Miss Pussy and The Quilting Club (Pussy In The Well..Whos Gonna Tell Book 1)

We are so glad they found her. Clean Eric the Quilter talks to us about his quilting life. He is a quilter, who also works professionally in a knitting factory I think I'm getting that right! He makes fan quilts, does art quilts, and so much more. She is also a quilt judge. She's also a lot of fun. For more on her quilt retreat, https: She also has a new endeavor that she talks about -- training people to fix sewing machines. And there's so much more we chat about.

Gail talks to us from Canada about her quilting life, about long-arming, and about being a HandiQuilter educator. Lynn Rinhart's episode is part 1, the co-host of Stitch TV. Lynn talks to us about her quilting life, including being a quilt appraiser and be the co-host of Stitch TV. She is also a quilt appraiser, and she talks to us about that part of her quilting life as well. David my mentor in law school comes to chat with us about tariffs and fabric, and why Joann's had put out a call for action last week. David helps us sort it out. Clean Olivia Beatty talks to us about her quilting life, and we talk a little bit about copyright too.

Olivia is part of our Quilting Army. She's a fan of Eleanor Burns, and she makes patterns. We talk about all kinds of things, and I get a little law prof on her about copyright. It was at the beginning of the summer. I was missing the law Chris talks with us about real-world questions arising for both photographers and quilters about copyright. Chris has previously worked at the U. Copyright Office, and now is an attorney for high-profile content owners in Los Angeles. He is also a.. Clean Famous Quilter Leah Day comes to chat with us again about publishing, copyright and her feelings about Facebook.

Leah Day has taught so many of us how to quilt better. On our podcast for a second time, she talks to us about publishing, her thoughts about copyright, and before she did it why she was considering cutting back on Facebook as a mechanism for Jayna Zweiman talks to us about how the Pussy Hat Project https: We recorded the interview in early Summer, and we mention Museum of Joann joined us to talk about her quilting life.

She owned a quilting shop in the s and s. She talks about the development of the quilting industry, and shares with us her quilting life. Clean Amy Reitzel, quilt pattern maker and part of our Quilting Army talks about her quilting life - Part 1 of 2. Amy talks to us about her quilting life, including making patterns and collecting a lot of rulers! We also talk about growing up with a mom who owned a quilt shop.

See part 2, with her mom! Barbara Brackman talks to us about her life, her gathering of quilt blocks for the Encyclopedia work in patchwork and applique in the s and s. She is a rock star quilt historian. It was quite thrilled to chat with her! Clean Tula Pink and Mary Fons talk about their quilting life at the house! Tina talked with us about her company, her love of Malaysian batiks, and her social mission in creating her business. She also talks about how batiks are made, and the challenges of creating a small business, including shipping and other things.

We are thrilled to chat with her, and for this This is kind of a part 2 of the Suzy Webster interview. Now we have her mom too and her kid!

Men and Quilting: A Response

They talk about their award winning quilts, applique, and also, we talk with a young quilter who discusses what he loves about quilting and even see a Clean Suzy Webster, quilt book author and award winning quilter, Part 1 of 2. Suzy talks to us about her quilting life, including writing quilting books. She is also an award winning quilter you have to listen to part 2 for that! We went on a fieldtrip to Atlanta, where we were able to see the amazing exhibit, Art and Craft of Activism at the Museum of Design Atlanta.

I'm not sure if it was explicit, but We walk around the shop and learn more about it. This is definetely raw audio. We are shopping at a couple of points. But I thought I would throw it up on the Pam sat down with us to talk about protest quilts, our Just Wanna Quilt project, and we even get her to curse about how the general media discounts quilting as something only uncool grandmother's do. So, yes, we get to put "explicit" on this one. Clean Sue Bleiweiss of Threads of Resistance talks to us about art quilts, the exhibit and the latest controversy.

Sue, an art quilter and an author, and also one of the key organizers of Threads of Resistance comes to talk to us about the latest controversy with the exhibit and also many things quilty. For more on the exhibit: Carla Treimer talks to us about Quilts Beyond Borders and her quilting life. For more information on Quilts Beyond Borders: Nancy tells us about her life as a sewing educator, as she travels around the country for Viking, Pfaff and Singer.

Kelly comes to talk to us about all things having to do with thread, embrodiery, and stabliziers! And yes, that's her real title: And she is amazing. Clean Lee Chappell Monroe, pattern designer, teacher, and quilter. Lee talks to us about being a professional within the quilting industry. Clean Corrie Dutton, 3L law student, talks about learning to quilt. Corrie is learning to quilt as part of her law school experience. We'll be talking with her as she works through the Gypsy Wife quilt with Gigi Baay.

Clean Rachael Woodard and Becky Tillman Peterman from Quilted Twins talk about their fabric shop, designing patterns and their quilting life. Becky and Rachael of the Quilted Twins talk to us about their wonderful quilty life -- where Becky creates patterns for scrappy quilts that are available for free on their website , and Rachael sells fabric at great prices online and in a warehouse..

Clean Kathee Nelson, part of our quilting army who talks about her quilting life and her son gets engaged during the interview.

Kathee Nelson shares her quilting life with us, talking about all kinds of things including art quilts, dying fabrics, and quilting with her sisters. Her son also gets engaged in the middle of our interview, so look for that. For more on Kathee, go Clean Christa Watson, famous author and owner of the Precut Store stops by. Christa Watson, of Christa Quilts, comes to talk with us about writing books on free motion quilting, also precuts , the Precut Store and so much more. We are so hoping this is the first of many conversations.

For more on Christa, go to Clean Season 2 begins today! What does that mean? We explain what the quilting army is, what a research podcast is, and a few more things in 5 minutes. Clean Michael Madison, law professor talks about the knowledge commons and quilting. Michael, a super smart law professor, talks to us about his theories of the knowlege commons and how to start to think about the study of quilting using his theories.

Clean Tara Miller talks to us about her quilting life. Tara talks to us about her quilting life. We talk about meeting up in Atlanta to go to MODA's quilt and cross stitch exhibits, and we talk about how technical writing influences her way of thinking about quilting.

