Jen here...
Sign your comments. Don't insult Joseph. No ducking/dodging. No spewing about "controlled demolition." Our host can do as he likes, but I'm inclined to start deleting posts that don't have an alias or contain blatant insults.
I'm also going to request that posters stop using the "c-word." I realize Joe doesn't consider it the most misogynist term ever, but I would prefer not to see it in any context not expressly condemning misogyny. Because it's damn ugly and unnecessary. (Don't waste your time composing lengthy diatribes asking "But why, Jen?" either; most of you aren't total morons, you can figure out why and obey the posting guidelines around here.)
7 comments:
Quite agreed on the c-word.
Any word can be used when discussing its use AS a word, of course. But I think the only acceptable usage for that term is between lovers, if they happen to find it erotic. (Some do; some don't.)
Any man who tries to degrade a female by hurling that name at her deserves castration.
Most of the people who come here to spew insults don't seem to care much about rules.
RCH is used in engineering and police forensics, more or less the way MOS is used in film-making.
Hey guys, great blog, by the way!
I. F. "Noam" Parenti
I forgot. Rule 6: Don't insult Jen, or anyone else who posts here.
Hey Joseph - any chance you could take a break from your defeat Obama drive to make some comments on the suicide of the suspected Anthrax mailer, Bruce E. Ivins? I'm sure you've got some valuable insight.
Karl
Even a total moron knows it's an obscene and vulgar term, but whether or not it's 'misogynist' in most uses is debatable. I wince every time I hear someone call someone a "wuss" (derived from 'pussy' as a euphemism); and that it's acceptable even for the K-12 cohort and has wide currency indicates that misogyny is much more acceptable than even feminists would realize. Related to that is how it's okay for kids and everyone to call someone a 'dork'. Ultimately it isn't about language so much as the consequences of misguided sexual repression.
Ellie
"Misogyny"? I'm not sure. You may be right.
"Dork" has become a socially accepted term. It's cute. It is -- to resurrect an old term -- "clirty." That is to say, it is a clean version of a dirty word. "Dick" is dirty; "dork" is clirty. "Oh fuck," is dirty; "Oh fudge" is clirty. "Darn" used to be the clirty analog of "damn," back when "damn" still had the power to shock.
I still wince every time I hear children use the term "You suck" or "that sucks." The term is a shortened form of "you suck dick" or "that sucks cock." In other words, "You suck" really means "You're a fag." In this case, the social sin is not misogyny but homophobia.
"Cunt" -- oh, we might as well use the actual word now -- has power precisely because it connotes the forbidden and the shocking.
Any man who calls a woman "a cunt" has done something low and vile. In that instance, he has certainly displayed misogyny.
On the other hand, if a woman in a elegant evening dress at a social function leans toward her lover's ear and whispers "I want you in my cunt" -- she has not, I think, catered to misogyny. In that context, the word carries an erotic charge precisely because it seems so obscene and vulgar. The word is akin to a splash of ink on an expanse of white satin.
The same can be said of various vulgar terms for male genitalia.
These are things to be said in private by lovers, at least by those lovers who so choose. The shock value is the very point: Obscenity becomes the code of intimacy. If overuse should one day remove the allure of the forbidden, then the word no longer will have any power.
Thank you Joe. This is your blog to do with as you like.
It's not like your the Bush Administration spying on everyone that emails you. (although you know the Bushies are likely watching you).
I have a friend (don't you like when people say, 'I have a friend who . . '? - but I really do in this case - no names), whose wife was blogging against Bush prior to the 2004 election.
Two special service agents came to her door asking for her. My friend (her husband) asked what they wanted. They said that she had made death threats against the president.
Huh? She did no such thing, but had been fighting on the comment section with some a**holes and she said Bush was going down in 2004.
So, they ARE READING your blogs.
Post a Comment