IT’S A CURSE
By Whitney Sharp
F RE EDO M O F SP E EC H A P P L IE S T O B O T H
S EXES. S O WH A T’ S T HE I SSUE O VE R B E ING A
LA DY A ND USI N G T H E F - W O R D ?
express themselves using expletives in
her company, without reprimand.
There is a running joke in my family that
involves trying to get my 81-year-old
grandmother to say the f-word. She
refuses. She’s commented repeatedly
the language that I and other women
in my family use is terrible, although that
is subject to interpretation. Rather than
apologize and indulge her request to
be more selective with our speech, we
continually encourage her to drop an
f-bomb — something that none of us
can ever recall her doing.
Curse words are a consistent feature
of my speech and have been for quite
some time. I never thought much about
it. I didn’t start adopting these socalled “bad” words into my vocabulary
to be a rebel or to seem edgy. They
were just words that helped me get my
point across. They added emphasis to
my everyday speech when necessary.
Now, as a passionate and emotionally
fuelled young woman, I use them on
the regular. But where I see no harm in
joking that, “I’m fucking exhausted,” or
inquiring, “What the fuck is going on?”
my choice of words has been deemed
inappropriate for a woman on more
than one occasion.
“It’s just a word,” we stress. “It’s a powerful
word. Just try it. You might feel better.”
While she has used other vulgar
expressions, she’s reluctant to drop any
major bombs. It could be argued that
we were peer pressuring my frail, walkerusing grandparent, but it’s worth noting
that her issues with the use of f-bombs
are limited to her female descendants,
while the males in my family freely
“You should talk more like a lady,”
complete strangers say. “A nice girl
like you shouldn’t speak that way,” they
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Issue 18 | Missy/Ink