.

Dido, not claptrap, but a bit of a wry comment and certainly from my own experience - I work with people from all walks of life and seem to have become desensitized to hearing it being used in the positive freindly or neutral descriptive sense in Glasgow.

@tilder that is the etymology. I particularly don't like the scabbard connotation. It smacks of men as violent weapons attacking women's genitalia. Yuk.

Yes

It's not just used for women in the UK.

It is the 'worst' of swearwords though. The fact that a word for vagina is the most obscene word is definitely misogynistic.

Interestingly though different cultures have different ideas about hierarchy of swearwords.

EG bugger is mild and even affectionate where I live. Ditto sod. Both are referencing anal sex with homophobic undertones.

But people who won't say fuck are happy to say sod that, or silly buggers.

@aliasundercover

Chipperfish Not just Glasgow. It’s a bit of an odd British thing that many people call a stranger ‘mate’, but call their mate a ‘cunt’.

This made me smile - strangers probably wouldn't be too happy if you called them cunts before you know them

I don't find it any more offensive than fuck as a swear, but it annoys me intensely, as a pp said, that it's considered the worst of all swears and it describes a woman's genitalia. Men's genitalia seems to be write low level swearing... dick, cock, etc.

quite not write

In England it is the worst swear word.

There is history to it. It used to be a word which was just a descriptor. It's misogyny that says this word is obscene, actually.

Roads called 'grope cunt lane' have been renamed.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gropecunt_Lane

When I was a kid at school I didn’t really hear the word it’s definitely used a lot more I hate the word.

It's interesting though - I very rarely use this word, but when I do, it is always against men

I don't find it any more offensive than fuck as a swear, but it annoys me intensely, as a pp said, that it's considered the worst of all swears and it describes a woman's genitalia. Men's genitalia seems to be write low level swearing... dick, cock, etc.

Hmm, what about scrotum? It's possibly less shocking than cunt, but I think implies a much stronger sense of thinking the person it's applied to is a pathetic shit.

I've not heard 'scrote' used for about 20 years!

I've seen/heard it more often recently, but cussing seems to be a highly regional thing.

Although thinking about it, "scrote" was around when I was a teen, but at the moment it seems to be the whole word, as in "He's a real scrotum".

This is a part of the body that should be treated with respect. It's not a joke and it shouldn't be an insult. Of course its sexist.

Context is everything

It can be misogynistic or it can be a historical word for female genitaila or it can be an expression of contempt aimed at a man or woman (just as bitch can be) or it can be a term of affection, depending on the cultural / sub-cultural context.

Until very recently the word was much more taboo in the US as in the UK. The TV programme Game of Thrones, in which the word is used as an old fashioned indication of contempt, often in an extremely funny context, has made the word less taboo in the US and in the UK

I only use it to refer to genitals. I think it can have some power there.

A while back I made the deliberate choice to use penis-words as insults, Prick, Cock, Dick, Dickhead, Bell End, all have quite nuanced meaning in the U.K., and Ballbag and Scrote give further variety. Sometimes I go for a gender neutral Arsehole or Asshat.

There is no sense to it. For example why is "twat" considered a mild swear word when cunt is the most offensive word ever when they mean the same thing. It's just bizarre.

My thoughts entirely. Why does 'cunt' make me wince when 'twat' doesn't? Is it the sound? Cunt is blunt but twat is flat?

I really like the word 'berk' though, which is just calling someone a cunt by a roundabout route. (It's rhyming slang: berk = Berkeley Hunt.)

Wondering why calling someone a word for a vulva should be considered SO much more offensive than calling them a word for a penis. 🤔

Yes. And isn't it interesting that it's considered far more abject and socially-taboo than words like prick, dick, cock etc.?

It's almost as if society finds women and our anatomy more disgusting than that of men ...

Nah, I don’t associate it with being specifically misogynistic. Men and women use it, and get called it themselves.

It's certainly much less offensive in the UK than it is across the Atlantic. I've almost always heard it applied to men.

I was over 40 by the time I found out that "twat" was related to female genitalia rather than just an alternative pronunciation of "twit"!

I've had a secret liking for the word "quim" since I read it in a trashy historical romance years ago.

The French (con) and Spanish (coño) equivalents seem to be thrown around in their respective countries with abandon. There was a French film called "Le Diner de Cons", which is normally translated as "Dinner for Idiots" but literally means "Dinner for Cunts".

Yes.