Why the C Word is Losing its Bite

It's true that nicknames for male genitalia are myriad, and often pretty amusing, but none is as offensive as the C word (certainly not that other C word, a piker by comparison). The derogatory term for vagina just seems so foul, so dirty, so ... down there. But wait: isn't the perfectly neutral word "vagina" enough to send most men screaming from the room? Our aversion to the C word may simply reflect our cultural aversion to the C. "The suggestion is that, from the Middle Ages through to the 19th century, and perhaps beyond, men have feared the unknown quality of a woman's sexuality, most specifically her ability to deceive when it comes to conception," writes linguist Ruth Wajnryb in Expletive Deleted. She adds that since "the c--- is the place where deception and betrayal transpire ... the male ego would feel sufficiently threatened to need to deride and denigrate the female quintessence." Plus, I hear some of them have teeth!

For decades, such feminists as Germaine Greer have advocated reclaiming the C word, in a take-back-the-night kind of way. While I'm all for this, efforts to redeem loaded words can be problematic, as we've learned from the N word. Besides, most women just don't seem to have the stomach for it. Our best effort to date might be Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues. However, as Guardian columnist Zoe Williams pointed out in a 2006 column about the play, Ensler wimped out because "the controversial word is not vagina, but c---." (Williams, my new hero, did not use dashes.) "A correlative would be if the gay-rights movement had started out reclaiming 'queer,' and only claimed credit for reclaiming 'homosexual,'" writes Williams. "The mistake feminists make, when they object to the C word is to think that it will slip discreetly out of the language."

It won't, of course. And even though I question our squeamishness about the C word, I don't believe we'll be using it willy-nilly, at least not anytime soon. Despite my secret affection for the term and the women who say it, I just can't bring myself to type it out here—and not just because NEWSWEEK, a family brand, helps pay for my daughter's expensive private school. It's still just too powerful, too offensive to too many. And besides, my mom might read this.

© 2009