Why is the word 'c*nt' less socially acceptable than pretty much every other swear word?
Oh wow, well, this needs a whole new thread......
Wiki has some pretty decent (if a bit geeky/bookish) explanations regarding the origins (and alleged etymology). Short version is it's because of the gynaecological inference. There's a perceived sacredness from some people and a brazen reference to coarseness from others.
I know that one of (if not the first) the earliest known references to popular use was in Chaucer's 'The Canterbury Tales', which contains a very Saxonish version of the word.
These days, some assert it's offensive to some Indian goddess or other (preferring instead to attach sacredness and holiness to the word 'yoni', even though there is a case to argue that the two words have the same linguistic root), whilst other people cringe at the obvious connection to female genitalia, perhaps explaining why it came to be so offensive during the much more puritanical Victorian age.
Either way, it's been described as the "last word in the English language with the power to shock" - I think that's Germaine Greer's line.....
In any case, it's a word that I have experienced many spiritualists and especially women, in the neo-spiritual/neo-tantric community as 'reclaiming' it proudly, as s gesture of strength and defiance (much in the same way that other so-called 'taboo' words have been re-appropriated, like the 'n' word amongst African Americans or 'queer' by members of the gay communities.)
Oddly enough, given that our culture derives substantially from Saxon and Viking roots, the words in those cultures most associated with profanity (especially Nordic nations and not necessarily exclusively Viking - you wouldn't call Baltic or Finno-Ugric nations "Viking", they have at least as much in common with Celts, who allegedly descended from Finno-Ugrics anwyay...but that's a different argument) usually reserve their strongest profane words to ones with religious connotations.
We might think that "hell" or "devil" aren't particularly strong words - try that in Sweden, Finland or Estonia and see how far it gets you in polite society!!! Their swear words revolve less around sexual references - in fact words like c*nt and their earlier derivatives were used widely in their earlier cultures. Not so much these days, not once Christianity and Puritanism (through things like Calvinists and Lutherans) spread their influence.........
Sorry - longer answer than I intended.