For more info on Tara, go to Clean Theresa McFarling talks about word quilts, copyright worries, and all kinds of things. Theresa talks to us about some of her big projects, including a quilt with song lyrics and asks some copyright questions. For more information on Theresa, including her Fearless Girl quilt, go to www. Clean Andrea Tsang Jackson talks about quilting, her Indiegogo campaign about a quilting song, and community quilting at a museum.

Andrea talks to us about her life as a quilter, including as an Artist-in-Residence at the Canadian Museum of Immigration, as well as her new project that includes a song about quilting. Clean Sara Trail of Social Justice Sewing Academy talks to us about her messages in quilting and her community quilt project. By 13, she had published a quilt book, and before she graduated high school, she had her own fabric lines. She went to college at Berkeley, and graduate work at Harvard. Now, she has started the Social Justice Sewing Academy, a..

Clean Mary Lillico, quilter, talks about thinking about buying a long-arm machine and it's really fun. Mary found us through Leah Day's podcast, and she talks to us about her dream of owning a long-arm. She's really fun and funny. I don't think I've laughed so hard in a long time as she explains all of the justification for why she should Clean Shelly Ast of Havel's Sewing talks about all things sharp and pointy in quilting.

Shelly Ast of Havel's Sewing talks to us about scissors, seam rippers, rotary cutters, and all things sharp and pointy. She also is providing us with a coupon! Just use the code JWQ7 For.. Laura talks to us about Paducah -- how it became a quilter's destination, about other aspects of the art community and how quilters are now retiring there! Clean Carolanne Donovan, quilter and digital marketer. Carolanne talks to us about her quilting life, being president of her guild, and her day job, digital marketing. She's agreed to come back for part two and talk to us more about Facebook, Instagram and other important tools for the quilt entrepreneur.

Rebecca talks to us about her knitting life! She also talks about copyright, trademark, and the role of law in creativity. Here's more on Rebecca: Clean Shelly Weeks, quilter, discusses octopuses, organizing ,and silhouette quilts. Shelly talks to us about her quilting life, and a little bit about the public domain too. We talk about when do you know when an old work can be used without needing permission? Hilary, friends of Gigi Baay also part of the Quilting Army tells us about her experience -- with the QA staying with her in Memphis and about her first quilt show - Paducah!

Clean Maria Shell, author of Improv Patchwork. Maria joins us to talk about her quilting life in Alaska, her book, Improv Patchwork, her year of making everything she wore, and her philosophy of a room of one's own. Here is a link to her book and website Clean Jo Westfoot of the Crafty Nomad. Jo is a quilter from England that talks to us about her quilting life, creating patterns, and creating a VIP club.

Her quilts are super cool, especially if you like sewing-themed quilts, rainbows, or more contemporary designs A recap of our last week, and a little bit of a thought conversation of where the project is heading as we move into summer. An more official discussion will happen soon. Melanie talks to us about her quilting life, including making medallion quilts and blogging at www. Clean Judy Walker - After Paducah 1. Judy Walker talks about her impressions of Paducah, where she experienced Quilt Week. Clean Weekly Recap Week 10 and We are catching up from the Paducah trip!

We have so much more planned. The class ends this week, but the project will keep going!! The students talk about their experiences. Clean Famous author Virginia Postrel joins us to discuss her new project on technology and textiles. Virginia Postrel is a famous author, who has taken up the question of technology and textiles. Her previous work, style and glamour. Clean Becky Hill, quilter, and part of our Quilting Army. Becky joins us to talk about her quilting life, and her thoughts on her grandmother, quilting in general, and improv quilting.

Clean Todd Purcell from Superior Thread explains thread! Todd Purcell from Superior Thread sent us some thread -- we learn all kinds of things about thread! Chris Sprigman is a very famous intellectual property professor that himself has done creative projects, including topics that include the fashion industry and comedy.

He talks to us about how to structure cultural projects like ours, where the goal The Quilting Army stopped at Bumbletees www. There is also a FB live video on our Just Wanna.. Clean Yvonne Wilson, quilter. Yvonne talks to us about her quilting life, including the role of community, scrap quilting, and her love of quilting with bold colors. Nobody really truly ever walks in the shoes of another, because the nature of human experience is first hand.

I only know of my own struggles and they are great, even if only to me, because I can only truly understand my own struggles. I can only sympathize and do what I can to make changes in how I treat people…all people. I can apologize for that, or explain viewpoint, or argue, or whatever, but nothing I say will give you the result your seeking. You will just have to tell us what you want, exactly, and keep insisting and demanding until you get it. That view intimates that women are a monolith.

Women can be patriarchal. Women often oppress other women. Not all women are born with a vagina transwomen, for example. We all experience the world at the intersection of our various identities. Never in my life have I called myself a feminist, nor will I ever. I am a humanist. The article was very interesting upon first read. I will reread it again later today and absorb it further. How I define myself is up to me. How others define me, concerns me not. I answer to myself. Tina — First of all thank you for taking the time to add to the dialogue, and for the advice on my own journey in life.

In spite of that, I do realise I have privilege, and I do my absolute best not to take advantage of it. Indeed, I was responding to the contents of your post. That goes for me, too. I think that would rule out an extraordinarily large percentage of current quilters. Why else does research into quilting and quilt history continue? Equally, not all artists study art history.

It may, however, be desirable. So yes, I think we can speak with more authority if we understand a bit about context. That would be silly. We only see it in others, never ourselves. If we have time to sew, we have time to sew. And when I did, I was like, oh, yeah, okay. I started following for the Sunday Stash. And stayed because I really enjoy his style of writing, thinking and quilting. My CPA tried to tell me a hobby cannot be a business. Luke Haynes was not even on my radar screen until all this conversation started. His quilts are okay to me.

Not something that I personally aspire to. And if he gets a lot of recognition and money for them, good for him. Now, I am going to throw in the Gee Bend quilters. Because I know their quilts sell for tens of thousands of dollars, too. They are also art. And I say good for them, too. I have time to sew. Maybe too much time, because I am actually using it to respond on here. And any privileges that I have, I have used. Selfishly and altruistically with all shades in between. Was she a better astronaut?

