I want to tell you something about women who swear. I want you to understand that we know it offends you. We know you like us quiet and polite and calm and nice, above all nice. You want us to smile. You don’t want to hear us. We know that. We just don’t fucking care.
I'm a university professor and I swear all the time, especially in class. It's a deliberate refusal to deny my working-class roots, to keep that past alive in me, to honor it with the language of ranchers, railroad workers, and wait staff. Not surprisingly when you think about it, it also liberates students to feel safe to express themselves in the classroom. I will go to my grave with profanity on my lips.
Sing it sister. When the men who call women athletes “sweet cheeks” tell me I’m not ladylike because I swear I don’t bother to tell them I don’t give a fuck what they think because my cursing is worth so much more than their distaste. And my indifference to their opinion costs them more they’ll ever know.
As a public school teacher for 27 years I had to police my language in so many ways. I don't know how many years I have left but I will talk in whatever way I want for all of them. Fuck 'em if they don't like it.
As a retired Soldier and now 3rd year teacher, I often have to remind myself I am in a classroom not a motorpool and need not say fuck. Ever. Thankfully I teach mostly seniors so the few times it has slipped out it is an instant relationship builder so I will call it a win.
I taught in El Paso TX and I definitely got away with saying things from 1987 to 2015 that I would be very hesitant to say now, even out here in "blue" El Paso. Good luck in the profession.
Swearing was the natural progression of growing up in my father’s house and being outnumbered by boys.
Sometimes its use was fear inducing, his frustration or just a special punctuation. We all came by it honestly because he mimicked adults in mining camps, was an Army brat and did his own military time. We learned the best from the very best of the cussers when we were young yet old enough to know better. There are too many anecdotes but I’ll leave you with this one:
Dad: Who wants to bless the food? How about you, Mark? (Mark was my then 2 year old brother who still ate in a high chair, had never blessed the food but had absorbed this meal ritual of my parents)
Mark (solemnly with a bowed head) :
God,
Damn It.
Both of mom and dad’s faces showed embarrassment and horror, we were punished for laughing. It just reinforced that there are occasional times cussing can stop someone in their tracks.
I would just like to add fuck 2023, I just had to put a dear friend and pet named Memphis to sleep today. May we all have a beautiful and prosperous 2024. Many thanks to Lauren and her Substack for keeping our collective shit together.
I got taken to the office by a male student for telling him to fuck off while I was on top of a. 10 ft ladder changing a stage bulb and he was whining down below about unfairness of equipment distribution. They did not given me a detention.
I love all the words you use, but in particular the cuss words. Also, I wouldn’t be able to properly express the depth of my emotion without cuss words, and I don’t trust people who don’t cuss.
Truth! My mom used to always say "Swearing offends many and impresses nobody." And I would say "INCORRECT." Many a time I've earned a weird type of "respect" from male colleagues by peppering my language with fucks.
I'm a university professor and I swear all the time, especially in class. It's a deliberate refusal to deny my working-class roots, to keep that past alive in me, to honor it with the language of ranchers, railroad workers, and wait staff. Not surprisingly when you think about it, it also liberates students to feel safe to express themselves in the classroom. I will go to my grave with profanity on my lips.
Fuck yes. The looks on my students’ faces the first time I say “fuck” in class are liberation, pure and simple.
Fu...ck yeah!
I love this!
I bet you think this song is about you, don't you, don't you?
I fucking love this entire this piece, affirm it entirely & especially appreciate this sentiment: "This isn’t for you. Not everything is."
Sing it sister. When the men who call women athletes “sweet cheeks” tell me I’m not ladylike because I swear I don’t bother to tell them I don’t give a fuck what they think because my cursing is worth so much more than their distaste. And my indifference to their opinion costs them more they’ll ever know.
As a public school teacher for 27 years I had to police my language in so many ways. I don't know how many years I have left but I will talk in whatever way I want for all of them. Fuck 'em if they don't like it.
As a retired Soldier and now 3rd year teacher, I often have to remind myself I am in a classroom not a motorpool and need not say fuck. Ever. Thankfully I teach mostly seniors so the few times it has slipped out it is an instant relationship builder so I will call it a win.
I taught in El Paso TX and I definitely got away with saying things from 1987 to 2015 that I would be very hesitant to say now, even out here in "blue" El Paso. Good luck in the profession.
It's such a useful word. The great thing about being an "older woman" is I have zero fucks to give anymore.
Swearing was the natural progression of growing up in my father’s house and being outnumbered by boys.
Sometimes its use was fear inducing, his frustration or just a special punctuation. We all came by it honestly because he mimicked adults in mining camps, was an Army brat and did his own military time. We learned the best from the very best of the cussers when we were young yet old enough to know better. There are too many anecdotes but I’ll leave you with this one:
Dad: Who wants to bless the food? How about you, Mark? (Mark was my then 2 year old brother who still ate in a high chair, had never blessed the food but had absorbed this meal ritual of my parents)
Mark (solemnly with a bowed head) :
God,
Damn It.
Both of mom and dad’s faces showed embarrassment and horror, we were punished for laughing. It just reinforced that there are occasional times cussing can stop someone in their tracks.
This is too fucking Fine!!
Thank you, it’s all true.
I would just like to add fuck 2023, I just had to put a dear friend and pet named Memphis to sleep today. May we all have a beautiful and prosperous 2024. Many thanks to Lauren and her Substack for keeping our collective shit together.
You can have my money forever. You’re fucking perfect.
This resonates so fucking hard. I’m one of those girls. Thanks for putting it in words.
❤️💪🏻
I love learning of other awesome fucking Rachel Bs!
I got taken to the office by a male student for telling him to fuck off while I was on top of a. 10 ft ladder changing a stage bulb and he was whining down below about unfairness of equipment distribution. They did not given me a detention.
Damn, I love this. I've always been told I have an authority problem. Hah! Nah, you got that the wrong way around.
A-fucking-men!!
Goddamn, this made me remember that I can be powerful.
I love all the words you use, but in particular the cuss words. Also, I wouldn’t be able to properly express the depth of my emotion without cuss words, and I don’t trust people who don’t cuss.
Truth! My mom used to always say "Swearing offends many and impresses nobody." And I would say "INCORRECT." Many a time I've earned a weird type of "respect" from male colleagues by peppering my language with fucks.
The word fuck can mean a lot of things, it has power. Keep fucking going.