Are you offended? Are you a woman?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2005/nov/21/broadcasting.uknews

No point in reposting the list of TV's most offensive words here as it'll just all be starred out, but reading through it and the double standards are astounding.

Basically any word referring to the female anatomy is considered highly offensive, while anything referring to the male equivalent is generally just considered offensive schoolboy humour.

And calling a bloke a w*nker or d*ckhead is "quite mild", but call a woman a "pr*cktease"and it's "strongly offensive"!

Isn't it about time the women of this country toughened up - I didn't realise so many of them read the Daily Mail!


P.S. And what do we think of the BBC's pledge to cut back on swearing then - a kneejerk reaction or actually good for television?

Any chance we can have "Daily Mail" added to the swear filter?

You never shut up about the damned rag.

Perhaps unsurprising you're outraged at the lack of lady swear words - most of your posts make me think you've got sand in your vagina.

I think cutting down on swearing on telly is no bad thing: I'm not offended by swearing per se, but it gets boring when hear 'f-this' and 'f-that' on a programme all the time; cookery programmes seem to be the worse offenders!

I can only presume that Msrs Ramsey and Oliver are doing it for effect; but ironically effing and jeffing loses its power if done constantly. Also cutting down on swearing may force the BBC to hire some comedians and comic writers who are actually funny, and can illicit a laugh beyond just gratutious swearing.

There is a fine balance to be achieved. As you say, the chefs seem to be the worse but while with Gordon Ramsey it's kind of what made his name, because Jamie Oliver started out pre-watershed he does seem to be kind of doing it for effect at times.

On the other hand though, like it or not swear words are parts of most people's vocabulary and it would be insane for broadcasters to have to behave otherwise, especially in the context of (post-watershed) drama. Viewers aren't stupid either - if it's well written and natural people expect the language to be realistic, and people can see straight through a show that's trying to be something it isn't by having a high swear count.

Personally I think the watershed is the clearest guideline there is and has been very effective, and although it's right to say that's just because it's on after 9pm a programme doesn't have to contain bad language, it should be a decision solely down to the programme makers - and not done to appease those folk who let their kids stay up and watch any old filth and then complain about it.

we live in a strangly sexist world anyway

man looks in window, sees nude woman, man is committing an offence of invading her privacy and arrested

woman looks in window sees nude man, man is committing an offence, who gives a stuff about his privacy, he's arrested, put on a sex offenders register and not allowed within ten feet of a primary school because naked men minding their own business in the privacy of their own home are an obvious risk to children

and women can't cope with the word **** occasionally

Not true. A common myth.

There are some derogatory words for people with disabilities on that list. Do you suggest disabled people 'toughen up' too?

I think you've got this a bit scewed - surely offensive words for men should be treated as seriously as offensive words for women, instead of words like 'c***' being downgraded.

And the Daily Mail is a sexist newspaper that probably shares your view on this, so you obviously haven't got a clue what you're talking about anyway.

Interesting list, although they do seem to be making up terms:

Profanity could be offensive, but no one has heard of this phrase.

If no-one's heard of it how did it get onto the list?

I love the fact "dyke" and "faggot" are unacceptable to most - but the older generation think it's fine to call gay people those words, so long as it's "accurately/descriptively of a homosexual".

Anyway, I'm sure I said that LAST TIME, when this list was published in 2005. Why are we even talking about it?

I remember Stephen Fry once making a great point about how it's a very sad reflection on our society that the perceived worst words in our language are those connected to the act of reproduction - the one, rather beautiful thing which has meant that we're all here.

And yet, it's perfectly acceptable to use awful, ugly words like 'murder', or 'kill' in common, polite conversation. 'The traffic was murder' for example.

I just don't understand why so many people get offended by a particular arrangement of letters of the alphabet. We're all a bit f**ked up really aren't we?

There's a Mock the Week clip somewhere on YouTube, with Fred MacAuley (hope that's right) showing the over-use and the epitomy of the F-word.

Five News have conducted a (completely unbiased and uninfluenced by "Sachsgate") survey on the issue, which on the whole throws up what you expect - more women find swearing offensive than men, the old get more offended than the young etc. Though it did surprise me that the Scottish found it more offensive than Londoners.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/28/tv-swearing-five-news-survey