Or did she get her notoriety because she was a woman in a male dominated field maybe because she perished much too soon. Was she a better Secretary of State? Did she get more press because she was the first female to hold the office? And more criticism because of it.

Amelia Erhart and Harriet Quimby. Were they better pilots than their male contemporaries? Or did they just do something that broke gender stereotypes? Or the first woman to hold a seat on the Supreme Court? Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey. The list goes on and on for women who broke the stereotype and got notoriety for doing so and some of that fame was on the coattails of being women.

If they had a penis would they have stood out in their fields? Fellowship of Christian Athletes. National Council of Jewish Women. Veteran Feminists of America. American Association for Women Radiologist. Christian Women In Media Association. But they exist for women. Every field of study. Is this any different than a group of men wanting to have a place of their own to talk about quilts? I identify as a feminist. But I fail to see the problem here.

Some man got attention for being a quilter. There are plenty of famous if one can truly call quilters famous women quilters. Most famous quilters are women. I grew up watching Sewing with Nancy not Sewing with Andy. If a group of men want to band together to express their craft and they get some publicity because they are men. More power to them. Just like the women in my first paragraph. Or is that too sexist to say? We are a patriarchal society and have been since the dawn of time.

There are still fights to be fought with equal pay and advancement. But is it really one man who made a few flippant comments on a podcast of all things something that should rip a hole in the quilting community? I quilt because I love it. But if I wanted to make a business of quilting one only has to look to the phenomenon that is Jenny Doan to keep the faith as women. Calling someone anti-male makes it as true as if I were to call you a reasonable person. Wake the fuck up people! Who truly gives a shit?! I love like minded people. Only I can make myself feel less worthy than another person, male or female.

My husband and I are raising 1 daughter and 2 sons with the knowledge that they are all equal and that gender is irrelevant other than it defines your reproductive abilities. When did white guys have to vote for equal pay, or equal opportunity just to get jobs? As for questioning my using my time to write the article, should I question your taking the time to respond to it?

I love men and dick too! But I also like thinking and discussing about the cultural and theoretical impacts of gender on my art. This is how my brain works, haha! Are you serious T.

Jana Russon Blog: Vagina Monologues

I work in a male dominated profession where I have been told, to my face, on many occasions that women have no place working there. So I think this is a great example of how people approach the topics of feminism, gender, privilege, and equality as well as how they intertwine differently. We all bring our own life experiences that will shape how we feel and deal with these topics. We are all on the same side, we just choose to fight the battle and perhaps identify the most important battles with different tactics and methods.

The most exciting thing here is that these challenges are being faced head on in various ways, and that chipping away at all angles will surely help bring the multitude of walls down quicker! Of course I know women can be patriarchal. Cis or trans women and men who ignore sexism, like the sexism you face in your workplace, are conceding to patriarchy, giving it permission to grow and thrive. One of the most illuminating thoughts I heard recently connected the dots between the increase in men making quilts and the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

As it turns out, a lot of men started quilting to make panels for friends and relatives who died. Thinking about it shed a lot of light on how emotionally invested we are in quiltmaking. This connection to entry into quilting makes sense—historical context matters— as many have argued here. It also addresses constructs of masculinity and femininity.

Sharing opinions is one thing but letting sexism go uninterrogated is a sure way to maintain the status quo. Learning what drove so many men to take up quilting, and seeing how that differs from what people said here, turns this whole discussion upside down. Women are now soldiers, firemen, police.. Quilting is fun, relaxing, expressive and sometimes inspiring…so what does gender have to do with that? Keep the needles flying. I find your behaviour, tone and attitude hostile.

All future posts will be deleted. Way to go Molli! What is so different about men quilting versus men as clothing designers? The difference is gender. Identity markers like gender, race, class, sexuality, ability, nationality, and more carry weight and operate within institutionalized systems power of oppression and domination. When male quilters claim, as did J. Bruce, that they revolutionize the economy of the quilt work by virtue of his white patriarchal privilege , it erases the power dynamics embedded in work—quilting, in this case.

The fact that this thread, built around gendered ways of speaking about power and belonging, still draws angry participants unmasks the intersectional dynamics of institutional sexism, capitalism and more. I understand your comments and find J. But, simply put, if you believe in equality, you believe in equality.

Women have had to fight to participate in and be recognized for so much in our lives, why would we of all people dish it back? Individuals have a keen role in fighting systematic oppression. However, institutionalized systems of domination and oppression sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism operate on a structural level. We have to fight for space at the table.

Allowing space here to discuss what is often papered over by feel good rhetoric is important. Molli, good for you to create a way for men to support each other in their interests. While I agree with a lot of other commenters about gender dynamics in patriarchal societies, I also believe that expanding the level of interest in quilting and sewing to more men is a good thing, and that having the means to connect with others who have similar experiences to your own is a comfort.

As others have mentioned, the U. Your choice of wording seems to reinforce these inequalities, as if to assert that they even exist within the quilting world—a sphere in which I believe many women have actually found solace and power in their identity. The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum named the show. A woman, as a matter of fact. Million had nothing to do with the creation of the show, so he was merely defending the bitter attack that was perpetrated by another blog. His intentions should not be called into question. Frank, did you read my entire comment?

I think it was a one off. Thank you to everyone who left comments on the Men and Quilting: An even bigger thank you for keeping it pretty much classy. A lot has changed since then: After much screaming and hair pulling […]. Your email address will not be published. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. Notify me of new posts by email. I like it right where it is. If someone wants to give me media exposure, or accolades, or a giant fucking teddy bear because I am a man who quilts, I am more than willing to accept them all. Both women and men, in all industries, have been accepting far more, for far less, for a very long time.

I believe in the body of work I produce, knowing full well some of it is better than others, and am excruciatingly happy that anyone would love it for any reason they like. Those that do succeed, and I personally know a few have done so through hard work, determination, and fighting for every penny they can get. Their dick may have got them in the door, but it was their perseverance that kept it wedged open. I was shocked that someone of their calibre would have a minute to spare on me. I sincerely hope that if I have the chance to meet any of you, Glitterati, that we engage each other on the basis of admiration for the craft, and not because of our genitalia.

