Obscenity, by definition, violates accepted custom and language, so we would expect that the use of obscenity in public would invite negative sanctions from "the people" and institutions (In other words, profanity is bad). Profanity became commonplace in film and on television, and by 1973 Paul Cameron found that in large samples of everyday speech, every fourteenth word contained some sort of profanity (Otherwise known as "political incorrectness").

The act of swearing has always been a part of human social interaction (Swearing is normal). Sigmund Freud suggests that "the first human being who hurled a curse instead of a weapon against his adversary was the founder of civilization (meaning that verbal abuse is more tolerable then physical)."

Anthropologists have found the use of swearing and obscenity common practice among nonliterate tribes and peoples. Most cultures, for example, have two words for parts of the body-one proper and one derogatory (Example: Penis=dick). Some groups such as Native Americans, Japanese, Mayans, and Polynesians do not swear, and this suggests that swearing is a culturally learned behavior (If you parents are heavy swearers like mine, you will be as well).

The limited research on swearing suggests that swearing is a response to individual stress, frustration, or anger and follows the pattern of swearing-relief-purification -pacification (Swearing makes you feel better). Some studies suggest that swearing incresases in social settings, reduces stress, decreases under extreme stress, and is both contagious and mutually reinforcing in certain situations.

Obscenity has played an important role within the realm of politics. The noted political scientist Harold Laswell wrote that "politics is the process by which the irrational bases of society are brought into the open. Conflicts can only be manifested by or through some form of communicative behavior...We can certainly have communication without conflict, but we cannot have conflict without some form of communication (George Wallace is all I have to say)."

Obscenity is the ultimate form of symbolic violence aimed at people (You can't physically hurt someone, this helps you to hurt without contact). Thus, obscenity is likely to appear when conflicts occur between individuals, within groups, between groups, in the community, and in the larger society.

Many researchers use the terms of profanity and obscenity interchangably. However, author Ashley Montagu, in his book entitled "The Anatomy of Swearing," indetifies seven forms of swearing.

1) SWEARING: The act of verbally expressing the feeling of agressiveness that follows upon frustration in words possessing strong emotional associations (Like "fuck").

2) CURSING: A form of swearing distinguished by the fact that it invokes or calls down some evil upon its object (Eat shit and die!).

3) PROFANITY: A form of swearing in which the names or attributes of the figures or objects of religious veneration are uttered (Dot-head).

BLASPHEMY: The act of vilifying or ridiculing the figures or objects of religious veneration (Beanie=Jew).

OBSCENITY: A form of swearing that makes use of indecent words or phrases (Absofuckinlutly).

VULGARITY: A form of swearing that makes use of crude words (cunt).

EUPHEMISTIC SWEARING: A form of swearing in which mild, vague, or corrupted expressions are substituted for the original strong ones (Palestinians=towel-heads).

For our purposes, osbscenities may be verbal or non-verbal and usually appear as adjectives. They utilize indecent words, phrases, and actions that may be classified into three categories: religious (Jew), excretory (asshole), and sexual (dickhead). Sexual obscenitied the most abundant, fall into three groups: copulative (slut), genital (cock), and sexual irregularities (Limpdick). Studies concluded that sexual obscenities (fuckin pussy) were most offensive, followed by excretory (shithead), and then religious (mick/proddy) obscenities.

In conclusion, verbal and non-verbal obscenity is not a "socially acceptable" form of of social interaction or protest, but it has been with us for centuries and is a viable means of persuasion. Obscenity is beneficial to society because it allows the disenchanted to vent their frustrations through verbal rather then violent agression (Swearing is GOOD).

BACK