If I can’t say “pussy,” you shouldn’t say “dick.” Men’s Rights Redditors deal with the crucial issues as always

They’re always dealing with the important issues in the Men’s Rights subreddit, like the burning question of whether we should ban women from saying the word “dick.”

“If women want to claim the word ‘pussy’ and deem any use of it offensive,” L-E-T-S-C-H declares in a post, “women should not be able to use the word ‘dick.’”

He makes a very compelling and coherent case::

I’ve been told by someone that hearing a man say pussy at all makes them uncomfortable. Totally valid for someone to be uncomfortable. What I don’t understand is why the argument of “I obviously don’t mean anything sexist by it it’s just a curse to me” works on only one side of this equation. Suddenly if I am uncomfortable with the language a woman uses I need to man up or “there is enough dicks out there to make a solid assumption” which would absolutely not fly if it was said against woman.

The discussion of this important topic goes about as well as could be expected. Several commenters complain about black people using the word “cracker.” Others complain about the term “small dick energy,” which, to be fair, is a little mean to those with dicks on the smaller side.

One commenter offers this completely true example of how he personally solves the problem.

If a woman ever calls me a sick [sic], I just retort with, “Don’t call me a dick, cunt.” They usually don’t say anything back.

Totally happens, all the time.

Another commenter has this advice.

The main principle is to not allow women to define masculinity nor to allow them to tell you what you (as a male) can and can’t do.

Ok, then. I guess just go ahead and call people “pussies” all you want. See if I care.

Several commenters assure everyone that the word “pussy,” used as an insult, has nothing to do with the word “pussy,” used as a synonym for vagina, and is instead derived from the word “pusillanimous.”

BlackBeard30 asserts:

Women who make that claim are just showing their ignorance. Pussy =/= vagina, well not historically. The etymology of pussy as an insult is interesting. It’s most directly from calling someone a “puss” short for “pusillanimous” (an adjective meaning “showing a lack of courage or determination; timid”). But “pussy” most directly relates to pet cats. Then we went and started using “pussy” so mean both a coward and a cat. But that one thing it never really meant until very recently is “vagina”. That appears to come maybe from some word meaning “pocket”.

However the point being, if women don’t like it used to also mean “vagina” and thus mixing the meanings. Then they simply need stop using it to describe their vaginas and it’ll go back to simply meaning a pet cat or coward.

In case you’re wondering, the “pusillanimous” theory is, in fact, complete and utter bullshit, according to people who actually know about these sorts of things. It takes all of five seconds to look this up on Google. According to Language Log,

There’s a plausible and well documented etymology for the sense of pussy in question, namely puss + y → pussy = childish or colloquial word for “pet cat” → term of endearment for a woman → sweet or amiable woman → sweet or effeminate man→ weakling/coward/sissy, with the parallel development of pussy = female genitals lurking somewhere in the background. …

There’s no positive evidence for the pusillanimous → pussy derivation as a genuine historical source — it seems to be a sporadic folk etymology.

That said, there’s apparently no historical link either between “pussy” meaning weak, or a sissy, and “pussy” meaning vagina. But “pussy” is clearly an insult based on the idea that weak men are like women. So it’s still rather a misogynistic term.

For all the details, see the link above.

Back in the Men’s Rights subreddit, meanwhile, PlasticApocalypse7 just wants everyone to get along–with body parts, theirs and others.

No one should use body parts as insults, especially ones involved in the continuation of our species and for most people the greatest source of pleasure in their life, as that creates a subconscious negativity with penises and vaginas.

Well, I suppose, but you’ve got to be able to call people “assholes,” even though the humble asshole in real life is a very useful body part and often a source of pleasure as well. But I’m not willing to give it up as an insult.

What a bunch of dicks.

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