Are Women Really Vulgar Vulvas?

By Sabrina Boyer

(contains language mildly NSFW)

As an English major, we focus a lot on language, language theory, and the idea that language is constructed and constructs our reality. The reality is, in our culture, women are seen as the lesser sex of the [supposedly] two sexes; and this is constantly construed in language, in the words we choose to use and in the meaning we assign those words. Words are meaningless; we supply the meaning. We are the meaning. And if this is true, then wouldn’t it be true to change a word’s meaning by redefining it? Are we constantly in a state of redefinition? If so, then Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, is redefining the vagina, cunt, clit, box, vulva, hoo-ha, va-jay-jay, honeypot, woo-woo, roast beef curtains, etc. These words have been used as derogatory slander against women, used to lower the status of women and to take away a woman’s personal agency and identity. So why is it I don’t see the word “cunt” as a derogatory term, despite its historical significance?

As a graduate instructor in the Women’s and Gender Studies program at University of North Carolina Greensboro, I was in my office waiting for my students to turn in their final papers; in our office, we have the F-word all around us: Feminist. And in our yearly newsletter, we wrote a piece on our yearly production of The Vagina Monologues, which we put on in order to benefit a local domestic violence shelter in town. Every year for the past two years, we’ve raised over 1500 dollars. And in this very (at least, it was once) controversial play (and still is in the southern part of the United States) is a monologue titled “Cunt.” And if you’ve ever seen the play, it is a reclamation of a once very abused term meant to demean a woman down to her genitals, as if women are only that and nothing more. In this monologue, it is a celebratory play on language, sounding out the letters and the word cunt, to make it sound like music, to make it sound beautiful. It is meant to cut down and, maybe not erase, but ease the harsh history that encapsulates the word cunt and its historical usage. By no means am I negating its abusive tone, but as we have said of language, we assign the meaning that exists. And Ensler is creating a new vocabulary.

So, while in the office, an older woman claiming to be one of the founders of the Women’s Studies program at Chapel Hill as well as a benefactor of UNCG called to curtly request the removal of her name from our newsletter address book. She was appalled at the appearance of the word ‘cunt’ in our newsletter, and found it extremely offensive and vulgar. Our office manager was somewhat shocked and saddened at the response, especially since it did not stand alone on the centerspread, and was well within the context of the reporting on our production of the VM’s.

And I was a little befuddled too.

We are a WGS program in the 21st century; and while the word cunt has historical roots that we regularly acknowledge within our study of women’s history and their place within the evolution of language as well as other topics, it did not appear in isolation. It appeared in a context celebrating its very meaning: the vagina. Additionally, it appeared within a context of commemoration and acknowledgement of women’s contributions to the world, rather than reducing these contributions to reproduction of the species.

The woman, around seventy, is coming from a very different place on the circle of feminism or the celebration of women in society, and particularly, within art. In a world full of gamegirls like Ivy from Soul Caliber (and her new ginormous breasts) or shows like The Man Show or films that show gratuitous nudity, we also have women who are reclaiming the history, importance and role of women in society: Buffy for one, Veronica Mars, River and Zoe from Firefly, Alice in Resident Evil, and the list goes on.

No longer are women just walking cunts serving only as tasty eye candy; they are cunts as well as uteruses, brains, biceps, eyes, mouths, consciousness, reasoning ability, muscular legs, curves, hips, thighs, breasts, feet, etc. The list goes on. And while I acknowledge the anger this woman must have felt at seeing the word cunt, I must say she failed to adjust her vision and see the context of which it existed; language has no meaning without context, and when we begin to isolate words from each other is when the danger of history begins to seep into the present.

What’s wrong with being a cunt anyway? I’m glad to have one. And when someone calls me one, their intention is obsolete. I have the power to assign it meaning and take it as I wish. I acknowledge its history but that doesn’t mean I have to perpetuate it. Say it loud, proud: Cunt. This is the C-word. Cunt.

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About Sabrina Boyer: As a kid my dad would sneak scary movies past my mom and let me indulge in his horror movie fetish. I grew up watching V, Alien Nation, The Thing, The Fog (all originals) and then, in 1992 when Buffy the movie came out, I became obsessed with vampires, girl power, and all things gothic. I once stayed home from school, faked sick, and watched BTVS: the movie 6 times in a row. I know the beginning cheerleading dance by heart (still). Currently, I’m obsessing over Laurell K. Hamilton novels, and dream about Anita Blake being my best friend.