05-28-2010, 02:56 PM | #1 (permalink) |
follower of the child's crusade?
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Why is it taken as a lot worse insult
To call someone a cunt rather than to call them a cock?
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05-28-2010, 03:33 PM | #2 (permalink) |
Lover - Protector - Teacher
Location: Seattle, WA
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There is way more answer to that question than I think you're really interested in hearing.
I'll say that it has to do with the socialization of young men and women, and that it is categorically a worse insult to a man to be called a woman than it is to be called a negative word for a man. There are many studies on the nature of language as it applies to socialization, and the ones I'm familiar with largely conclude that the 'strong' words are associated with male traits, and the 'weak' with female. This is the same reason that it is offensive to adolescent men to be called 'gay' or 'fags' or 'nancies' or 'sissies' because it implies they are less than men, e.g. women. Men are defined as "not women." Girls cry, so many would admonish their boys to not be "such a girl" or not to "cry like a girl." Similarly, if you're upset about something, you're "acting like a bitch", just like the (lesser) females do.
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05-28-2010, 03:38 PM | #3 (permalink) |
warrior bodhisattva
Super Moderator
Location: East-central Canada
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Archaic patriarchal values
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05-28-2010, 03:45 PM | #4 (permalink) | |
follower of the child's crusade?
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I can see what you are saying - but it is also considered far more offensive to call a woman a cunt than to call a man a cock.
Quote:
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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered." The Gospel of Thomas |
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05-28-2010, 04:56 PM | #5 (permalink) |
Junkie
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Because when you call a man a cock, you're just calling him a name. When you call a woman a cunt, socially speaking, you're relegating here to the status of an object: a pussy. Nothing else; just a hole to fuck and then babies come out. Given that that's -all- women have been in most societies for most of history, and they've spent the last 300 or so years clawing their way out of that situation, you can see how they'd take offense.
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05-29-2010, 08:36 AM | #8 (permalink) |
Psycho
Location: Canada
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What's already been said is exactly what I was gonna say. It's okay to be called a boy but it's NOT okay to be called a girl. Calling someone a cock isn't even a thing, it's not an insult, it's just a word, and if you say it it sounds stupid and weird and makes the one who said it sound like the fool. Calling someone a cunt is a huge insult, and so many people can't stand the word. Vagina - Ultimite Feminine. That you dont want to be, apparently. You can call someone a pussy, cunt, vagina, ect, ect. It's all seen as an insult it doesn't come out "odd" or sounding weird. Call them a penis, cock, dick, the only one that rings is Dick. The rest, don't make sense.
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05-29-2010, 10:37 AM | #9 (permalink) |
zomgomgomgomgomgomg
Location: Fauxenix, Azerona
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SF, some of your confusion may be cultural. All of the people I know from the UK use (or used, rather) "cunt" way more casually. There is NOTHING casual about its usage in the US, and it therefore gets used very rarely if at all. It is never a term of sarcastic insulting endearment, and if you call someone your interested in "the prettiest cunt in the bar" (like one of my friends did a few weeks after he got to the US) you will very likely receive a similar drink-dumped-on-you response rather than any romantic advances.
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05-29-2010, 03:01 PM | #10 (permalink) |
follower of the child's crusade?
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In the UK "cunt" and "cuntie" are also pretty much the worst insults you can throw at someone also... although I does seem in America it is used less
The most profanity laced US rappers rarely use the word, whereas UK rappers will do (just as an example)
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"Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered." The Gospel of Thomas |
05-30-2010, 07:11 AM | #12 (permalink) |
Junkie
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Ditto. The only person I've ever heard use it in conversation here in the States was my old boss at the pizza-joint I worked at in college. He was from Manchester, and he had a vocabulary of casual profanity that would curl R. Lee Ermey's toes. It rubbed off on the staff, but you should have seen the trouble we had the first few weeks! He'd toss off a "cunt" or "bitch" just in the course of taking the piss or making conversation, to say nothing of what he could be like when he got mad.
Contrariwise, I've never heard any American use "cunt" in conversation (unless they were hanging out with a Brit they knew well). It's the kind of thing that meant "Deadwood" had to go on HBO, and if used socially is likely to start a fight. |
06-26-2010, 08:15 AM | #14 (permalink) |
still, wondering.
Location: South Minneapolis, somewhere near the gorgeous gorge
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"Cunt" is insulting? Interpretation of intent/intent itself must be what makes it so. If I understand the question's thrust, it's no more insulting, just more widely recognized as such.
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