ugh

[ursako]

Been watching in dismay as Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon and Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare's Sister get pummeled in the press and around the intarwebs for speech that was, in retrospect, certainly inadvisable, but definitely not (to my mind) hateful. What's worst is reading some of the responses from those that we euphemistically call 'wingnuts';

Comments

[wendolen]

Because 'slut' or 'cumbag' is still the vilest thing you can call a woman.

Worse than 'cunt'? I'm not sure I disagree with you, but I'm kind of curious to see a survey to see what a wider selection of people say.

In my ideal world, you'd take up a career blogging about feminist issues, because your writing and thinking on these issues tends to be very close to my opinions, but much clearer and better-reasoned. Maybe you could do it on the side during law school? ;)

[wendolen]

Heck, I'll make a LJ survey for it. ;)

[ursako]

I think my money's on 'cumbag', honestly. None of the others so completely define a woman as a passive receptacle for (in that mindset) disgusting stuff.

In my ideal world, I'd be well-read and articulate enough to do such a thing, but there are already a lot of talented sistaz out there doing it a lot better than I could.

[wootsauce]

Yeah; if nothing else, you can be a virgin and still be a cunt.

[rakugo_report]

Preach on, sistah! Every time I hear anyone use the term "feminazi" or see a woman cringe when refering to feminism, I die a little inside. Yes, I realize the 2nd wave got a little militant, but feminism is all about equality and respect, not about women taking over the world. God forbid that should ever happen.

[lobsterbox]

Like wendolen, I see this as the reason that "cunt" is also so hurtful. Cumbag has the receptacle imagery, and cunt is horrible in a similar way because it's incredibly reductive. I would find cunt scarier to hear from someone because getting called a slut or cumbag feels like, "Yeah, I fuck a lot, your moral judgement means shit to me" whereas cunt seems more threatening coming from a man: you are nothing but genitals for me to fuck. It's all disgusting and has been uncomfortable to watch because of the scary anti-woman tone of it all, as well as the usual creeps calling themselves Christians who make me want to raise my hand and go, "Hi, I'm Catholic, and these psychos here certainly don't speak for me, they just need counselling because something is obviously wiggly up there. Thanks."

[chumpjuice]

I think that the problem isnt with the way that women are treated but with (heterosexual) male sexuality in general. Theres so much violence and aggression tied into ... (OK, side note. There needs to be a word for heterosexual males, and another for heterosexual females. And why can you be a lesbian, but not "a gay". From now on, im using the term breeder and breederette until I can think of anything better) -- breeder sexuality and the phallus. Terms like slut and cumbag could just as easily be used to describe a gay man