I find the "c" word to be the worst insult that can be thrown at me. I consider myself a feminist (sorry brightstar) and I associate with forward-thinking people, and every one of the females finds that word as offensive as I do. I don't say it, I won't type it because it is so repulsive to me. You may not find the word offensive, I and many others do. And it doesn't matter who says it, in whatever context it may be. Sorta like all the other words tossed around here today - ask a black, a jew, an hispanic how they would feel if those names were thrown at them. To me, it is more than a word, it is a rather crass way of trying to diminish me.

While using such words isn't really my thing, I don't want to ban anyone from using words as they choose. People who love words and language almost never want to do that sort of thing. For instance there are many books banned or restricted from being taught in our schools out of political correctness or prudishness or for religious reasons. I always oppose this sort of thing.

Much can be learned from Huckleberry Finn for instance. I have also never been the sort of feminist who thought there was no value in the writing of dead white males.

Neither would I ban the t-shirts which insult Hillary. My God, if the woman could be killed by a few insults, she would've died in Arkansas. Instead, she just keeps going and going and going.

However, there are trolls here at Broadsheet who think despising their sentiments is the same thing as censorship or that ignoring them is the same thing as abuse. One of them always cries loudly about the political correctness of feminists. What he would really like to do is censor Broadsheet. However, I see that they keep letting him crawl out from under his rock. So be it. However, as a private enterprise, Broadsheet would have every right to ban him if they chose. They generously let him proceed, still confused though he is about free speech and what actually constitutes free speech rights.

It is the government which has no right to abridge free speech. However, it is naive to assume that some rights will never rub up against other rights and cause conflicts and difficult decisions need not be made. The fascinating thing about our constitutional process is that it must be necessarily dynamic as new conflicts and new challenges arise.

Have you read Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence? If you haven't, you should.

I have to ask...why publicize this garbage? You are only doing a service to those looking to air their truly ugly and low opinions.

Don't know whether to laugh or cry over that one, bro.

I myself go for "poom poom" or "that thang," but then, the missus and I are as silly as any other couple.

That's it for tonight. Cheers!

I did a "who is" search for the operator of the "citizens united not timid" web site. Not surprisingly, the trash who put up the site did so anonymously. But here is other contact information for anyone who would like to contact this model citizen.

email: CITIZENSUNITEDNOTTIMID.ORG@domainsbyproxy.com

phone: 480.624.2599

fax: 480.624.2599

address: Citizens United Not Timid

15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353

Scottsdale, Az 85260

I checked smartpages.com and this appears to be a mail drop service, a mail boxes etc. type address. At any rate, feel free to express yourself to this creep.

"This is why that word can hurt."

I am well aware that the word cunt can hurt, but I don't want the word banned, and rather I would like to reclaim it.

Can a woman take pride in being called a cunt? I don't know? But I would like to think that it is possible.

You and I are not disagreeing on anything, except the implication associated with the word motherfucker (you should use that word more often, it's a good one).

Oh. You think it means someone else's mother? You are not going to deny that the term mother is part of the word?

Maybe we have a generational or cultural disconnect.

Well that would rather depend upon how the receiver takes the term, wouldn't it? But you rather make my point. Cunt as applied to a man calls him a sort of woman. It is used to apply a sort of misogyny to insult a man. If women were more valued and sex alone were the context, wouldn't it be a compliment?

You are talking about talking "dirty" in the context of sex. That is not the same as taking a body part used for sex, an outlet for menstuation, and childbirth out of context and diminishing the complexity of a human being and a circumstance involving politics and calling that person a body part.

Remember those conversations that we had in other threads about rape about how penetration is different than other forms of sexual assault? Perhaps women respond differently to such insults because the vagina is a place that can be invaded, if you will.

The other day, in a thread on abortion, I compared the fetus to a parasite and some people were much offended. However, in many ways, both biological and cultural, a woman is reminded that her body is not wholly her own. That body part that you worship can be used as a birth canal or misused as a trophy of war. (Remember Ruwanda?) To many women, the word "cunt" is like a blow. Some may enjoy its use during sex, but many others would not.

Women's struggle is still, after all this time, to be seen as someone beyond a sexual object. For women this struggle is not only cultural but personal. It is a war within our own souls.

This is why that word can hurt.

You are thinking of the term "son-of-a-bitch" (a term that is almost never directed at a person these days). The term motherfucker doesn't imply anything about a person's mother (and it never has), unless you call me a motherfucker, and attribute that to mean that my son's mother gets fucked in the good way.

I always felt great whenever I was called a motherfucker by either a man or a woman. Being a bad ass motherfucker, or B A M, is a good thing. Just ask Samuel L Jackson.