*** Content Warning: Gendered Slur ***

How bad is it to call a woman a cunt?

How bad is it to unflatteringly describe women (in particular) by comparing them negatively to a part of the anatomy usually identified with femininity and womanhood?

It’s very, very bad.

And it’s not made better because your culture uses that word casually or because you step it down to less pejorative (but equally woman-identified) slang or because you (as an out-group member) see women reclaiming the slur casually among themselves and believe you can do so as well without consequence.

And don’t go down the false equivalence road and think insulting someone by negatively identifying them with a body part that’s usually ascribed to masculinity and manhood is the same thing. It is not. The woman-identified slur has a history and current practice of demeaning women (and all individuals identified with womanhood) in an exponentially worse fashion.

Abusers of women and feminine people often start with emotional abuse (that employs women-identified slurs).

If you just have to use a body part as an insult, first determine whether or not the person deserves it or you’re simply frustrated because they’re not giving you something you thought you were going to get from them.  If you’re not being rejected and taking it particularly hard plus the person in question is indeed terrible (or acting terribly), go the non-gendered route.

Everyone’s got an asshole.