The last time I posted about this, I jokingly discussed the words that we use to describe the vagina. The reason that the words "pussy" and "cunt" are offensive is because they have also been given connotations that implies that they cause weakness, dirtiness, cowardly behavior, and indicate that if you have one, you are less than human. These pairings of meaning are consciously made associations by those people who use them in such a way. Absent the negative connotations, these words are alternative nouns for organs of the body. These words have become offensive because hearers assume that the intended meaning of the word is its offensive connotation.
This is concerning to me because of what is implicit in our language and the connotations that we use instead of strict denotations. Consider the degree to which our society labels sexuality and sexual organs as unacceptable attributes. "That's so gay," "You dick!" "Don't be a pussy." It is possible that this is the manner in which a sexually repressive culture manages to discuss sexuality, through demeaning vulgarisms. To some degree, it is a mirror image of the way that children are taught that masturbation and their sexual organs are dirty and make them weak. Not sponsoring certain behaviors and demeaning everything associated with them are two different actions. It has been especially harmful to women, who have been consistently valued as less than men, weaker, immoral (how ironic), and objects to be used or abused whimsically by men.
This abuse of sexual nouns that has paralleled the abuse of women brings me to another topic, the abuse of other words. The other night I was on the bus and heard a woman complaining about how someone had molested her doornknob. I found it upsetting that, in an effort to find emotionally strong words we have turned to the form of abuse that is most damaging to anyone's psyche to describe the destruction of property. I'm not saying that this is illegitimate, but rather was shocked at how carelessly the word was dropped. To be a rape victim, a victim of childhood sexual abuse, to be a victim, to be female, and hear others carelessly demean the most potent negative experiences in your life can do little but more harm.
Be careful how you use or misuse words!
Posted by Mendon at April 26, 2006 11:32 AM