It depends on the context and the culture. In the UK it's a word employed by both men and women, and applied to both, but more commonly to men...'He's a stupid cunt'...for example. It can be used in a humorous and friendly way too, 'Oh, come on you silly cunt'... It's not being used as hateful or misogynistic abuse, and again, might be said by women and men. Abusive of women is many things and comes in numerous forms, but using the word 'cunt' to express it is very low down in this country.
It's a word that is definitely not to everyone's taste, and some find it highly offensive, my mother, for instance. Mostly 'cunt' is used as an insult, like 'prick', 'twat', 'dick' or 'arsehole'. In this context, words like this have ceased to be about genitals and body parts, they have taken on another meaning and have a specific function. You might never have heard someone referred to as a cunt in a jokey, friendly way, but I assure you it does happen.
They are still about genitals to me and, I think, to most people -- and this is what makes them offensive!
Yes it might happen that some people no longer think about the words they use. But I'm not one of them.
And I was interested to see in the "Abuse" section of the Wikipedia entry for "cunt", that my understandings (for over 50 years) of its basically misogynist use are allied with second wave feminism / feminists, and that usage persists. So I see no reason to change my mind now.
There is no reason for you to change your mind, you've taken a position and you're staying with it. I don't think it's the case that people have stopped thinking about language, but language evolves and the way we use it changes. I don't think the world began when I became socially conscious, so particular words have specific associations and meanings for some that don't change.
Essentially, I don't regard cunt any more misogynist than I do prick misandryst. Context is everything here. But that's my opinion, and you've got yours. They don't concur, but so what? I'm sure that on other issues they do, and perhaps it's more important to focus on that.
Yeah, I've been to Scotland, it's quite varied in many ways, like all the UK countries. Anyway, I really liked it and I'd like to take my kids to there one day.
I've heard the word commonly used for the last 3 decades especially in Glasgow (where my late husband was from) and in London. I think there's a generational difference in perception between us (I'm 63).
To be fair, I'm also guilty of double-standards. While the C word is no worse to me than using male genitalia as an insult (why should female genitalia be considered more insulting?), I get particularly riled at the expression 'douche bag' which I think is far worse than any other term. I will therefore try and bear this in mind when writing on the Glinner as I would not want you to be turned off it because of my language.
Yes there are definitely generational differences: swearing using sex words now seems far more common than it used to be, starting with children. I think it started and has since gathered pace since 1961 with the publication of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and its publisher Penguin winning a court case against accusations of breaching obscenity law.
"Cunt" was one of the offending words named.
And there seem to be class differences too: with the middle classes now far more likely to use "earthy" language formerly more associated with the working class (while the upper classes always said whatever they pleased).
Yes terms for male genitalia are often used as insults for men, but I think the difference remains the implicit power relations between men and women. Using women's genitalia as insulting terms for men is always going to insult women too: because men's worst insult for other men is to call them "women" to assert a power relation of male dominance too. This is especially so using terms for female genitalia that dehumanise women too.
Whereas referring to men by their own genitalia is simply to insult men.
Yes "douche bag" is particularly unpleasant, as it implies "receptacle for something unclean" as well as "female".
Maybe try other old words for cunt, such as kent & quaint. They'll never notice.
Yes, I did get away with kunt once before - but this time, the cunt reported me ЁЯдФ
A fine Anglo-Saxon word which appears in Chaucer - 'queynte'
But it seems, mainly as a pun! With its other meaning of "quaint".
Using the C word to insult people is abusive of women.
It depends on the context and the culture. In the UK it's a word employed by both men and women, and applied to both, but more commonly to men...'He's a stupid cunt'...for example. It can be used in a humorous and friendly way too, 'Oh, come on you silly cunt'... It's not being used as hateful or misogynistic abuse, and again, might be said by women and men. Abusive of women is many things and comes in numerous forms, but using the word 'cunt' to express it is very low down in this country.
Precisely, I've been more insulted with lesser swearwords in a different context.
My view is that if it's ok to call someone a prick, then it should be ok to call them a cunt.
The biggest insult to a man (unless he is trans-identified) by another man is to call him a woman.
The biggest insult to a woman by a man is to dehumanise her by reduction to sexual body parts.
So it mystifies me that women would collude with men in this misogynist schema of insults by referring to a man as a woman's sexual body parts.
You might have heard the term "cunt" used in a friendly way but I never have, only as abuse: and I'm 81.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunt?wprov=sfla1
It's a word that is definitely not to everyone's taste, and some find it highly offensive, my mother, for instance. Mostly 'cunt' is used as an insult, like 'prick', 'twat', 'dick' or 'arsehole'. In this context, words like this have ceased to be about genitals and body parts, they have taken on another meaning and have a specific function. You might never have heard someone referred to as a cunt in a jokey, friendly way, but I assure you it does happen.
They are still about genitals to me and, I think, to most people -- and this is what makes them offensive!
Yes it might happen that some people no longer think about the words they use. But I'm not one of them.
And I was interested to see in the "Abuse" section of the Wikipedia entry for "cunt", that my understandings (for over 50 years) of its basically misogynist use are allied with second wave feminism / feminists, and that usage persists. So I see no reason to change my mind now.
There is no reason for you to change your mind, you've taken a position and you're staying with it. I don't think it's the case that people have stopped thinking about language, but language evolves and the way we use it changes. I don't think the world began when I became socially conscious, so particular words have specific associations and meanings for some that don't change.
Essentially, I don't regard cunt any more misogynist than I do prick misandryst. Context is everything here. But that's my opinion, and you've got yours. They don't concur, but so what? I'm sure that on other issues they do, and perhaps it's more important to focus on that.
Have you ever been to Scotland?
Yeah, I've been to Scotland, it's quite varied in many ways, like all the UK countries. Anyway, I really liked it and I'd like to take my kids to there one day.
I lived in Edinburgh for eight years.
I've heard the word commonly used for the last 3 decades especially in Glasgow (where my late husband was from) and in London. I think there's a generational difference in perception between us (I'm 63).
To be fair, I'm also guilty of double-standards. While the C word is no worse to me than using male genitalia as an insult (why should female genitalia be considered more insulting?), I get particularly riled at the expression 'douche bag' which I think is far worse than any other term. I will therefore try and bear this in mind when writing on the Glinner as I would not want you to be turned off it because of my language.
Yes there are definitely generational differences: swearing using sex words now seems far more common than it used to be, starting with children. I think it started and has since gathered pace since 1961 with the publication of "Lady Chatterley's Lover" and its publisher Penguin winning a court case against accusations of breaching obscenity law.
"Cunt" was one of the offending words named.
And there seem to be class differences too: with the middle classes now far more likely to use "earthy" language formerly more associated with the working class (while the upper classes always said whatever they pleased).
Yes terms for male genitalia are often used as insults for men, but I think the difference remains the implicit power relations between men and women. Using women's genitalia as insulting terms for men is always going to insult women too: because men's worst insult for other men is to call them "women" to assert a power relation of male dominance too. This is especially so using terms for female genitalia that dehumanise women too.
Whereas referring to men by their own genitalia is simply to insult men.
Yes "douche bag" is particularly unpleasant, as it implies "receptacle for something unclean" as well as "female".