I guess I've been influenced by Betty Dodson's work. Her attitude is for women to take back the C word, I suppose in the same way that gays took back the word 'queer' in the 1980s. Why let men's (and women's!) use of it as an insult deprive women of a perfectly good and strong word for the centre of their sexuality? She calls it being 'c*nt positive', and sees it as empowering.
My own feeling (not that I am in the OP's target group
) is that using it as an insult, or calling someone a C is, yes, an almost violent use of language. But as a word to use with your lover to refer to her 'jade fountain', I like it a lot. To me, it's earthy and husky and edgey and erotic - not 'girly', and light. I think it suggests power in women, and not weakness.
Just my uninvited thoughts. So many women object to *any* use of the word, even in its proper context, that one has to approach using it delicately.
Betty Dodson Online
ANYTHING EXCEPT VAGINA
Sex for One Genital Art
-V