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Nicole Costello's avatar

I work in an incredibly white cis-het male dominant industry (investment banking tech) where men swear all day long. The shock and disgust on their faces every time I swear is magnificent ✨

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Andrea Kent's avatar

I grew up with a conservative, religious (read: evangelical) mother who taught us that saying "crap" or "shut up" was offensive to God, not just her. This was pretty typical among most of my friends at the time. Of course I cursed around my high school friends occasionally but certainly not the "f-word." When I was in college, I started dating my now husband, a born and bred NY'er. He casually dropped f-bombs like it was saying hello. It was used as more of an intensifier in his statements and I quickly adopted it too. It was so freeing to be able to speak plainly and express my emotions in a way that felt like they matched my actual feelings. Like when I was mad, I was Fucking Pissed! Now that I am an official NY'er (20+ years living here), curse words in general are not a problem. I barely notice them and use them freely around our kids. We teach our kids that words hurt, and not just "bad" words, any word can hurt if used carelessly. We teach them context..like don't curse around Grandma - bc that would be upsetting to her, don't curse at school around teachers bc it's not an appropriate setting, etc. So far, they get it and I love that they speak freely around me. I always feel sad that my mom doesn't get to know how I really talk, joke, etc bc I censor myself out of respect. I don't want my kids to censor themselves ever. 💙

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