Maybe true if it's men throwing the word around at each other, but trust me, when a man calls a woman a 'c***', it is very misogynistic. The word 'c***' doesn't itself have to be offensive. I agree it's all about the context - if I make a reference to my 'c***', I am just talking about my vagina; if a man (or woman) calls a bloke a 'c***' it just means he is a prick/arsehole!, but because of the history of the insult when a man calls a woman a 'c***', it has a whole different meaning, whether the men intended it or not (they invariably do). You need to understand that. Surely you understand the difference between black people throwing the term 'n*****' around, and a white person calling a black person 'n*****'? I don't think a white person can claim that it's okay to call a black person 'n*****' because as certain black people sometimes use it to refer to each other it can no longer be considered 'racist'. Uh, when it's in the context of a white person calling a black person one, it's still pretty f***ing racist! Purely because of the context.
So maybe 'using the term c*** to express displeasure is really misogynistic at all' - but it is if you're using it to describe a woman. If you're using it to describe a woman, then the context of the word is *not* divorced from its actual meaning..
When men shout 'c***' at me on the street, or hiss it at me as I walk past, or whatever ('whatever' was how it happened last night), it's meant in a misogynist way, I don't see how it can not be. They don't know anything about me as a person - so the only reason they are doing it is because I am a woman. This kind of thing illustrates that 'c***' is still very much used in a specific way to refer explicitly to women. It's still the worst thing you can call a woman.
I would suggest that you try calling other women 'c***s', and you'll see you'll be met with quite a different reaction to the one that greets you when you call a man a 'c***'. But I won't, because as a woman I know how upsetting and degrading it is when a man calls you a c***, so I sha'n't encourage you to do it to other women! I'd just like you to understand that you are being very naive if you think that calling a woman a c*** isn't going to upset her more than when you call a bloke one, because obviously for women it has an ulterior meaning, whether you intended it or not. Whether you intend the misogynist inference or not, when you call a woman a c***, it is very much there. Academic arguments about context and meaning and what was intended don't really apply when some bloke's calling you a c***, I can assure you. Same when it's a white person calling you 'n*****' (or should I say 'nigga') - they might just be meaning it in a 'hip-hop'/'homey' way (whatever the f*** that means!) and not in the KKK way, but it hurts just the same.
> I do not think that using the term c*** to express displeasure is really
> misogynistic at all. After all, use of the word 'dick' has passed into
> popular language and is not considered offensive at all. Indeed, nobody
> would bat an eyelid if you were to say "Oh, he is such a dick."
> As you can see, the context in which the word is used divorces it from its
> literal meaning, just as if I were to say to you "Eat shit!", I
> would not actually expect you to injest a bowl of excrement, or if I told
> you to "Get f***ed!" I'd not expect that you would go out and
> engage in intercourse.
> I actually really like vaginas.