So currently, if some woman wants to call me a dick in the Pit; that gets a pass. But if I were to call some woman a cunt; I would get moded.
I suppose if I were determined to call a woman a gender specific pejorative, I could call her a bitch.
But even THAT begs the question: How are these new guidelines going to play out in the pit? Because the above guidelines certainly violates those rules.
And as far as the dick vs cunt thing goes, speaking strictly on a pedantic level, aren’t those two the exact same thing? And shouldn’t that be considered a double standard?
I get in the Pit we’re allowed to insult each other. I’d just like to know if “sexism” is going to be allowed in the pit as well. (Not that I have a burning desire to be sexist. I’m just curious.)
Speaking strictly on a pedantic level, no, they’re not the same thing. One is convex and the other concave, for starters.
Did you not want to be quite that pedantic? Well, then, you might want to consider the social context in which the words are used, and then you’ll find that no, they’re not used in a similar fashion, either (although I’m reading a British crime caper in which “cunt” is thrown around as a term of affection, and it’s pretty funny).
I was wanting to start a thread on approximately (not exactly) this question, and maybe I still will.
My take on “cunt” vs “dick” and “pussy” for that matter:
These words, as I’ve learned to understand them, carry different levels of contemptful connotations. (But this may differ from region to region.)
I see “cunt” as a very strongly contemptful word towards female genitalia and the persons possessing the same. It is a strong insult to call someone this. I see the work “prick” as being analogous to this.
I see “pussy” and “dick” as very much milder words. They are common colloquial words for genitalia, carrying only mild (and maybe none at all) contempt.
Last time I had a girlfriend, we had an explicit discussion between us, very early in the relationship, about what words we should use to refer to private body parts. We agreed that “penis”, “vagina”, “vulva”, etc., were too clinical. These are the words we use when talking to our doctors. We agreed that “cunt” and “prick” were nasty, and we didn’t like those words. We agreed that “dick” and “pussy” were the “just right” words (and I was comfortable with “cock” too).
Surely, we need some suitable non-technical non-clinical words for these things, that can be used in common speech without carrying overtones of hatefulness and contempt. Dick, cock, and pussy seem to be the right words we can use this way.
Based upon the above remarks, and also upon the recent fussing about using sex-related words in questionable circumstances, and upon the notion that misandry/misogyny are asymmetrically modded around here, I have this (mild) complaint:
I am bothered by the rampant use of the word “dick” or “dickish” around here, meaning “jerk” or “jerkish”. And I am somewhat bothered (just somewhat) by any rulings against calling someone a “pussy”, but also I’m bothered by the use of that word as an insult.
First, because I really want to see these words as being totally harmless (or just mildly “bad” at worst). If you want to call someone something bad, and you want to do by comparing them with a reproductive organ (a problem in itself), use “cunt” and “prick”, not “pussy” and “dick” and “cock”.
And I am bothered by the asymmetric modding: Calling someone a dick or dickish should be modded by the same criteria (both in the Pit and elsewhere) as calling someone a pussy. The thread I mentioned that I would like to start would deal with clarifying the criteria for when this is okay or not. This was only discussed briefly and tangentially in all of the recent misogyny threads, up to and including the lastest one.
Mostly agree. But let’s think about this for a moment: What is one singular word a woman can call a guy with the same level of contempt as “cunt”? The closest I can come up with is “dick”.
As best I can see it, “prick” carries much more hostility and disrespect than “dick”.
“Dick” doesn’t (or shouldn’t IMO) be seen as very hostile at all.
As I wrote above, I see “prick” and “cunt” as being (approximately) equal in contempt, and that is: high.
I see “dick” and “pussy” (and to some extent, “cock”) as being (approximately) equal in contempt, and that is: little-to-none. We need some useful colloquial words for people to use when talking non-scientifically about these body parts, and I feel that these [del]should be them[/del]. (ETA: Well, say rather, that I think these are good candidates that should be them.)