No Girls Allowed Quilt Bee. Some of us are married, and I have whole-heartedly considered myself a feminist since my teenage years. Regardless, consider me guilty for instilling any resentment, hatred, or division between the genders by gathering a motley crew of men to take up needle and thread and make beautiful quilts. Imagine the little boys and girls who might go to this show and leave with a sense of self-worth, or creative energy, or a breakdown of gender stereotypes.

iTunes is the world's easiest way to organize and add to your digital media collection.

Likewise, I also started a Facebook group called Men Who Quilt, which as of today has quilters who identify as men. They come from every walk, skip, and jump of life. They make quilts for every possible reason you could imagine. Some suck at it, but they keep going. Some are amazing, but they keep going, too. Some of them use traditional patchwork, and others use nothing but modern, negative space.

They teach each other, they learn from each other, they share their successes and their failures. They organise quilting retreats, quilt shows, one-man art exhibitions, and their art practices. They talk about where to buy fabric for cheap, how to up-cycle clothes, which battings to use for what, where to find a long-armer, which sewing machines to buy, how to stitch in the ditch, and what it means to be a man who quilts. In short, they do exactly the same things that every woman who quilts does; they just do it with a penis. So if you want to pin Luke Haynes against the wall as did previous blog posts for not choosing enough feminist language, or for believing in himself and penis too much, or for using what was given to him biologically and creatively to his full potential, then know this: I guess I did have the energy for that after all.

Now, me and my hostile penis are going to go finish that binding. January 14, at 8: January 15, at January 14, at 9: January 15, at 1: January 17, at 5: January 14, at January 23, at 6: January 17, at January 23, at 7: Lucy Charm About You says: January 18, at 8: January 15, at 2: January 17, at 6: January 17, at 2: January 15, at 7: January 15, at 9: January 15, at 4: January 15, at 5: January 15, at 6: January 15, at 3: January 16, at January 15, at 8: January 16, at 2: January 18, at 6: January 16, at 1: January 16, at 4: January 16, at 7: January 17, at 1: January 18, at January 18, at 2: January 18, at 1: January 18, at 3: January 18, at 5: January 19, at 1: January 21, at 2: January 21, at 3: January 21, at 4: January 21, at 5: January 21, at January 21, at 8: January 21, at 9: January 23, at 9: January 23, at January 24, at 1: January 26, at 7: January 26, at 8: February 2, at 6: February 5, at 8: February 5, at February 5, at 1: February 7, at 1: February 5, at 7: Simon Carr reports that his children confuse 'the c-word' with "the K-word" He also quotes their confusion over 'cunt' itself: That's a rude word, isn't it?

Ruth Wajnryb writes "the 'SEE'-word" , to distinguish it from the hard 'c' sound of 'cunt'. If 'cunt' can be a 'c-word', can 'cock' be one, too? A surprisingly large number of these other words beginning with 'c' have also occasionally been called 'the c-word', usually for comic effect. The following is a representative selection. No surprise, then, that he is a fan of the c-word. In fact, not only is Musk a regular player of the computer game known as Civilization , which is all about husbanding resources to build an epic human community, but that word peppers his public utterances" BBC World Service, ; "Catholicism: Not the c-word, a c-word" Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, ; "They definitely had the c-word: Conscience and Cyclothymia" Alexandra Mullen, ; "[Christopher] Nolan's script, co-authored with his brother Jonathan, never deigns to use the c-word: Catwoman" Robbie Collin, ; "non-carcinogenic [ Uh oh, the other dreaded c-word.

Cut" The Sun , ; "the c-word: These are not conservatories" Jon Stock, ; "Could you make it more celebratory? Hey, we're all guys here, I'll say it: Paul Casey, ; "isn't that Italian "champagne"? No, no, please don't mention the C-word" Johnny Morris, ; 'Curle': The "C" word" Fiona Phillips, ; 'comradely': Mr Clinton had charisma" Patrick Barkham, ; 'Clinton': Obama carefully avoided using the "c-word," as some in Washington termed it, though his description of events certainly sounded couplike" Peter Baker, ; 'Clegg': Carter" Mark Hosenball, ; "I would include Emanuelle And The Last Cannibals other than just, you know, because the title uses the c-word" Calum Waddell, ; "I don't want to use the 'C' word, chokers, so I am not going to" Commentatorballs , ; "[He] looked like someone who didn't even know what the C-word might be.

The revue show The C Word revolved around three c-words: Mark Mason's novel The C Words discusses 'commitment', 'coupledom', and 'children'. Grace Chin wrote a play about commitment titled The C-Word in There was even a c-word reference in a TV commercial for Phileas Fogg crisps After it was reported that Donald Trump called a woman a word beginning with 'c' and ending with 't', Stephen Colbert misunderstood for comic effect: The most frequent word, other than 'cunt', to be termed 'the c-word', is 'cancer': They don't mean Cancer.

They mean Commitment" John Allen Lee, There have been several books about cancer whose titles include references to 'the c-word': A cancer-awareness comedy event titled The 'C' Word was held in Toronto in Newspaper headlines often use the phrase 'the c-word' to pun on other contentious terms beginning with that letter: It's a strong word, sure, but more so in America.

In England it's just like any other curse word". The most common example of this is 'Christmas', which, like 'cancer', can be seen as an alternative 'c-word'. The headline Don't Mention The C-Word , for example, is about the removal of the word 'Christmas' from secular greetings cards. In the article, Richard Littlejohn asks, rhetorically: He has fun inventing phrases such as "Father C-word", "C-word Eve", and "C-word Day", all attempts to highlight the absurdity of banning the word 'Christmas'.

