See You Next Tuesday

By Margaret Lyons in News on Oct 28, 2004 3:34PM

Ah yes, the WomanNews section of the Tribune. Did you notice it was missing yesterday from your print edition? We didn't because 1) we read the Trib online and 2) we can't remember the last time we read an article in WomanNews that wasn't idiotic. And about Relationships. Or Breasts. (Which reminds us, it's still breast cancer month, and if you haven't done your self-exam, get to it.) Or about how Women Love Shopping. Anyhow, we don't usually flip to that section. But even if we had wanted to yesterday, we couldn't—at the very last minute, the section was yanked because senior editors deemed one of the articles too lewd. The section had already been printed, so Tribune staffers had to head over to the printing press and remove the section by hand. Damn. If you work at the Tribune and want to tell us a first-hand account of this, e-mail us. That sounds hilarious.

So what was so offensive? A story titled You c_nt say that (or can you?). Whoa. No, seriously, whoa. According to Crain's, "Quoting academics, cultural commentators and everyday women, the report explored the stigma surrounding a word the story never actually mentions." The one time the Trib runs a WomanNews story that might actually be interesting or relevant, it gets pulled. Great. Where's the letter from the public editor on this one?

We'll admit, the c-word is a pretty touchy subject. Julia Roberts and Natalie Portman apparently exchanged necklaces that said "Cunt" and "L'il Cunt"—sorry, did you need that dashed out?—while filming Closer, as some kind of inside joke. Ahahaha. Maybe they're trying to reclaim it, like from that Vagina Monologue. Oh, whoops: v-gina. Yes, this still ranks up there as one of the most vulgar terms in the English language, it's one of the few still-applicable "seven words you can't say on television" (shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits), and probably rightfully so. Chicagoist has quite a potty mouth (perhaps you've noticed), and that's still one of the only words we never, ever use. Hi Mommy, by the way. Maybe the pristine Chicago Tribune isn't the place to explore the word's role in language and pop-culture, but…well, maybe it is.

Update: Newcity's take on "c-nt-gate".