If you happen to be a regular reader of the Olney Theatre Center’s blog, you may have already run into this note by Jason Loewith, which explains why he chose to produce Dance Nation. The show definitely presses buttons, and some audience members have reacted strongly to the language in the play. But one word set people off more than others.
That word is “pussy,” which appears in the script 25 times.
Though “pussy” obviously has the potential to be inflammatory, whether the term is technically profane is a matter of some subjectivity. How exactly “pussy” acquired its modern association with the vagina is also somewhat muddled: some sources suggest that the slang evolved from the use of the word pussy as a term of “non-sexual endearment” used to describe women that appears in some 1500s literature.
Others suggest that the connotation at issue may have been inspired by the Low German word “puse,” which means vulva, or the Old Norse “puss,” which means “pocket or pouch.” But once the connection had been made, the term “pussy” reportedly became popularized by the porn industry. It was also gradually conflated with the use of “pussy” to refer to a weak or unmanly male. However, that usage has a different etymology altogether—coming from the Latin ‘pusillanimous,’ which refers to someone lacking in courage.
As these two connotations began to merge, “pussy” began to take on a demeaning association, as the term came not only to be associated with sexual objectification but to imply that to be weak and to be feminine were in fact one and the same.
And so “pussy” emerged as a pejorative obscenity not for use in polite company; at least until the release of a recording that featured former President Trump remarking on his ability to grab pussies indiscriminately without repercussions. In response the word was reclaimed as a symbol of the resistance to Trump’s administration. This was most notable in the iconic pink “pussy hats” and other pussy-themed paraphernalia that sprang up in conjunction with the 2017 Women’s March.
Or, as one article in Glamour magazine put it:
Pussy is hot right now. Pussy is in vogue. Pussy is vajazzled in lights.
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Even then, not everyone was on board with “pussy” as the pre-eminent symbol of female empowerment. Some suggested that the extensive use of the word perpetuated rather than challenged a framework that reduces women to their genitalia, and other detractors noted that not everyone who identifies as a woman is in possession of that body part.
Though a feminism that focuses solely on the pussy would be incomplete, others have pointed out that the same would be true of a feminism that left it out of the discourse entirely. Disrespect for the pussy continues to fuel disrespect for anyone outside the category of cisgender male. Both the pussy itself and the female body more broadly remain sites of active oppression.
Or, as author Brittney C. Cooper put it in a 2018 blog post entitled “Pussy Don’t Fail Me Now: The Place of Vaginas in Black Feminist Theory & Organizing”:
The world hates vaginas, and thinks that uteruses are property of men and the state, because it hates women. Hatred of body parts traditionally associated with feminine bodies cannot be understood outside of hatred for the historical category that has been called woman.
But what makes Dance Nation’s focus on “pussy” even more interesting is that, according to this interview, its initial draft actually predates the aforementioned pussy renaissance. And some of the implications of the use of the term that exclude trans women may be mitigated if you choose to think about it in the more representational way that playwright Clare Barron describes her conception of it therein:
It’s less anatomical to me—more about an opening. Just saying the word does something to my mouth that feels spiritual and profane all at once. I hope that no matter how you feel about the word “pussy” coming into the theater, the play takes you on a journey where the word evolves and becomes something spiritual, something cosmic, something empowering. And yes, I think that women (and everybody) should talk about their bodies with whatever language they want.
All that said, nobody is obligated to personally reclaim the word “pussy,” especially considering the many genuinely ugly ideas the term can evoke. Yet, in the wake of the word’s continual weaponization, the efforts of women the world over who are grabbing “pussy” back has altered our culture for the better.
