Why is the word cunt so reviled when it's merely the female equivalent of cock? Or am I underestimating the taboo nature of the word cock as well?

Discuss.

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mechaphil

Well, I guess it depends on each society... I know a girl from England and they say it as freely as someone would say "cock" here and it doesn't take the same tone as it does here obviously.

I don't know. All I know is I don't like that word at all, while cock doesn't bother me that much. It might have something to do with the fact that it's a very degrading word that is directed towards a woman, and in our society it's way more taboo and frowned upon to say something so brash and offensive to a woman, especially since there's a sexual connotation that goes along with it. Like in the 1900s, men weren't supposed to smoke a cigarette in front of a woman, and if they did women would be very offended. We've obviously come quite a ways from that, but you get what I'm trying to say.

I know I would take extreme offense if someone called me it whereas if someone called me a bitch it wouldn't have the same effect. I guess some of us are more desensitized to some words than other ones.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

i love the use of the word, and i use it freely. if bitches dont like being called a cunt, dont act like a cunt. the end.

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Women are more sensitive than men especially when they think they're being slighted. Make a sexist comment about men and then make one about women and see which gets more people angry.

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Proud LGBTQQ Individual

I guess it is different when your group has been discriminated against in the past.

I know if a black person tried to insult me regarding my race I wouldn't care at all, but it would be quite different if I did the opposite (not that I would, just saying).

I think the word cunt is harsher than the word cock, but I still use the word. I would never use it to insult someone to their face, though.

Don't do it...it's like sex with Paris Hilton, it may feel good and look good at the time, but you're gonna deal with it the rest of your life (In this joke you get herpes)

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

I've never heard cock being used as an insult.
As far as I know "cunt" is a rather common curse in England, that's why it's not that big of a deal.
When a word or phrase is used frequently by society the level of insult decreases.

If you call a guy in Austria or Germany "son of a bitch" (the translation of it) it's a major insult, in English it's no big deal.

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Women just don't like it. I can still remember the day when I was like 7 years old and my mom told me never to use that word, she never said why but I could tell she meant it. That's all the explanation I ever needed.

I suppose we guys are proud of our dicks and want as much attention drawn to them as possible.

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"I love that you know how to do that." Cheryl/Carol/Crystal

"And I love that I have an erection that doesn't involve homeless people." Kreiger

I think it's the "unt" sound. It's pretty menacing.

Throw a C at the beginning, and you've got CUNT.

I don't know. Just a harsh sounding word.

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Wheelhouse

Well I think that has to do with what Beth mentioned. It's because if you look back at history (and today), women as a group have been discriminated against, whereas men haven't. That's why women get more sensitive about it.

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"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Hockey Night in Buffalo

If I ever used bad words, I would call someone a jerk.

Jim Jefferies said it best, wondering how Americans look at "cunt" as such a bad word...saying "mothfucker" is worse

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"...they came down into the stands and asked if I knew how to do play by play. I said...No. But. I'll take a shot at it if you want".- Rick Jeanneret

Mother fucker doesn't sound as bad because it can be used in many different contexts.

Cunt is just... dirty.

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Wheelhouse

And the only reason women have been discriminated against is because in history and mostly everything man was suppose to be the ruler and dominate over women and that sucks.

I find no harm with the word cunt or cock. On Top Gear James May says cock all the time and I just laugh.

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Well, none of us would be alive if it weren't for cunts and motherfuckers.

Excellent point.

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Wheelhouse

I thought so. If only my students here could see just how eloquently I just used words I have to tell them not to use every day.

Well, I guess that depends on when you apply the term motherfucker. Is a person a motherfucker by fucking a person who then becomes a mother, or is a person a motherfucker by fucking a person who already IS a mother?

(I'm channeling my inner George Carlin here.)

I'm the second child, so I definitely am here because of a true motherfucker.

This is an interesting topic. I've used the term in the past but only when I've really needed to drive a point home about how I felt towards some individuals. Now, I just call them a smelly vagina. That goes for guys or girls. You should see the guy’s reaction to that. I think it pisses them off just as bad as calling a female the c-word.

A female friend once said she absolutely hated the word because it reminded her of an old dirty ashtray. One night, a group of us were at trivia night and she seen another girl she wasn't too fond of. Not wanting to hear of the dramatics between the two, I just pretended not to pay attention to the evil stares they shot back at one and other. Then, my friend called her a, "Dirty old CUNT!" Kind of shocked me, but to this day that word reminds me of stinky old ashtray.

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If it's a tight squeeze, spit on it! - NyI

He's a middling AHL player who had the good fortune of a drunk arbitrator. - The Squanto re: Tim Kennedy