Guide for foul-mouthed feminists

Feminists like to cuss too! But some cuss words are misogynist, some are deliberately feminist, and others are in the process of being reclaimed. What's a feminist to do?

This is a brief field guide to cussing the feminist way. User beware - if you piss people off, and say, "But Geek Feminism said I could say that," we'll just laugh at you.

Use proudly

• Douche, douchebag, douchenozzle, etc. - douches are unnecessary tools of the patriarchy, fuck them
• Cockbiter - instead of cocksucker, which makes the act of giving a blow job shameful

Try to avoid

• Any form of fuck that assumes penetration is a bad thing for the receptive partner

Don't use

Unless you're making fun of people who use these words in a sexist way...

• Bitch
• Slut
• Bugger - homophobic

Being reclaimed

Reclaiming is done by people who are in the group who are disparaged by the word. If you aren't a woman, you have to wait until women have made progress on reclaiming the word before you can use it.

• Cunt

Open for discussion

• Motherfucker - gender specific, but based on incest taboo rather than patriarchy?
• Fuck in general - has several meanings and usages, some of which are misogynist and some of which are not
• Dick and friends:
  • Associates a specific body part with patriarchy-related badness; body-shaming isn't feminist.
  • On the other hand, cis men are in power. Perhaps these words will lose their charge when patriarchy is overthrown.
  • On the third hand, some women, and some people who don't identify as men or as women, have penises. Associating penises with negative things is potentially damaging to trans women and trans*femme people, who are socially vulnerable (whereas cis men are not). It also has the potential to reinforce the false equivalence between cis male privilege and the possession of a penis.

Neutral

• Shit
• Faggot
• Hell
• Ass
• Cumdumpster
• Assclown
• Piss, piss off
• God's teeth