"cunt"

(a declaration of independence)
-by inga muscio
1998
Do i love this human because she de-capitalizes her own name, like certain other unnamed (ahem) anti-narcissist crusaders of our time? Heck no, i fell in love long before i became consciously aware of that distinction on the book's uncapitalized cover. It may even be just an accident of publishing aesthetics.
But the towering devotion this book inspires is achieved within the first chapter. Inga is one pissed-off feminist, yet at no point do her points stray from absolute rectitude. She's perhaps the only woman who's ever made me say, "If i'd been born female, THAT's who i'd be." The fact that she might never read this, for no other reason than my penis, is neither here nor there - if i were a woman, i might not read me either. I might also be a lesbian who wears teddy bear ears, too. If i had a cunt, would virtually every favorite movie of mine involve women killing men? I hope not. Is EVERYTHING in life about the politics of gender? I hope not. But again, i have the luxury of that aforementioned penis.
Nor is CUNT a simple tale of woe. It be a manifesto, filled with life-changing ideas, starting with taking back a powerful word from the cleft of negativity into which it's plunged. It's time to celebrate cunt, she exhorts!
No more menstruation shame. Tampon alternatives like sea sponge or diva cup. Holistic, self-induced abortion instead of the depersonalized horrors the male medical establishment offers (a subject on which she speaks from most profound experience). No more stigma for whoredom. And more Pippi Longstocking, goddamit!
She also talks about the communication gap that exists between muslim women and outraged westerners, who often have a patronizing attitude toward the horrors of muslim female life. What western women fail to perceive is the sense of isolation and mutual mistrust they feel among themselves, which is absent in the muslim world, where women KNOW the deck is blatantly stacked against them - and so respond with a sense of female community and caring which we western cunts can't even begin to grasp. Awakening this sense of community is essential to western women fully using the freedoms at their command.
Muscio also writes of how women are horribly disconnected from their bodies, most apparent in the disconnect from the moon and its effects on them. Inga has filled me with eager anticipation of the next woman who might let me be part of her carnal passions - i look forward to confirming that it's possible to anticipate ovulation or menstruation through the subtle cunt taste differences that pertain to each phase of a woman's cycle.
Who's up for being licked every day for a few months?
If you want to read while i'm conducting the experiment, i'll understand.