Less festively, he also bemoans the culture of liberalism, 'political correctness', and ' Guardian istas' in other words, his usual targets , asking: But try the other C-word". As if that wasn't enough, Littlejohn went on to essentially repeat himself two Christmases later, in another article also headlined Don't Mention The C Word "the dreaded C Word [ Cricket experts were aghast at the "inappropriate use of the c-word"", in a spoof article headlined Kevin Pietersen In C-Word Drama That final example, from The Sun 's coverage of a speech by Gordon Brown, also resulted in a Sun leader column headlined C Ironically, after David Cameron goaded Brown for not saying 'cuts', when Cameron himself became Prime Minister, he used the euphemism 'difficult decisions' to avoid saying 'cuts'.

The sheer extent of the 'cunt' lexicon supports Scott Capurro's assertion that it is "plainly the most versatile word in the English language" Capurro also notes the variety of reactions provoked by the word: Some people will try to be smug about it and think, "Well, that does nothing for me". And the person sitting right next to that person could be completely moved by the word, emotionally drawn to somebody who uses that word, you know. And the person sitting next to that person could be someone who's completely disgusted by it. It's one of those great words that can get many, many different reactions from people.

This ideology, which was originally termed cunt-power, sought to invert the word's injurious potential - to prevent men using it as a misogynist insult, women assertively employed it themselves: The new cunt would be matriarchal, feminist" Peter Silverton, The feminist Cunt-Art movement incorporated the word into paintings and performances, and several female writers have campaigned for its transvaluation.

In my evaluation of the ideology of cunt-power, I discuss the extent of its practicality, popularity, and longevity. However, words do hurt us, and they can be used as weapons. Walter Kirn has called 'cunt' "the A-bomb of the English language [ Verbal weapons cause intense emotional pain. GQ has noted that "No word is more hurtful or destructive than the C-word" Catherine MacKinnon cites numerous examples of abusive language provoking distress and resulting in litigation.

Asserting that "A woman worker who was referred to by a [presumed male] co-worker as a 'cunt' could present a strong case for sexual harassment" , she quotes "Cavern Cunt", "stupid cunt", "fucking cunt", and "repeated use of the word 'cunt'" as phrases resulting in convictions for sexual harassment. Just as 'cunt' can be a violent word, its use can also have violent repercussions: By contrast, however, a more recent case was dismissed when it was ruled that the word 'cunt' did not constitute sexual harassment: A female student at Colorado University had alleged that another student called her a 'cunt'.

Hoffman was ridiculed by the press, not least because the name of her university is commonly abbreviated to 'CU': When men use the word 'cunt' to insult women, courts have deemed the act to be unlawful. When men use it to insult other men, as Julia Penelope demonstrates, their usage is still inherently insulting to women: Signe Hammer explained that to call a man a 'cunt' "is to call him a woman: The other male insults cited by Penelope are also tangential insults to women: He calls it "the four-letter word a man can use to destroy everything with a woman [ Kirn explains the offensiveness of 'cunt' with reference to its plosive phonetics and its semantic reductionism: It strips away any aura of uniqueness".

A character in the Hungarian film Taxidermia also notes the ugliness of the word, or rather its Hungarian equivalent. Somewhat insensitively, Kirn feels that women over-react to the word when it is used against them: It doesn't leave a mark. Yet women treat its deployment as tantamount to an act of nonphysical domestic violence". He also ignores the word's feminist reclamation, stating incorrectly: Essentially, Kirn's article is a macho defence of what he sees as the male privilege to call women cunts: When a man has already lost the argument and his girl is headed out the door [we] have one last, lethal grenade to throw".

Unsurprisingly, women wrote to GQ to take issue with Kirn's article.

Kim Andrew stressed that Kirn's definition of 'cunt' as "the A-bomb of the English language" does not apply to the UK, where it is used more freely than in America: M Restrepo's reaction was that, provided 'cunt' is not used insultingly as Kirn employs it , it should not be tabooed: Cunt is no longer taboo.

In welcome contrast to Kirn's article, Jonathon Green criticises the inherent patriarchy of the slang lexicon: This is a trend which has noticeably increased over time, as Germaine Greer explains: Specifically, the status and deployment of 'cunt' as "The worst name anyone can be called [and] the most degrading epithet" Germaine Greer, [a] , and especially as the worst name a woman can be called, serves to reinforce the tradition of cultural patriarchy, as Jane Mills points out: Smith calls 'cunt' "the worst possible thing - much worse than ['prick'] - one human being can say to another" and Simon Carr calls it "the worst thing you can say about anyone" As Deborah Cameron notes, "taboo words tend to refer to women's bodies rather than men's.

Thus for example cunt is a more strongly tabooed word than prick, and has more tabooed synonyms" Jonathon Green concurs that "the slang terms for the vagina outstrip any rivals, and certainly those for the penis [ William Leith notes that "We may have equality of the sexes but we do not have equality of sexual organs [ I can print the words prick, cock and dick as much as I like", adding coyly: Ed Vulliamy makes the same point: The inequality of 'prick' and 'cunt' is also explored in the HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm David Steinberg, , after the central character uses 'cunt' as an insult towards another man:.

Pricks and cunts, they're equal. According to Brigid McConville and John Shearlaw, 'cunt' "reflects the deep fear and hatred of the female by the male in our culture. It is a far nastier and more violent insult than 'prick' which tends to mean foolish rather than evil. This violent usage is a constant and disturbing reminder to women of the hatred associated with female sexuality and leaves women with few positive words to name their own organs" The 'cunt' taboo is but the most extreme example of a general taboo surrounding the lexicon of the female genitals: The word 'vagina' is also subject to this taboo: Braun and Wilkinson cite examples of the term being banned from billboards "the London Underground banned a birth control advertisement - deeming it 'offensive' for including the word 'vagina'" and theatrical posters "Promotional material for theatrical pieces whose titles contained the word vagina has been censored [ Indeed, after surveying women's own attitudes, Sophie Laws discovered that they even felt obligated to self-censor their own discourse: Virginia Braun and Celia Kitzinger published a 'survey of surveys', revealing the extent to which 'vagina' is a tabooed word: The German equivalent is even more demeaning: Word-meanings are dictated by consensus and contemporary usage, thus negative meanings can be reversed when pejorative terms are systematically reappropriated: Melinda Yuen-Ching Chen and Robin Brontsema have both described the specific reappropriation of 'queer', though they also discuss the concept of reappropriation in general.

