Cunt - The Last American Taboo

Cunt. It's a word that inspires strong feelings, even among those of us (mainly British and Australian) that use it as a term of affection towards our mates: "ah you lazy cunt", "you stupid cunt", "you dopey cunt" - always followed by an eye-roll and mutual laughter. Yes, we may also sometimes use it to describe a particularly unpleasant client, or a rival Premier league football (soccer) player, but we'd never dream of using it in a derogatory or abusive manner towards a woman. Never.

If anything, nowadays in the UK, the word cunt is seen mostly as reliably funny meme material more than anything else.

Here in the USA, though, the word cunt still has much darker connotations, mostly misogynistic.  I remember when I moved here in 1998 and going to see a movie called Your Friends and Neighbors, starring Ben Stiller and Catherine Keener, and a character played by Jason Patric using the word cunt to insult Keener's character. I'd never heard the word used to describe a woman like that and I was appalled. So it's quite the cultural divide, and speaking as an Englishman living in New York, I can completely understand both points of view.

But here's the funny thing: in recent years, I've noticed a change. It's slow and subtle but it's the same change that saw the de-stigmatization / mainstreaming of the word cunt in the UK. And the funniest part of it is this: I've been a stay at home parent here in New York for the last 10 years and a lot of that time has been spent standing in schoolyards chatting to various moms. One day, while chatting to a group of about five of them, I was suddenly asked to say the word cunt. It was almost a throwaway request - no big deal. And when I did, they all laughed. It just sounded funny to them, especially in my English accent. Because as soon as you detach the Jason Patrics of the world from the equation, it is arguably a funny word. It's ridiculous in a so-bad-its-good kind of way. This is why my friends and I laugh when they call me a silly cunt, and it's why America should start laughing at it too.