A Man and His Cunt: Analyzing the Worst Word in the English Language

Introduction

Before reading this, please be advised that the word cunt is used uncensored throughout this blog post. It is not intended to insult or offend anyone, but to serve as a subject for academic analysis and understanding.

There is only one word in the English language my mother would smack me for saying, that word is cunt. The word cunt is considered by most to be the worst word one can say, particularly in the Untied States. Because of how offensive and taboo it is, it is consequentially one of my favorite words to use (don’t tell my mom!). And although I and probably most of you have a baseline understanding of what cunt means, I do not know how it originated or why it is the Mount Rushmore of curse words.

In this blog post, I will be analyzing the word cunt, and how it is used in today’s U.S. culture to insult or demean a target population or group of individuals. In order to provide an accurate understanding of the word and its usage, I will provide a brief historical investigation of the word cunt, determining the word’s previous connotations and comparing them to modern day connotations. Based upon this analysis, I will be able to make a prediction of who is more likely to use the word cunt, and determine the underlying social constructions that fuel the word’s continuous use. Throughout this analysis I will examine how members of this deviant group feel about the word cunt; whether they wish for the word’s retirement from society, or whether they feel they should own it and embrace it.

A Brief History of Cunt

To begin, it is important to define what exactly the word cunt means. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, cunt is defined as an obscene reference to the female genital organs; it is also loosely defined as a disparaging and obscene term for a woman (Merriam-webster.com). Now I will explore the history of the word cunt to determine if this definition shares any correlation with past definitions or connotations.

An interesting place to start when looking at the history of the word cunt is that there is basically no consensus as to when or where the word itself actually originated. However, the word cunt has been used in its anatomical meaning since the early 13th century (matthewhunt.com). Also throughout the pre-twentieth century, the word cunt was already making its mark in societies, but throughout time the word was not always as taboo as it is now. For example, in Francis Grose’s 1785 book, A Classical Dictionary of The Vulgar Tongue, he defined the word as, “a nasty name for a nasty thing” (matthewhunt.com).

Its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1972; it cites cunt as having been in use since 1230 in what was supposedly a London street name of "Gropecunte Lane". Gropecunte Lane was originally a street of prostitution, similar to a Red Light District today (matthewhunt.com). But back around 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, the word cunt is used several times quite openly, without public outcry as the word did not carry a negative connotation at that time (Chaucer).

By Shakespeare’s time (late 1500s – early 1600s) cunt was an obscene word; however, Shakespeare still used the word cunt in a number of his plays, including Hamlet, Henry V, and Twelfth Night (matthewhunt.com). As time progresses, the word keeps its taboo meanings and is used in literature and art that is then quickly considered controversial by the elites, or ruling class of society; such work includes, James Joyce’s Ulysses, D.H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Henry Millar’s Tropic of Cancer, and Ian McEwan’s Atonement (Wikipedia.org).

Overall, it seems the word cunt is a taboo reference to the female genitals, and therefore, a taboo curse word to describe a woman. We will dive into the social constructions behind this later in the post, as well as cunts use in the world today and how individuals, particularly women, feel about it. In the meantime, here is an interesting and accurate video describing the historic origins of cunt. This can be viewed below:



What’s the Matter with Cunts today?

Now that we have a brief history of the word cunt and how it has been perceived throughout time, we can zero-in on how the word fits into 21st century America. For starters, the main definition of cunt is still a females genital organs, but it is also used as a derogatory term that can refer to anyone today. This usage is relatively recent, dating from the late nineteenth century and defines someone as an unpleasant or stupid person (Oxford English Dictionary).

Today, the word is considered within U.S. culture the worst word one could use (although others have argued that within U.S. culture the word nigger is the most taboo considering America’s history in regards to slavery.) Also, the word generally stirs up much anger, frustration, and debate from women across the country. There are several blogs like this one here, http://jennieblog.typepad.com/blog/2011/08/the-c-word.html, and articles like this, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/the-infamous-c-word_n_1231543.html, that are written by women about their feelings, and often their dislike of the word cunt.

