So, you may or may not have see my “Cindy is a cunt. Don’t be like Cindy” comic that’s been going around. First, I honestly had no idea that it was going to be something that people took to like that. Yaay popularity. Second, I’ve gotten some positive feedback through the comments and reblogs and some…less positive feedback through messaging regarding my “calling women cunts and bitches.” I was about to respond to one message in particular, but as I was responding, I realized that it was going to require a few different layers and I thought this might be a good chance to address the messages I’ve gotten in general.
So, three things before we begin:
1) I am going to apologize for something during this message.
2) I am not going to apologize for calling women “bitches” and “cunts” and I will explain why. PLEASE DO NOT STOP READING HERE!
3) I PROMISE that the apology will be sincere and will address the issue at hand with the comic.
Why I’m not apologizing for calling women “bitches” and “cunts”—I don’t call women “bitches” and “cunts”. In the same way that I don’t call women “Mom” or “Hillary Clinton”. I call my mom “Mom” and Hillary Clinton “Hillary Clinton”. I don’t regard “Cindy” as having an existence, so I don’t regard it as a reference to women. Cindy isn’t a woman. Cindy’s a thing I came up with the other day. (SERIOUSLY…DO NOT STOP READING HERE!) The original comic was going to be Sarah and Sam (a guy—the punchline was always going to be the same, however. This is relevant to the apology). As I was writing the comic, I noticed that there was a softness to the sound of Sarah’s half. ”ThiS iS Sarah”. “Sarah SeeS Something She Likes”. “She iS aweSome”. There was a softness to the language that I realized I could use to make the punchline really kick. So when I started in on Sam being the badguy, I realized that the final panel needed to really, REALLY cut. So I went with a sharp word for contrast. I ended up changing Sam to Cindy because I wanted to keep the similarity in cadence as well.
The reason I used the word “cunt” is not because I call or consider women “cunts”. It was used not because of what Cindy was, but because of it’s contrast to the softness of the repeated sibilant sounds. The word “cunt” is just a sound to me.
England. Blue. Scooter. Periwinkle. Mayweather. Cunt.
And THAT’S what I’m going to apologize for.
In a temporary (I assure you) lapse in empathy, I allowed myself to forget that all of the words in that little list up there are just sounds to me because nobody ever slapped me and called me “Mayweather”. I was never raped for being a “stupid scooter!” The cheer squad didn’t spraypaint “Blue” on my locker in high school.
I forgot that women aren’t me. And I am sorry for that. You should not feel forced to accept the sound of that word and more than I am forced to accept the sound of the word “nigger” (I personally cringe every time the “gger” vs. “gga” debate gets reignited).
In my haste to be funny, I forgot that those of you who don’t know me don’t realize that Cindy being a woman wasn’t related to my choice of words. Instead you saw what you had every right to see: a man pointing at a woman and calling her “cunt”. And again, I apologize.
To those who were able to take the comic in the spirit in which it was intended, I thank you and am glad you enjoyed it. To those who were hurt, insulted, victimized, or even just ever so slightly off-put by it…that is my fault. And I am sorry.
So, if I could beseech all of us to work together toward something in the spirit of unity and cooperation….I need a new insult. One with the same sharp sound as the word that I’m done using, but without the bitter tang of society’s hatred of females.
Thoughts?