Note: This already seems to be the case with “boobs”. Witness the many threads in which female posters attempt to have a serious discussion of their breasts, while using the word “boobs” — a whole bunch of such threads were cited and linked in the thread just closed. Those posters seemed quite comfortable using “boobs” as a colloquial word for the human female mammary glands, and I am all in favor of having some word that can be used in that way. “Boob” seems like a reasonable choice.
What is, or what ought to be, the rule and the logic, regarding the use of all the above-discussed words in the Pit? And in the other forums too, for that matter?
My preference:
(a) Don’t use any words for genitalia to call the whole person as an insult: It just reduces the whole person to just his/her genitalia (this point was briefly made in one of the misogyny threads).
It’s insulting to the individual thus addressed (and thus shouldn’t be used outside the Pit), but also denigrates a whole class of male/female persons (and thus is a kind of “hate” speech that shouldn’t be used even in the Pit). These are the points there were briefly discussed in one of last week’s misogyny threads (specifically about the word “pussy”).
But “cunt” and “prick” (IMO) are much more severe than “dick” and “pussy”.
(b) Whatever the standard should be, in the Pit or elsewhere, words for male and female body parts of similar connotations, should be modded symmetrically, which they currently seem not to be, and this has been a complaint that was tossed around lately.
It’s widely agreed upon that the rule against calling someone a cunt in the Pit is a stupid, unnecessary rule. The only thing that could approach/surpass that level of stupidity is to then decide that there just has to also be some equivalent masculine-rooted pejorative against the rules, just because “waaah, no fair!”
The timing of this belies the motivation. If you’re trying to make a point about recently enacted rules, just think it through, you’re only validating the act of legislating against speech you dislike. If you actually, genuinely want help figuring out what word we should decide to find offensive so that we can then ban it in the name of “equality”… really, just stop while you’re behind.
Alright, I’m probably going to regret posting the whole “Cunt vs Dick” thing. I DO think it’s a double standard, which is something a few people on here have been bitching about. That said, I really don’t care enough about it to rally around it, so I wont..
What I AM curious about is, if someone says something like: “If you take naked pics of yourself and send them via the internet to your BF, you’re a slutty little bitch!” Now, that statement is as about as sexist as they come. How will that be monitored in the Pit? Does the Pit negate the new guidelines?
The mods have said that the policy applies equally to men and women.
So don’t worry, Shakes, if the women on this board ever decide to start asking the men to post pictures of their penises, they will be told to knock it off.
1.) The idea that prick is more offensive than dick is stupid. To my ears prick is something a moron would use to avoid saying dick.
2.) The idea that cunt is this super special offensive term is stupid. The first time I heard the word used (I remember it fondly) I was probably 6 or 7 and my mom was using it to curse out a driver who’d cut her off, so now whenever I hear someone complaining that its use has upset their baby ears I can’t help but roll my eyes.
I wasn’t around for the Cunt Wars, but from what I understand some mod/admin had a cry over being called a cunt and lobbied to have it banned. Apparently the board got along just fine with the word’s use tolerated for around a decade but based on what you hear about it now it’s as if you might as well be calling someone a nigger when you use it. Given that it’s OK to fart out a “Hi Opal!” or “Let’s go down to the quarry and throw stuff in there!” or the thousandth take on a dumb zombie joke or whatever other lame regurgitation myself and other posters of all genders drop into threads around here daily but now it turns out “I’ll be in my bunk” or “heh heh boobs” will catch you a mod action I guess I should just be surprised that more words besides cunt aren’t banned.
It is my assumption (to be confirmed with the other mods, but I’m trying to get a moderator voice in here) that the new rules clarification on gender does NOT apply in the Pit forum.
That doesn’t mean that anything goes in the Pit, there are limits there as well, but the limits are less clear (since “personal insult” is permitted in the Pit.)
We’ve had the discussion on “cunt” before, and it’s an example of where there’s a limit. It is far more offensive than “dick” or “shit-head.”
