(Sorry, I just had to use that subject line.)

I don't believe there's any insult specific to men that carries quite the sting of "cunt." "Dick" was mentioned above, especially when referring to the Cheney variety, but it's a lower-level insult. Consider: male friends call each other "dick" fairly regularly. I could get called a dick just for, for instance, playing a trick on somebody. Or, if a friend did something vaguely rude, I wouldn't hesitate to say, "Geez, whatta dick!"

In contrast, I have never heard a woman use "cunt" when referring to a friend. As a matter of fact, when a woman refers to an acquaintance as a cunt it is practically a flashing neon sign declaring that said person is, now and forevermore, an ex-friend. As a poster mentioned above, there's a real tinge of betrayal to the word; the word says, "I despise her."

Which, perhaps, is giving it too much power. Nevertheless, I don't think the word is going to be defused any time soon due to usage by America's church-going, self-proclaimed moral-bedrock conservatives.

Okay, we disagree, but then, we disagreed about your consumption of pigs, too. :)

We disagree even more in that I consider "douchebag," too goofy to even approach the level of "nigger" or "cunt," especially when said properly, which is with a comically low and drawn out voice.

Congratulations symbol boy, you gave me a good reason to respond to you.

Whoops, you never called yourself "Emmanuel Kunt." I got a letter wrong. To quote from one of your posts, "And in the past, when I have posted using other pseudonyms, the Broadsheet Moderators chose to find my pseudonyms so offensive (Immanuel Kunt for example)."

Whatever you call yourself, you're just a nebbish.

I don't think you can top yourself, so this is goodbye, and good luck, because you need it.

Durian, I love you like a brother, but I have to disagree.

You wrote:

"I'm revolted by the people here who are defending the use of this slur against women. It is exactly like calling a black person a "nigger," or a Jew (as I am) a "kike," or a gay man a "faggot," or so on."

As I said, the word cunt doesn't give a racial distinction, and it can be applied to straight women, bisexual women, or lesbians. Also a woman doesn't always have to be a cunt, she can redeem herself.

Just as a man doesn't always have to be a douchebag.

"Calling a woman a "c*nt" is denying her brain, her intellect, her personality, her personhood."

I agree that using this term is trying to cut a woman down, but actually, the term is from the same root word as "cunning". Having a brain and using it while being female IS the offense in a sexist culture. You may disagree with Clinton's actions or politics, but if you respected a person as a person and simply disagreed with their voting record, it's unlikely you'd go that low and make such a T-shirt.

This is a pretty taboo term in our culture right now, I think most people will stop at "bitch" and many women have reclaimed that word. Hillary is advancing and she is successful, so the backlash is getting worse. That term hasn't surfaced in reference to her before she won in two state caucuses, now has it?

It's only in the United States, and even here, only in some portions that cunt is really considered an awful word.

Even at Broadsheet, some Broadsheet staff feel perfectly fine using the word cunt. Cunt. Just say it. It has a nice, rough, sensual feel to it. It positively just oozes and reeks of sex.

And other Broadsheeters are so skered of it they have to refer to it as the c-word. And let it overpower them. They are helpless before teh c-word. Reduced to infants.

It's just a word.

Apparently you have a reading problem. I never used the handle "Emanuel Kunt".

Did you learn your amazing skills of ad hominem at the knee of your grandmother? I suspect not. You should not drag her into your incompetency.

I grew up in a family and culture that valued diversity and encouraged speech and the discussion of differing opinions. I bet you did too -- it makes me wonder where you went bad. :(

Did you really once call yourself "Emmanuel Kunt"? That is really, really sad.

Greeneyekzin called you a "schande fur die Goyim." To that I would add that you are what my late grandmother would call a "nebbish."

As with Thrasher and some of the other truly obnoxious trolls here, there is no good to respond to you again.

Just check back to October and early November when we last had this discussion.

Stop being a church lady. Especially you DurianJoe.

Sorry, douchebag and cunt aren't even nearly close on the "insult - o - meter" of the society we live in.

I am curious as to what this universal male slam is, as honestly I can not think of what it is. Is it fag? or pussy? If so, sorry to say but I think those have been bandies about way too much in the past few decades to reach the level of profanity that people consider cunt.

And if it is "pussy" or "fag" doesn't that in and of itself reflect certain levels of both misogyny and homophobia?

The only other thing I can think of is something implying a state of cuckoldry or castration. But in those cases, while the concept can be cruel and insulting, there is not a particular vulgarity that goes along with it.

I'm revolted by the people here who are defending the use of this slur against women. It is exactly like calling a black person a "nigger," or a Jew (as I am) a "kike," or a gay man a "faggot," or so on. Words have meaning, and there is no doubt that these particular slurs are meant as expressions of hate of the worst sort.

Some letter writers here have pointed out that just as black people have attempted to subvert the slur "nigger" by taking it as their own, women should do the same with the word "cunt." However, two things. First, plenty of black people are appalled that other blacks use that word and are actively trying to discourage its use, and second, if you're not black and you call a black person that word, be ready for a less than friendly response. Just like members of ethnic groups can mock themselves but non-members can't, neither can people from other groups use slurs without consequence.

The idiot in the photo wearing the "I love country music" shirt represents the worst, most base traits of people. Ignorance, intolerance, and indifference. In this country, those are traits of the rightwing. The right, as embodied by the GOP, exploits the worst in people for their own purposes. If you look back at the history of talk radio, for example, you'll find that from Father Coughlin through Rush Limbaugh, the radio hatemongers have been rightwingers. If fascism ever comes to this country, it will be their fans, and idiots like that guy with the shirt, who comprise the new shock troops.

The GOP's base is in the South, so it is an unfortunate coincidence that country music fans are conflated with the most intolerant sectors of our society. Or, maybe it's not a coincidence. That is a subject for another day.