Hollywood Busts a Taboo

[Swede]

The outrageous new film Kick-Ass ventures into uncharted four-letter-word territory, from the mouth of an 11-year-old girl—and it's causing a stir.

Larry David and Jane Fonda have blurted it out. Ian McEwan’s written it (in his novel Atonement). Henry Miller’s been banned for it. And now Hit Girl, the scene-stealing star of the new anti-superhero/superhero film Kick-Ass, is hurling it.

“It,” of course, is the c-word.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-04-14/a-movie-breaks-the-c-word-taboo/?obref=obnetwork

[Dreamer Tatum]

1. Distasteful word. Don't like it, don't use it. nt

[MicaelS]

7. So.... the terms for male genitalia are bandied about all the time...

And there's no great uproar. But the terms for the female genitalia are "Taboo"? Please.....

[Dreamer Tatum]

11. Re-read the extremely few words I wrote.

I don't care for the word and I don't use it.

I am one person, not an "uproar."

[MicaelS]

13. I was refering to the article about it being an "uproar"

Ooooh it's TABOO!!! Please. Evey other curse word is used in films, and THIS one is supposed to be Taboo?

[Taverner]

2. Its just a word

I don't use it, but its a word, nothing more, nothing less

[Captain Hilts]

5. Is 'nigger' just a word? The 'C' word IS a big deal to women. nt

[MicaelS]

10. That's right TOO big a deal..

So.... the terms for male genitalia are bandied about all the time...

And there's no great uproar. But the terms for the female genitalia are "Taboo"? Please....

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. If women say the C word is taboo, who the fuck are you to say otherwise? n/t

[Captain Hilts]

19. Kind of like whites deciding when blacks should be offended by language. nt

[cherokeeprogressive]

22. You are exactly right. The notion that I'll use it because it doesn't offend ME and your feelings

be damned is not what I'd expect to find here at DU.

I regularly post stupid shit but this takes the cake.

[MicaelS]

21. A man, who doesn't like to be told what to say, or not to say

By anyone. You don't like that? Too FUCKING bad.

[cherokeeprogressive]

24. We're not talking about what I like or don't like. I'm not surprised you didn't get that though.

You go girl. It's your First Amendment right to be as offensive as you feel you must in order to make your point. It's also my right to point and laugh.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

35. A man who disagrees with a prude.

:shrug:

[Taverner]

14. Yes, the N word is just a word

And I also choose not to use it. You can tell a lot about a person by which words they use and which they don't.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying those words are good or should be used and accepted

Just that they are words and nothing more

[ZombieHorde]

56. All words are just words. Context and usage are everything. nt

[Posteritatis]

3. Much ado about not much. (nt)

[Captain Hilts]

6. Another man who doesn't think it's a big deal. nt

[EOTE]

28. Do you think the words dick or cock are a big deal?

I'm sure you can see the parallels.

[Captain Hilts]

30. I don't use them. nt

[EOTE]

53. That's not what I asked. nt.

[Captain Hilts]

4. This is NOT progress. The use of derisive terms pertaining to women is expanding when it should

be contracting.

[Better Today]

26. Why "should" it be? As pointed out in a few posts above...

all manner of male and general human body parts, mostly revolved around the genital area, are used commonly in our culture in derogatory and comical ways... why should women not be exposed to it? Are you suggesting we are too weak to withstand the same issues a men? Puleeze, speak for your own f'ing self, there are no words that will cause me to demand that men recognize me as weak and whiny.

[Captain Hilts]

36. Who suggested that it implies women are weak? Certainly not I.

Racial slurs are LESS acceptable today. That's a GOOD thing.

But sexually-based slurs - particularly those relating to women - are getting wider use. Jon Stewart - though I love him - is getting a lot of people to use 'douche' and 'pussy' to denigrate men, for example.

Context is everything.

[Better Today]

40. Sorry, but if you're saying we should be protected moreso than men, which IS what

you posted by posting, "pertaining to women", rather than posting "pertaining to gender/gender identity". Therefore you're suggesting that women are more frail and need more protectionism.

[CBR]

8. This is a non-story. nt

[Lance_Boyle]

9. What's all the hoohah?

Twat? Twat? I cunt hear you!

[brendan120678]

LOL!

:spray: :rofl:

[Captain Hilts]

20. Yeah, I laughed too!

[JNelson6563]

12. Will Mike Hunt please report to the office? Mike Hunt?

:toast:

[Liberation Angel]

15. Anyone see the "Rescue Me" episode comparing the "c" wort and the word "twat"?

as distasteful as the whole scenario was - it was very real from Denis Leary's comedic point of view (agree with it or not) but it was damn funny imho (my twenty year old daughter thought so and she will use such words where appropriate (to her)).