Brontsema provides a succinct definition of the terminology: He views the process as a harnessing and reversal of the original invective: Laying claim to the forbidden, the word as weapon is taken up and taken back by those it seeks to shackle - a self-emancipation that defies hegemonic linguistic ownership and the a buse of power". Chen defines reclamation as "an array of theoretical and conventional interpretations of both linguistic and non-linguistic collective acts in which a derogatory sign or signifier is consciously employed by the 'original' target of the derogation, often in a positive or oppositional sense" The focus here is primarily on feminist reappropriations, specifically on feminist attempts to reclaim 'cunt' and other abusive terms: The mainstream success of reappropriations, however, depend upon the consensus of the population as a whole: The commonest derogative term for a woman - 'bitch' - is on the road to reclamation.

A woman should be proud to declare she is a Bitch, because Bitch is Beautiful. It should be an act of affirmation by self and not negation by others" Casey Miller and Kate Smith discuss this transvaluation of 'bitch' and also cite "Groups of feminists who choose to call themselves witches [ Other formerly derogatory terms for women have also been reclaimed: Witch, bitch, dyke, and other formerly pejorative epithets turned up in the brave names of small feminist groups" Gloria Steinem, Mary Daly has attempted to reverse the negative associations of words such as 'spinster', 'witch', 'harpy', 'hag', and 'crone'.

Where she is able to demonstrate non-pejorative etymological origins of these terms, she advocates a reversal of their current definitions. Daly does readily admit that not every modern negative term was originally positive 'crone', for example, has always implied old age , though in these cases she assert that negative connotations are a patriarchal perception: For women who have transvalued this, a Crone is one who should be an example of strength, courage and wisdom" In an episode of the sitcom Veep , 'crone' is confused with the c-word: I was like, 'What an old crone!

Regularly used as a pejorative term [ As Roz Wobarsht wrote in a letter to the feminist magazine Ms: Our use takes away the power of the words to damage us" Jane Mills adds that "crumpet has recently been appropriated by women to refer to men [and] women today are making a conscious attempt to reform the English language [including] the reclamation and rehabilitation of words and meanings" Maureen Dowd notes the "different coloration" of 'pimp' and charts the transition of 'girl' "from an insult in early feminist days to a word embraced by young women".

A less likely pioneer of reclamation is the self-styled 'battle-axe' Christine Hamilton, though her celebratory Book Of British Battle-Axes nevertheless marked a re-evaluation of the term. Julie Bindel cites 'bird' and 'ho' as "blatant insults [ Patrick Strudwick praises Bint Magazine for "reclaiming the term "bint" from the huge slag heap of misogynist smears and turning it into something fabulous" The offensive term 'slut' has also been reclaimed as an epithet of empowerment: Kate Spicer suggests that 'slut' is "a term of abuse that has been redefined by fashion to mean something cool [ In the s, Katharine Whitehorn famously used her column in The Observer to self-identify as a 'slut', using the term in its original sense meaning a slovenly woman.

In , Bea Miller released the song S. In , the campaigning group SlutWalk Toronto organised a series of 'slutwalks' - demonstrations in which women marched while wearing sexually-provocative clothing and holding banners reappropriating the word 'slut'. The SlutWalk campaign provoked considerable feminist debate, with Gail Dines and Wendy J Murphy arguing that the protesters were fighting a lost cause: But the focus on "reclaiming" the word slut fails to address the real issue.

The word is so saturated with the ideology that female sexual energy deserves punishment that trying to change its meaning is a waste of precious feminist resources" Germaine Greer was more enthusiastic about the SlutWalk phenomenon, though she cautioned that "It's difficult, probably impossible, to reclaim a word that has always been an insult" and she should know. Here, the principal is the same as that pioneered by Madonna: It is not simply the word 'slut' that is being redefined, it is the lifestyle that the word represents - the meaning of the term 'slut' has stayed the same, though the cultural acceptance of its characteristics has increased.

As Chinese is a tonal language, the same word can have multiple meanings depending on its pronunciation; this has been used subversively by women to reappropriate the pejorative term 'shengnu' 'leftover women' , which can also mean 'victorious women' when pronouced with a different tone. This "pun that turns the tables on the prejudicial description" gained popularity following the television series The Price Of Being A Victorious Woman Tatlow, [a]. It is important to note the distinction between changing a word's definition and changing its connotation.

Women have sought not to change the definitions of for example 'cunt' or 'slut', but instead to alter the cultural connotations of the terms. Thus, the reclaimed word 'cunt' is still defined as 'vagina' and the reclaimed 'slut' still means 'sexual predator'. What have been reclaimed are the social attitudes towards the concepts of vaginas and sexual predators: In a sense, this is true of a large number of terms which are regarded as positive by some yet as negative by others: Salman Rushdie gives examples of older political terms which have also been reclaimed: Also, in Thailand, poor farmers protesting against the aristocratic political system wore t-shirts with the word 'prai' 'commoner' as a symbol of pride, in "a brilliant subversion of a word that these days has insulting connotations" Banyan, After Republicans derided Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as 'Obamacare', Obama himself began using this more concise though originally derogatory term, professing that he liked it.

Richard Herring notes the paradox that, while the vagina should be celebrated, 'cunt' is an inexplicably offensive term: If you give words the power then they are nasty. But you can turn things around and use them in a different way" Anthony Barnes, Thus, reclaiming abusive language requires a change not in meaning but in attitude. Whereas Madonna is perhaps the most significant embodiment of this transvaluation - female sexual empowerment being asserted as liberating and subversive - the theory behind it has been articulated most dramatically by Germaine Greer in her essay for Suck on the word 'whore'.

Germaine Greer - who instigated the cunt-power movement, of which more later - wrote I Am A Whore , in which she consciously identified herself with the word 'whore', attempting to show that it can be positive rather than negative: Greer's biographer fundamentally misjudged her suggestion, calling it "a direct betrayal of what feminism was supposed to be about [ In fact, far from identifying as a prostitute, Greer was implying that the word 'whore' could be removed from its pejorative associations.

