I stand corrected.
absoul, what I was trying to get at in my post, wasn’t the use of the word, for after all words are just that, words. It was the feeling and tone going along with it.
oldscratch:
I guess my thinking is that when you get people to stop saying “cunt,” they’ll just come up with something else. Next thing you know, they’ll be calling women “Labias” instead.
Most people stopped saying “nigger” in polite company, but as far as I can tell this has changed exactly zero in terms of attitudes.
I doubt you would have felt better about what happened with those frat boys if they’d called you a more PC term before they attacked you.
Mind you, I’m not disagreeing with the premise that these are terms used to be hurtful, and generally for little else.
The only thing that I question is how useful it is to attack the terms rather than the attitudes behind them.
I would personally rather live in a world where we used whatever terms we felt like without hurtful intent, and everybody got along, rather than one where everybody watched their language but still hated each other.
I don’t know about banning, but I used the word barring. I meant it in the context of something that impedes or prevents action or progress.
I do agree that hateful messages and comments need to be dealt with appropriately. I hate hateful fuckers.
Oops, sorry about that.
Nevertheless, I don’t think anyone’s sugesting it.
There are some posters who write an OP that is clear, conscise, and gets to the point. People read it and are stunned by it’s brilliance, it needs no explanation, no additions, no arguments in support, it is the perfect post. This OP did not fall in that catagory.
What I was trying to get at was that the useage of the c word was showing that some people have attitudes that maybe they should rethink. I think that a lot of people who are using it don’t realize it’s so harmful. Hopefully they’ll read this thread, and come to the conclusion that it is, and stop using it.
I’m not trying to reach those who think of all women as slags and cunts. Although in an ideal world I would, I’m well aware of my own limitations. People who I normally have no problem with, and in some cases admire, are using a word that has no place in civilized discorse. It makes them come across as something that I do not believe they are.
And absoul I fuckin hate hateful fucker haters.
oldscratch: As others have noted, your OP is right on. I am confused, though, by your home page, under the “About Me” tag. You state there:
Your use of the “fag” epithet in this way seems contradictory to the spirit of your OP’s message, no?
On the one hand: It’s a nasty hateful word.
On the other hand: If I’m really angry, I will say just about any word. The angrier I am, the more inappropriate it is, because the educated logical side drowns in a pool of wrath and visceral nastiness kicks out. Cunt and faggot are both words that I might say in those circumstances.
On a third hand (yeah, I got lots of hands): I would never get that incoherently angry about something on the Boards. I have never been that angry at a person who I was facing.
On a fourth: The horribleness of that word is what gives it its power; calling someone a cunt says, “You have no value, except as a sex object.” This does not necessarily generalize to all women, but at any rate I don’t see women who make me angry as sex objects. That’s linked to the rape-as-punishment motif that seems to pop up alot. I don’t feel that way. I’ve never felt, wow, I’m so angry I’d like to put my penis in that person.
Anyway, as you can see I haven’t made any real points or taken any one position. Oh well.
–John
It’s a poem. Duh.
Manservant Hecubus: Jeez, you’re right. It may well be a poem. I had noticed the rhyme, but the poetry escaped me. And I also hadn’t appreciated that it must be OK to use a word like ‘fag’ so long as it’s part of a “poem”. After all, “this word (is sometimes used) as a hatefull spitefull (sic) word”.
Thanks for clearing this up.
Another poem:
or
from “The Miller’s Tale”,Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, 1380.
I know it is non-apropos, but what they hey. I thought it fit in some sort of fashion.
Jesus, they’re just words, fer cryin’ out loud.
Fact is, if you’re offended by those words, the person using them was trying to make you mad.
So just relax the PC for a while, OK? Or do you like encouraging people to piss you off?
Because that’s all you’re really doing right now.
And while we’re on this subject, how do you feel about the ubiquitous “fuck”? Does that word not subjugate women? Or stigmatize them as sex objects? Or has it lost all meaning and now is just a common epithet?
Think about it.
Well, as Cecil pointed out, fuck is actually a derivative of the Middle English fucken, meaning to strike or penetrate. So shouting out “fuck you!” it is meant as “may you get hit or pierced painfully with something” rather than in the sense of “may you find sexually satisfying intercourse.”