I think name calling is juvenile - but a good cussing out can be cathartic, I imagine...

especially when people are acting like assholes (which is really the best slam ever as disgusting as it is)

[Captain Hilts]

18. When people want to denigrate men, they use terms relating to women: pussy, douche, twat, cunt, etc.

and THAT's offensive.

As we're - appropriately - weeding terms like 'nigger', 'gyp', 'Indian giver', etc. from our language, popular culture is expanding its use of these female-related terms, more often than not, to insult men.

The use of the term 'bitch' is wider now that it was 20 years ago.

It's the trend here that's disturbing, not that someone might use the word among their friends.

[notadmblnd]

32. I take being called derogotory names as a compliment

If I can get people so upset during a discussion that they can make no other argument than a personal attack and have to resort to calling me names, then I'm the one that has the power over them.

[Better Today]

44. Another good point. ^

[Better Today]

39. You mean that anagram for Beautiful, Intelligent, Talented, Clever, & Horny?

God, I LOVE being called a BITCH, all caps the better! My response never fails to get a laugh, to break the tension, and gain respect.

Words don't hurt, its our reactions to them that do. One of my other disarming remarks, said while smiling broadly, "you say that like it's a bad thing. Good thing it's a subjective term."

Seriously, words like n-word are mentioned above and I've got to ask a real serious series of comments here. Likely is that most will find only one of the questions true, yet the same word is used by each.

If a white person calls a black man a n...., then kills him, it is a hate crime. T F

If a black person calls a black man a n....., then kills him, it is a hate crime. T F

If a latin person calls a black man a n......, then kills him, it is a hate crime. T F

If an asian person calls a black man a n......, then kills him, it is a hate crime. T F

You get my point, n..... is just a word, as is c..., by our societal over-excitement about terms, we fail to recognize that those that hate will continue to hate regardless of the words we allow them to use.

Conversely, those that want to make people laugh, or want to laugh themselves, will continue to do so with the use of terms that are supposed to be taboo because they are so harmful.

We should be focusing on the hate, not the terms.

And lastly to your comment about men demeaning each other with feminine slights, I don't see that as being overwhelming moreso than dick, dickwad, faggot, and of course m..f..., all of which more closely relate to masculine slights.

[Captain Hilts]

42. Words relating to women are used for men when called for being 'weak'. Such as 'pussy'.

People call a weak man a 'pussy'. It's the opposite of "having balls."

[Better Today]

43. Sure they do, but my point is that they are equal opportunity gender slurrers.

And all it would take is a man reminding the one who calls him a pussy, that most women are a ton sturdier than most men, and BTW thanks for the compliment.

It's all in how we choose to perceive the term. Apparently you continue to suggest that women are in fact weaker, I disagree. I neither want nor need any special consideration regarding comical or derogatory terms based on my gender.

[Captain Hilts]

45. I do not think women are weaker. But the way language is used reinforces that untrue

stereotype.

A weak man is a "pussy." NOT.

A strong woman has "balls." No, a strong woman has ovaries.

[Better Today]

50. Then I guess I don't get your problem? Hot is sometimes cool, and cool is sometimes hot.

Perhaps not demanding special consideration regarding feminine derogatory/comical terms would go a long way to ending the idea that we are weak and whiny.

Just sayin'.

[Goblinmonger]

46. Not just related to women:

cock
dick
pecker
asshole

Seems that insulting men is related to ALL genitalia.

[Cheap_Trick]

38. Best part of that was when they came up with a new, more "acceptable" word....

TWUNT

[YOY]

16. I really didn't notice it. I was too busy watching her kill every last mother fucker in the room.

Yes...an 11 year old girl kills every last big-'n'-burly mother fucker in the room...with gusto...to Joan Jett singing how she doesn't "Give a damn about her reputation.".

[Captain Hilts]

34. That's a GREAT song!

[YOY]

47. It's actually an enjoyable story and really a warped take on things...

The aforementioned little girl and her father with a bit of different cinemetography could be serial killers in lieu of the "superheroes" they try to portray. They are merciless...they kill even the "likable" bad guys who are "nice to them" or "play ball" or really just want to run away or cower in the corner.

The titular character actually has a "power" (deadened nerve endings and a large amount of metal in his skeleton) but is in essence a dork in a costume who cannot fight.

It's a total "anti-hero" superhero flick.

[Captain Hilts]

51. That's what I've read. I am intrigued. nt

[YOY]

54. It's worth the time and money. I really didn't sense any anti-female message in the film.

If anything it is as original as you generally get for mainstream cinema.

