Editing Cunt (section)

===As a term of abuse===
[[File:Only cunts comply sticker - 2022-01-13 - Andy Mabbett.jpg|thumb|"Only cunts comply!!!" - One of a series of anti-COVID-19 vaccination stickers [[Flyposting|fly-pasted]] onto a signboard advertising the availability of vaccines, at a health centre in Birmingham, England, during the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom|COVID-19 pandemic]].]]

[[Merriam-Webster]] states it is a "usually disparaging and obscene" term for a woman,<ref name="Cunt 1"/> and that it is an "offensive way to refer to a woman" in the United States.<ref name="Cunt 2"/> In American [[slang]], the term can also be used to refer to "a fellow male homosexual one dislikes".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chapman |first=Robert L. |date=1995 |title= The Macmillan Dictionary of American Slang |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-333-63405-9| page=91}}<br /> An example of usage given by the dictionary is {{Cite book |quote=And this one is from Max. The cunt. |author-link=Arthur Maling|last=Maling|first=Arthur |date=1978 |title= Lucky Devil|publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=978-0-06-012854-8| page=154}}</ref> Australian scholar Emma Alice Jane describes how the term as used on modern social media is an example of what she calls "gendered vitriol", and an example of [[Misogyny|misogynistic]] e-bile.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jane|first=Emma Alice|date=2014|title='Back to the kitchen, cunt': Speaking the unspeakable about online misogyny|journal=Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies|volume=28|issue=4|pages=558–570|doi=10.1080/10304312.2014.924479|s2cid=144492709|hdl=1959.4/unsworks_81563|hdl-access=free |issn = 1030-4312 }}</ref> As a broader derogatory term, it is comparable to ''[[Prick (slang)|prick]]'' and means "a fool, a dolt, an unpleasant person – of either sex".<ref name="Green1995">
{{Cite book|last1=Green |first1=Jonathon|title= The Macmillan Dictionary of Slang|edition=3rd|date=1995|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-333-63407-3|quote= a fool, a dolt, an unpleasant person – of either sex (cf: ''prick'')}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ayto |first1=John|last2=Simpson|first2=John |title= The Oxford Dictionary of Modern Slang|date=2005|orig-year=1992|publisher=OUP|isbn=978-0-19-861052-6|quote= A foolish or despicable person, female or male}}
</ref> This sense is common in New Zealand, British, and Australian English, where it is usually applied to men<ref>{{Cite book|last1= Thorne |first1= Tony |title= Dictionary of Contemporary Slang |url= https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofcont0000thor |url-access= registration |edition=3rd|date=27 February 2014|publisher= Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-4081-8181-2|quote=a very unpleasant person... more noticeable in British and Australian English... in practice the word is usually applied to men"}}</ref> or as referring ''specifically'' to "a despicable, contemptible or foolish" ''man''.<ref>{{Cite book|last1= Hughes |first1=Geoffrey| title= An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World |date=2006|publisher= M. E. Sharpe Incorporated |isbn=978-0-7656-2954-8| quote= Random House (1994) is more gender-specific: 'a despicable, contemptible or foolish man'... "Donald, you are a real card-carrying cunt" (1968)}} Hughes is quoting {{Cite book|last1=Lighter |first1=Jonathan E.| title= Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang, Vol. 1: A-G|date=1994|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2lHwkWMXaxwC|publisher= Random House |isbn=978-0-394-54427-4}} The original quotation is from {{Cite book|last1=Crowley |first1=Mart| title= The Boys in the Band |date=1968|page=42|publisher= Farrar, Straus & Giroux |asin= B0028OREKU}}</ref>

During the 1971 [[Oz trial]] for obscenity, prosecuting [[barrister|counsel]] asked writer [[George Melly]], "Would you call your 10-year-old daughter a cunt?" Melly replied, "No, because I don't think she is."<ref name="Coren2003">{{cite news |last=Coren |first=Victoria |date=2 February 2003 |title=It's enough to make you cuss and blind |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2003/feb/02/broadcasting.comment |newspaper=The Guardian |location=London |access-date=23 March 2008}}</ref>

In the 1975 film ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)|One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'', the central character [[Randle McMurphy|McMurphy]], when pressed to explain exactly why he does not like the tyrannical Nurse Ratched, says, "Well, I don't want to break up the meeting or nothing, but she's something of a cunt, ain't she, Doc?"<ref name="CuckoosNest">{{cite web |title=One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest Script – Dialogue Transcript |url=http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/o/one-flew-over-the-cuckoos-nest-script.html |publisher=Script-o-rama.com |access-date=18 December 2011}}</ref>