The Cunt Wars

Interestingly, there seems to be throughout the United States of America, a silent war between three camps. A war that divides those that we previously discussed that dislike the word cunt, those who do not find the word cunt offensive, and women who wish to reclaim the word cunt in order to change its meaning from something negative to something positive. These three factions engage and debate, they blog and they broadcast, they strive to achieve victory in what can only be described as, a cunt war. Obviously, it is not as dramatic as I have made it out to be, but make no mistake people have their line in the sand. Take a look at the mixed views about cunt shown below.



Since cunt is generally used and defined as an insult to women, I may not be the most qualified to give input on how the female population is truly effected by the word. However, there are a number of articles like these, http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/08/28/why-the-c-word-is-losing-its-bite.html, http://thegloss.com/sex-and-dating/girl-vs-guy-the-c-word/, that are written by females explaining how cunt is losing its harshness or bite within U.S. culture.

Furthermore, as stated above there are those women who are trying to reclaim the word cunt for themselves, in order for to change the connotation from something negative and taboo, to something positive that can be expressed openly. One of the best examples of this is Inga Muscio’s book, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence. In it, she examines the word cunt along with the meaning of the word vagina, explaining that cunt is a powerful, strong word that refers to the whole package of womanhood; as opposed to the vagina which is only a specific part of the female genitalia. Other advocates that try to reclaim the word cunt are Germaine Greer and Eve Ensler from The Vagina Monologues; both of whom can be seen in these videos below.





Discussion and Conclusion

Words are quite simply, a combination of letters with meaning attached to them. It is this meaning which can make a word welcome and useful to us, or make a word taboo and dreadful to our ears. So what is the meaning of cunt? What does it mean to be a cunt or be called a cunt? In today’s society the word cunt means a female’s genitals or someone who irritates or annoys you. Howard Becker’s Labeling Theory states that, “social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance, and by applying those rules to particular people and labeling them as outsiders…the deviant is one to whom that label has successfully been applied.”

When we apply this to the analysis of cunt, it becomes clear that we as a society believe that women are deviant members of society. Therefore, we can make the prediction that males would be more likely to use the term against a female. When this is done, one is stating that the female individual is nothing more than a set of sexual organs.
You may be saying to yourself, “Well it’s not my problem.” In Allan Johnson’s Privilege, Power, Difference, and Us he discusses the danger of individualism, the idea that everything is somebody else’s fault. For example, if you subscribe to the belief that all men are sexist, or that “well I’m not sexist, it’s those other guys,” then we can never have a serious discussion about the problem of sexism, and therefore never be able to solve it. When we apply this rationale to the usage of the word cunt, it can be easy to think, “well I don’t use that word,” or “well when I use that word I’m not referring specifically to women,” but in doing this, we are choosing to pass the blame to someone else or another group of individuals instead of coming together to discuss why these social constructions or labels exist in the first place? What is it about our society that finds the symbolic representation of female empowerment so threatening or disgusting?

In Howard Becker’s article, Outsiders: Defining Deviance, he explains that outsiders are those that fail to meet or follow a specified rule created by ones society, or ones who end up breaking a rule when they were previously individuals who enforced it. When we apply this way of thinking, it becomes important to ask ourselves why we keep these words around in the first place. After all, if cunt really is the most terrible word we have at our disposal, then why don’t we dispose of it? We as a society choose to keep the word cunt in circulation, punishing not just women but also punishing anyone who has used the word cunt. It’s easy to think that sticks and stones can break your bones, but words can never hurt you; sadly the reality is that everyone is hurt by certain words. What’s important is that we learn to recognize that the words we use not only affect an individual directly, but helps support the foundation of the social norms that are put in place to label some as deviant.

In other words, like my mother used to say, “Watch your mouth!”

Word Count: 1,718 words