A term with similar status is the racially abusive 'nigger', which has been reclaimed or 'flipped' by African-Americans such as Richard Pryor's Supernigger , and is used in this context as a term of endearment. Jonathon Green suggests that this use "as a binding, unifying, positive word" dates from as early as the s Jennifer Higgie, Its reappropriation is not universally accepted, however: Spike Lee has criticised what he perceives as Samuel L Jackson's insensitivity towards the word's history.

Similar attempts to reclaim other racially abusive terms such as 'paki' notably the PAK1 clothing brand have been equally contentious: In his article A Bad Word Made Good , Andrew Clark notes the reappropriation of 'wog', formerly a term of racist abuse though later used self-referentially amongst Australia's Greek community: Greek[s] happily refer to themselves as wogs [ Furthermore, Todd Anten cites the increasing transvaluation of 'chink', noting that "Virtually any word that is or has been a slur can be reappropriated by the target group" Lenny Bruce made the point that the social suppression of taboo words such as 'cunt' and 'nigger' serves to perpetuate and increase their power: He argued that only through repetition can we remove the abusive powers of taboo words: The film's director later explained that he was consciously attempting to "take everything that's negative in the language and turn it into a positive thing" Criterion, The editor of the Jewish magazine Heeb intended its title as a transvaluation of the term, a variant of 'hebe': Annie Goldflam self-identified as both a 'kike' and a 'dyke', in Queerer Than Queer: The homophobic term 'queer' has also been positively - yet contentiously - reappropriated, for example by Queer Nation: Ratna Kapur and Tayyab Mahmud cite 'fruit' amongst other terms "appropriated by the gay community as words denoting pride, self-awareness, and self-acceptance" The gay-oriented cosmetics brand FAG: Fabulous And Gay has helped to reclaim 'fag', and Todd Anten cites the company's mission statement: Larry Kramer's book Faggots began the transvaluation of another homophobic term.

Another book title, Christopher Frayling's Spaghetti Westerns , was also intended as a positive reappropriation of a negative term: The similar film term 'chop-socky' has also been "repurposed" David Kamp and Lawrence Levi, The various epithets used to insult mentally handicapped people represent a further lexicon of reclaimed pejoratives. Mark Radcliffe profiles "people with mental health problems tak[ing] the sting out of stigma by reclaiming pejoratives" , citing 'Crazy Folks' and 'Mad Pride' as groups whose names "reclaim some of the stigmatising language".

This consciously humorous appropriation of 'crazy' and 'mad' must, however, avoid being misinterpreted as a trivialisation of those whom it seeks to empower. The term 'punk' has become associated with a musical genre, though it also has an insulting definition, as it is used to describe men who are raped by fellow prisoners in jail. Robert Martin, who was repeatedly gang-raped in prison, has now spoken out against jail-rape while also celebrating the term 'punk': He has performed the same etymological magic trick that others have done with [ Finally, we should consider 'otaku', 'geek', and 'nerd', all of which are negative terms implying anti-social obsessive behaviour.

Increasingly, people are self-identifying as geeks, otakus, and nerds, using the terms proudly: The comedy film Revenge Of The Nerds celebrated the atypical victory of nerds against jocks in an American school. It is clear that "The conversion of a derogatory term into a battle cry by radicals is not uncommon" Hugh Rawson, , though 'cunt' itself has yet to emerge as a fully reclaimed term. Presently, the initial stages of its reappropriation are more contentious and complex than those of the epithets dicussed above.

Todd Anten categorises slurs into two types, to distinguish between words in different positions along the road to reclamation: He also notes that it is not only words that can be reclaimed: He cites as an example the pink triangle used by the Nazis to identify homosexuals: An especially intriguing aspect of reappropriation is that of trademark applications. Aware that potentially disparaging words are denied trademark status, Todd Anten argues that such restrictions should be lifted for "self-disparaging" terms: He also cites Joe Garofoli's comment that "[S]elf-labeling defuses the impact of derisive terms by making them more commonplace".

Anten notes trademark applications for various contentious terms, all intended to be reappropriated as positive acronyms: In the latter case, 'jap', Anten notes that the term "may disparage multiple groups": Reappropriation is indeed a minefield. The marginalisation of the feminine is apparent not only in relation to language but also in cultural attitudes towards the sexual organs themselves.

A large penis is equated with potency and sexual prowess: Phrases such as 'well hung' maintain the male obsession with penis size, and John Holmes became one of the world's most famous porn stars thanks to his fourteen-inch erection. Size and the female reproductive organs, however, have a reversed relationship: A large vagina is seen as indicative of copious copulation, prompting accusations of prostitution or nymphomania. Or, as Germaine Greer puts it: No woman wants to find out that she has a twat like a horse-collar" [a].

Corrective surgery - namely a laser vaginal rejuvenation operation - is available in such circumstances, to make "the vaginal canal smaller and the opening of the vagina smaller" Nicola Black, , whereas male genital surgery serves to enlarge the organ rather than reduce it. Crude terms such as 'big cunt', 'bushel cunt', 'bucket cunt', 'bucket fanny', 'butcher's dustbin', 'spunk dustbin', 'bargain bucket', 'billposter's bucket', 'Big Daddy's sleeping bag', 'ragman's trumpet', 'ragman's coat', 'turkey's wattle', 'raggy blart', 'pound of liver', 'club sandwich', 'ripped sofa', 'badly-packed kebab', 'stamped bat', 'wizard's sleeve', 'clown's pocket', 'Yaris fanny', 'fanny like a easyjet seat pocket', 'a fanny like Sunderland's trophy cabinet', 'cow-cunt', 'double-cunted', 'sluice-cunted', and "canyon-cunted" Jim Goad, [b] , equate dilation with repulsion: Thus, alongside the linguistic suppression of 'cunt', the vagina is also physically suppressed: The penis is an external organ whereas the vagina is an internal one, therefore the penis is naturally the more visible of the two; there is, however, a cultural emphasis placed upon this difference that acts to reinforce and extend it.

