It has come to my attention that the Sex on Tuesday column is “vulgar” and “disgusting.” In one e-mail, a student asked that I move away from the genitalia. The thing is, I’m completely taken with the body. It’s where it all starts, isn’t it?
He was upset with “poon.” Honey, we’ve got bigger battles to fight. “Poon” is hardly vulgar. Vulgar language is ingrained sexism, inherent racism and some forms of Latin. Cogito ergo I come. And now I conquer.
Vulgar language today is hegemonic. We use these words every day, words that supposedly clean up and push back the shame of our bodies. Nobody bats an eye when “pudendum” appears in a textbook or a work of literature. It sounds so Latin, so reformed and so clean, partly because you don’t even know what the hell it means.
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I thought this article was going to be about cunnilingus.
Comment by natalie c — May 1, 2007 @ 4:56 pm