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TheGaygency

Glossary

Cunt

Cunt is anatomical slang for the vulva or vagina that in drag and ballroom culture has been reclaimed to mean fierce, confident femininity.

Cunt has more than one life depending on who is speaking and where. Literally it is blunt slang for the vulva or vagina, and in much of the English-speaking world, especially the UK, it works as strong profanity. Within drag and ballroom culture, largely built by Black and Latino LGBTQ+ communities, the word was reclaimed as high praise. To be told you are serving cunt means you are delivering bold, striking, fully realized femininity. RuPaul's Drag Race and wider queer pop culture pushed this positive sense into the mainstream in recent years. The same four letters can be an insult or a compliment, so context, tone, and community are everything.

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