As for the words ‘cunt’ and ‘fag’- especially in the written medium of a message board, people are judged by their words. I savor a good insult- such is a necessity as a Moderator of the Pit- but words such as those are sloppy, disgusting words that attempt to smear the object of insult with the association of a group that, in clear-headed, right-thinking peoples’ minds, should not actually be derogatory. Therefore, the term reflects far worse upon the speaker than the receiver.
Far be it from me to drag the thread off course, so for the record, I’m personally opposed to the use of words which tend to demean or degrade anyone, and I encourage everyone to eschew such language in all circumstances.
Now, andros, I don’t wish to seem cavilling here. But if the second definition is applied to women to make them a minority, then what “larger group” are they a part of? It’s not sufficent, under definition 2, for women to be “regarded as different.” They must be regarded as different “from a larger group.” What’s that group?
I know the intent was “treated like a minority,” and I don’t quibble with that. But precision of speech is surely of some import, and it’s appropriate to point out that there are more men than women in this country; it irks me to see the term ‘minority’ tossed around so freely in any event, and when it’s clearly incorrect, as here, some correction ought to be offered.
I urge you to give careful consideration to my points. As a man, I am, after all, a minority in this country, and I would hate to be dismissed on that basis. 
- Rick
Fair enough. I stand corrected.
Although the alternate meaning you alluded to, John, has been obscured over time. That was my point. I’m not sure that most people use that sense of the word. “Get fucked” doesn’t mean “Get hit”, if you understand what I’m saying.
I’m just saying that words that are incredibly vile are not always spoken with malicious intent, although they are invariably perceived that way. Sometimes they serve as attention grabbers. Like the title to this thread, for instance. I saw the title and said “Hmmm… Gotta see who gets flamed for that one”.
Good intent for the thread, I think, but too much kneejerk PC. Sometimes a word is just a word.
I’m with oldscratch on this and it’s one of my own little crusades - trying to get people to appreciate the power of what they are saying.
Words are not just words. They have the power to change the world. Words shape thought which shapes attitudes. Thinking about the words we use makes us think about the attitudes we have, the prejudices we and society hold and the problems the target of our words might face. Choosing the right words is about showing some empathy.
And calling a woman a cunt is totally about power. Of course “dick” can’t hold the same impact - men have never been in the position of being scared late a night that they might be raped by women.
pan
Slight hijack on this one, but…
No, I just had to worry about getting the shit kicked out of me, sometimes right in front of my own house. I know all about fear and power games. They’ve made me look over my shoulder for years.
That’s all I have to say about that.
Anyways, in deference to others’ personal preferences, I’ll refrain from using particlarly vile epithets in the future.
If I can. 
Yes Doors - and if you are put in your place by such a thug calling you something which reminds you that he does indeed have the power to do this to you, how exactly do you feel?
pan
I’ll concede the “dick” point. However, I do not concede, and indeed strongly object, to the concept that calling a woman a “cunt” serves to put them in their place.
I think there is a difference in usage between “cunt” and “nigger”, “gook”, what have you. What has always been more disturbing to me concerning racial epithets is not their use as an insult, but their casual use. “So then, a carful of niggers drove up.” When the epithet is used as a substitute for the correct term, that is what causes the demeaning.
In my experience, “cunt” isn’t used that way. It’s used as a personal insult. Quite frankly, the words out there that are used concerning women that I think fit into the more casual, and therefore more demeaning, way are “whore” and “bitch”, although bitch seems to have lost some of its bite.
That being said …
On this I definitely agree. I was talking to my roommate about this last night (oddly, the conversation came up by itself), and we concluded that “cunt” is always used as an attack word and, at least to some extent, has lost its reference to genitalia.
So, my opinion is that it is definitely an insult, and definitely a mean thing to say. However, it has not reached the same level, resonance, or meaning as racial epithets.
Sua
PS I just saw kabbes post on preview. Just a nitpick - men can get raped, and can get raped by women. I think we’ve covered this in GD and GQ once or twice. I don’t disagree with kabbes general point though.
In my case it was generally many thugs, but that’s not the point.
I was scared shitless.
But I wasn’t any more afraid of them when they called me a “Motherfucking piece of shit dickhead” than I was when they came looking for me to begin with. It’s not the words, but the actions.
Words can alert you to the potential for trouble, but should not be construed to be the trouble itself.
And again, that’s the point. They’re just words. Send up the antennae, but don’t overreact, or you might be the one looking for trouble.