[Captain Hilts]

55. I've not heard it's anti-female. I always like something creative and unpredictable. nt

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

48. She does that in the movie? And it does not raise eyebrows? And her saying "c*nt" does?

Exhibit A of Why Prudes Are Idiots.

[YOY]

49. Homicidal mania is cool. Vulgar language is not.

I don't write the rules...

[raccoon]

23. I thought you were going to post that brave, courageous, bold Hollywood

showed a character taking a dump. :shrug:

Just give them time.

[MicaelS]

25. Bah, they showed they a long time ago, sort of...

In the movie "The Groove Tube". "Brown 25 from Uranus"

[Liberation Angel]

27. .wikipedia "Cunt"

for useful info

Really a great word (as far as its etymology) as words go - even though its the "most" taboo with an interesting history (and the most offensive at that!)

I like the Latin possible derivations

but reasonable minds may disagree

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cunt

[Captain Hilts]

29. Interesting!

And, yes, racial slurs are not acceptable, but this sexist one is gaining in acceptance. I'm glad the article noted that.

[piratefish08]

31. i prefer 'hoohoo'

[Hestia]

33. Anything to do with women's power is always taboo - the Great Cunt

is a title of the Goddess - it's men who have made it a 'bad' word. Know your history and you won't get offended, like being called a Sow or Bitch, they are titles of the Goddess also.
==

1, vol 107 -- January 8, 2001

Be proud of your cunt
Lawanda Paterson

This letter is in response to "The Imfallible Cuntscope" in the November 20-26 issue of The Peak. While many seem to have been offended by the article I myself was not. However, I was not amused.

I found the use of the word cunt to be excessive and purely intended for the shock value. By using the word cunt in terms of the definition which you printed as being: 'offensive, unpleasant or stupid person,' you have managed to perpetrate the derogatory use of a word that most identify with the female. Unfortunately, the word cunt has come into colloquial use as a negative term used in order to insult people, primarily women.

The word cunt "was derived from the goddess Kali's title of Kunda or Cunti, and shares the same root as kin and country" (Gloria Steinem's "The Vagina Monologues").

This proud heritage for the word can be seen in its connection to "cunning, kenning and ken: knowledge, learning insight" (The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets). Why then should we ignorantly allow the word cunt to be used as a source of cheap entertainment? I feel as women we should acknowledge the history surrounding the term cunt and reclaim the word for ourselves. The Peak failed to amuse or shock me with its "horoscope" and only succeeded in making me aware of the ignorance surrounding the word.

http://www.peak.sfu.ca/the-peak/2001-1/issue1/le-cuntscope2.html
==

Thursday, June 17, 2004
In celebration of Cunt

Words, words, words. Anyway, the President of the University of Colorado is currently furiously backpedaling because, in court testimony, she claimed that the word cunt used to describe Katie Hnida is a term of endearment.
She almost has a point, but only if you ignore modern usage of the word....

Destructive Word Bombs:

"Cunt, however, doesn't even sound like a swear word - it's far too full and luscious sounding, like 'succulent' or 'fecund'.

The origins of the word are in 'cunnus' a Latin word from which comes - coneus (wedge shaped; canabulum (cradle, being place, place where something was nurtured); cunctus (all); cuniculus (rabbit hole or underground passage); and also from the Old Norse words 'kunta' and 'kunte'.

From 'cuniculus' come the words 'coney' and 'cunny' that were used in England from about the 1100's for - a rabbit and for the vulva. The New Shorter Oxford Dictionary tells us that coney was originally a term of endearment for a woman and that the pronunciation was as in 'honey', until the 19th century when it became coney as in 'phoney'. The dictionary proposed that the pronunciation may have changed because of its association with the female genitals.

'Cunte' was used as a slang word, but not a 'bad' word, in England up until the 1600's, but by the 1700's it had become an obscene word and it was illegal to print it. In a dictionary of 1785 compiled by one Frances Grose it was euphemistically called the 'monosyllable' and printed as 'c__t'. Grose's definition - "a nasty word for a nasty thing". Obviously this is the mind-set from which our current usage of 'cunt' comes.

more at link: http://www.b12partners.net/2004/06/in-celebration-of-cunt.html
==

* Cunt

Cunt is a vulgar term that refers to the vulva or vagina. It is, however, often used to describe a particularly nasty human being. The word may be used more frequently by males, and is considered by many to be extremely offensive. There is a small movement amongst some feminists that seek to reclaim cunt as an honorific, in much the same way that queer has been reclaimed by homosexuals.