The bulging male groin 'lunchbox' is identified as sexually attractive, whereas women are encouraged not to emphasise their groins but to camouflage them: Phallic references and penis jokes litter daily discourse, whereas vulval imagery is seemingly limited to pornography" Joanna Briscoe, The venerated male 'lunchbox' can be directly contrasted with the condemned female equivalent, the 'cameltoe'. The female group Fannypack released a single called Cameltoe in which they criticised women for "grossin' people out with your cameltoe[s]" Similarly, the male codpiece's exaggeration of penile protrusion can be contrasted with female chastity belts that lock away the vagina.

Also, excessive female pubic hair the 'bikini line' is shaved to render the area indistinguishable from any other part of the body: Oliver Maitland contrasts artistic representations of the vagina with those of the penis: The physical differences between the male and female sexual organs are central to Sigmund Freud's theory of penis envy.

This is the notion that a girl perceives her clitoris to be the result of her castration, and, faced with what Freud terms an "inferiority" , develops a desire for the visible, external symbols of virility possessed by men. Joan Smith answers this with the proposition that "it's time to start talking, pace Freud, about the terrible problems men have in overcoming their cunt envy" , a timely riposte to Freudian phallocentricity.

Germaine Greer's key feminist text is titled The Female Eunuch , though accusations of penis envy serve merely to trivialise the feminist feeling of physical and linguistic marginalisation. The 'female eunuch' is symbolic of the desexed representation of the female sexual experience, rather than representing a literal desire for a male organ. Patriarchal marginalisation is not, therefore, a literal neutering of women, though it does generate this metaphorical effect; while the penis is exaggerated, the vagina is rendered subordinate. Male attempts to marginalise the vagina lexically, physically, and pictorially can be seen as symbolic attempts to suppress female sexuality.

The myth of the vagina dentata discussed in more detail later is appropriate in this regard, as there are many mythological instances of toothed vaginas being blunted by male weapons: A Mimbres bowl drawn by Pat Carr from a Zuni Pueblo original depicts a man's club-like penis inside a vagina dentata to illustrate a myth involving two men who meet eight women with vagina dentatas: They have teeth in their vaginas.

They will cut you and you will die. When the oak members were worn out, they put them aside and took the hickory ones. By daylight the teeth of these women were all worn out" Pat Carr and Willard Gingerich, Symbolically, this male domination over female sexuality - using a tool to cut vaginal teeth - clearly represents the power of the phallus and the weakness of the vagina, or, in other words, the Magnolia mantra quoted above. According to Pueblo mythology, the Ahaiyute would "break girls' toothed vaginas with false wooden penises" Marta Weigle, A Jicarilla Apache Indian myth describes four 'vagina girls' who swallow men with their vaginas, until a medicine administered by the male 'Killer-of-Enemies' neutralises their power: But this medicine destroyed their teeth entirely" Catherine Blackledge, In a similar example, "There was a Rakshasa's [demon's] daughter who had teeth in her vagina.

When she saw a man, she would turn into a pretty girl, seduce him, [and] cut off his penis" - the only way to neuter her was to "make an iron tube, put it into her vagina and break her teeth". Pueblo Indian artwork depicts "efforts to remove a woman's vaginal teeth with a false penis made out of oak and hickory", and this ceremony is now symbolically re-enacted: Provoked by the sudden intrusion, the demon responded by biting off the young man's pecker".

The woman's "cock-chomping beaver" was subdued by an iron dildo, an object which is still celebrated on the first Sunday of every April at the Kanamara Matsuri event in Kawasaki, Japan. Our environment is becoming increasingly saturated with sexual images, justified by the maxim 'sex sells'. This situation, which Brian McNair terms "The sexualization of the public sphere" , predominantly involves images of women, appealing to heterosexual male desires at the expense of heterosexual female ones.

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Significantly, however, they represent a "tit-and-arse landscape" Barbara Ellen, , with the breasts and buttocks over-exposed and the genital area airbrushed away. As Germaine Greer notes, these images are "poses which minimize the genital area" and "The vagina is obliterated from the imagery of femininity" [a]: Catherine Blackledge ascribes this prejudice to Christian misogyny: Albert Ellis explains that our culture's obsessive interest in breasts and buttocks and disinterest in the vagina is the result of subconscious displacement: Germaine Greer's explanation is more direct: She has actually incorporated a drawing of female ovaries into her signature, in a personal attempt to increase their visual representation.

Germaine Greer's term 'womb-fear' highlights the underlying reason for both the cultural suppression of the vagina and the linguistic suppression of 'cunt'. At the heart of the abusive impact of 'cunt', and the paranoid marginalisation of the vagina, is the implication that the female genitals are disgusting and fearsome: Mark Morton describes the vagina as "a part of the female body that has traditionally been considered shameful or menacing" Andrea Dworkin writes despairingly of the "repulsion for women [ Indeed, such is the level of disgust with the "monstrous female genitals" that, as Eric Partridge notes, the abusive term 'cunt face' is "even more insulting than the synonymous shit face" - the vagina is regarded as even more disgusting than excrement.

The clinical sterility of tampon advertising, for example, paradoxically demonstrates a profound disgust for the vagina: In their paper Socio-Cultural Representations Of The Vagina , Virginia Braun and Sue Wilkinson identify several "persistent negative representations of the vagina", dividing them into categories such as The Vagina As Disgusting "The vagina is often represented as part of the female body that is shameful, unclean, disgusting" and The Vagina As Dangerous "The Western construction of women's bodies as a source of horror, fear, and danger [ After many conversations with women, Betty Dodson reported that a great number of them viewed their own genitals in negative terms: This attitude is instilled during childhood, as David Delvin notes: Jane Ussher describes the cyclical process whereby childhood confusion leads to cultural phobia: In this way, social stereotypes which define women's genitals as unpleasant, [mal]odorous and unattractive, are internalized by the female child" Judith Seifer suggests that the prejudice is actively instilled at a very early age: Even a scientific programme on the Discovery Channel demonstrates cultural womb-fear: