Rape is a four-letter word  

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"Rape is a four-letter word. Why isn't it taboo ? The organs and processes of sex and elimination provide us with a set of terms in English which we designate as "dirty words ."--"Rape is a four-letter word" (1975) by Muriel Schulz


"Muriel Schulz (1975b) has stated that rape is a four-letter word, but it is not one which is taboo. 'The organs and processes of sex and elimination provide us with a set of terms in English, which we designate “dirty words” says Schulz, but it ‘is ironic that the most vicious sexual act of all is not among them We have no four letter word for the act of taking women sexually by force (my emphasis). She goes on to add that rape ‘is in fact a remarkably innocuous term’. Despite the violent nature of the act, there is an absence of force in the name rape, which is evidenced by its usage in polite conversation and by the fact that it can also be used metaphorically without distaste, as for example in the ‘rape of the countryside. Neither has rape been subjected to euphemistic treatment - the fate of many words which make users uncomfortable. It seems that there is a form of neutrality about the word rape." --Man Made Language (1980) by Dale Spender

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"Rape is a four-letter word" (1975) is an essay by Muriel Schulz, first published in Etc: A Review of General Semantics.




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Rape is a four-letter word" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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