Do You Talk to Your Teacher with That Mouth? F*ck: A Documentary and Profanity as a Teaching Tool in the Communication Classroom

Abstract

The infamous word “fuck” has become one of the most powerful words in the English language. The current research project explores the relationship between language and cultural norms in the university classroom through an analysis of the use of a documentary film on the word “fuck” as a teaching tool in intercultural communication classes. For the past four years, I have screened the film Fuck: A Documentary in several courses to examine the complex intersections among language, culture, profanity, and power. Using interviews with students and the film's director (Steve Anderson), discussion-board data, and observations collected from two intercultural communication classrooms by the students in a graduate-level language and culture class, I explore the ways that profanity is taught in our culture and how its use as a deliberate teaching tool impacts classroom climate and overall understanding of language/culture relationships. Additionally, I examine how early exposure to “bad language” and how people learn cultural norms of what is in appropriate (and why) influence reactions to hearing it used consciously by an authority figure in a college classroom setting. Findings include relationships between taboo words and cultural constructions of gender norms, professionalism, rebelliousness, and power.