Although I’m not opposed to any of these pet names necessarily (I love language), I can’t help asking why must women’s bodies continue to be sanitized? Are we afraid of our own sexuality?
Perhaps reclaiming some of these words on our own terms will strip away some of the taboo. But unlike the F-word and even “bitch” to some extent, the C-word remains just too offensive for most. In an interview with the London Independent in 2006, Germaine Greer, who had been an advocate of taking back the C-word in the 1970s, reversed her position somewhat: “I don’t think now that I want the C-word to be tamed. I love the idea that this word is still so sacred that you can use it like a torpedo, that you can hole people below the waterline. You can make strong men go pale. This word for our female ‘sex’ is an extraordinarily powerful reminder of who we are and where we came from. It’s a word of immense power—to be used sparingly.”
At what point will we stop apologizing—and truly embrace the beauty and power of all women?
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