Usage
"cunt" used as an honorific, and "thanks to the user-friendliness of the English language, 'cunt' can be used as an all new woman-centered, cunt lovin' noun, adjective or verb." (Muscio, 1998, 23)

History
"Cunt" and various derivations of the word have been in use for possible millennia in words such as 'Cunti' the name of an Oriental Great Goddess. From the same root came 'country', 'kind', and the word 'kin' which meant not only matrilinial blood relation, but also a cleft or crevice (in the rock suggesting) the Goddess'genital opening. In ancient writings the word cunt was synonymous with 'woman,' though not in the insulting modern sense. An Egyptologist was shocked to find (the word cunt in) the maxims of Ptah-Hotep." (Walker, 1983, 197)

Cunt has been back in common use since the thirteenth century. It did not appear in any major dictionary of the English language from 1795 to 1961 (when it was included in Webster's Third New International Dictionary, with the comment "usu. considered obscene"). Its first appearance in the Oxford English Dictionary was in 1972, which cites the word as having been in use since 1230.

Although Shakespeare doesn't use the word explicitly (or with derogatory meaning) in his plays, he still has fun with it, using word play to sneak it in. In Act III, Scene 2, of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, as the castle's residents are settling in to watch the play-within-the-play, Hamlet asks Ophelia, "Lady, shall I lie in your lap?" Ophelia of course, replies,"No, my lord." Hamlet, feigning shock, says, "Do you think I meant country matters?" Then, to drive home the point that the accent is definitely on the first syllable of "country," Shakespeare has Hamlet say, "That's a fair thought, to lie between maids' legs."

more at link: http://www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Cunt/
==
It's really not a bad word for women - men took one of our title's and threw it in our faces. It's not knowing that it is a proud title that makes it a bad word, not the title itself.

[Liberation Angel]

37. Eve Ensler et al say...

Despite criticisms, there is a movement within feminists that seeks to reclaim cunt not only as acceptable, but as an honorific, in much the same way that queer has been reappropriated by LGBT people.

Proponents include Inga Muscio in her book, Cunt: A Declaration of Independence<15> and Eve Ensler in "Reclaiming Cunt" from The Vagina Monologues.

Germaine Greer, who had previously published a magazine article entitled "Lady, Love Your Cunt",<17> discussed the origins, usage and power of the word in the BBC series Balderdash and Piffle. She suggested at the end of the piece that there was something precious about the word, in that it was now one of the few remaining words in English that still retained its power to shock.

From, wiki link above

[unblock]

41. that's mrs. unblock's favorite word!

but its acceptance is a bit different when you grow up british....

[edbermac]

52. Busts a taboo? The Bad News Bears was over 30 years ago.

That had pre-teen kids cursing left and right.

[Mojambo]

57. GREAT movie.

Hit-Girl really does a number on those gangster c*nts.

[Onceuponalife]

58. What's the big deal?

In the 80s there was a Goldie Hawn movie called "Wildcats" in which a 5-year-old girl says "motherfucker." No one batted an eye. It was funny. People are so uptight these days.

[Onceuponalife]

59. Saw the movie over the weekend

I really liked it, although it does veer into political incorrectness, which I know bothers some people. Hit Girl is a very intelligent person, too intelligent and self assured for her age, but hey it's a comic book movie so it's not meant to be realistic or anything. She distainfully calls Kick Ass's weapon a "gay little taser." Another character calls someone the "r" word some people use derogatorily to refer to the mentally impaired. One of my earlier posts got deleted for using the word so I'll refrain from doing so here, although I'm sure you know what it is. I also wonder why all the bad guys had to be black or brown (except the boss, who is Italian, apparently; another stereotype) and all the good guys are white? Whatever, the movie is still a lot of fun if you're a fan of revenge movies or Kill Bill.

Hit Girl doesn't really say THAT many swear words (I'd say no more than 9 or 10 overall)but she does say the other "c" word, too, a part of the male anatomy if you know what I mean. That might have been more shocking than "cunt" but no one is making a big deal about that, interestingly enough. Her father, played by Nic Cage, is a real hoot. He likes to dress up like Batman and even uses an hilarious "Adam West" cadence of speech. Basically, if you liked Uma Thurman's character in Kill Bill and you don't mind a shitload of violence (Hit Girl herself murders about a dozen or more people with guns, knives and her fists) you're gonna love this movie.

[mackerel]

60. I saw the movie when it came out. Loved it

Hit Girl's my girl. She's like Lisbeth Salander. Anyway I don't remember the 'c' word being used.

[Onceuponalife]

62. Who is Lisbeth Salander?

[khawkings09]

61. just a word. geez

[ZombieHorde]

63. Beloved aunt. nt