Thing of the Week: Fuck

Good morning! I'm Chris "Petey" Peterson, and I am glad to bring you this week's

Thing Of The Week is very simple: each Week, I will post a Thing. Each Thing is something that is funny or interesting or odd or something I am being paid a great deal of money to post as a viral media Web 2.0 guerilla marketing tactic.

This week's Thing is Fuck, a law review article law professor Christopher M. Fairmen.

According to the article abstract:

This Article is as simple and provocative as its title suggests: it explores the legal implications of the word fuck. The intersection of the word fuck and the law is examined in four major areas: First Amendment, broadcast regulation, sexual harassment, and education. The legal implications from the use of fuck vary greatly with the context. To fully understand the legal power of fuck, the nonlegal sources of its power are tapped. Drawing upon the research of etymologists, linguists, lexicographers, psychoanalysts, and other social scientists, the visceral reaction to fuck can be explained by cultural taboo. Fuck is a taboo word. The taboo is so strong that it compels many to engage in self-censorship. This process of silence then enables small segments of the population to manipulate our rights under the guise of reflecting a greater community. Taboo is then institutionalized through law, yet at the same time is in tension with other identifiable legal rights. Understanding this relationship between law and taboo ultimately yields fuck jurisprudence.

Thank you, Professor Fairmen, for your fucking contribution to Thing Of The Week!

- Chris "Petey" Peterson

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