Serving Cunt: An Ethnographic Analysis of Online Queer Profanity Use

Serving Cunt: An Ethnographic Analysis of Online Queer Profanity Use

Cheyenne Taylor

To examine the social importance of swearing amongst queer women, an ethnographic study was completed on the use of words “bitch”, “cunt”, and their derivatives (i.e. “bitchy”, “cunty”, etc.) in social media forums Instagram and X by members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Erving Goffman’s social performativity, Kathryn Remlinger’s linguistic indexicality, and Jonathan Lidbäck’s propositional swearing, coupled with historical and social analysis of profanity and online queer community inclusion, were used to analyze social media posts. Only instances of non-derogatory profanity use were considered in the study – these non-derogatory instances of obscene language were used to index members of the queer community as such. This indexicality fostered a sense of community inclusion, as well as creating a sense of comfort and safety for members. As words typically used to demean women, ‘bitch’ and ‘cunt’ were reclaimed by queer women in a performance of self-empowerment and an identity based on their queerness. Their intentional use of marked taboo language announces their comfort in breaking social norms as queer women who swear.