01-22-2003, 08:09 PM
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♦*♥Moderatrix♥*♦
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Join Date: Nov 2001
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T-shirt sparks c-word row
By Kevin Meade
January 22, 2003
FEDERAL Labor MP Mark Latham got away with calling Treasurer Peter Costello "a really big C" in Parliament, and the Eros Foundation says c... should not be judged obscene because women have "reclaimed" it.
Federal Labor MP Mark Latham - parliamentary potty mouth
But while f... has been deemed inoffensive by two NSW magistrates, the word c... is still taboo, according to the Australian Council for Civil Liberties.
ACCL president Terry O'Gorman, a veteran campaigner for free speech, yesterday supported a decision by Brisbane magistrate Ron Quinlan to fine a man $100 for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words "Jesus is a C...".
Mr O'Gorman said the T-shirt was doubly offensive as it offended religious sensitivities while displaying a word regarded as degrading to women.
Matthew John Bowdler, 20, pleaded guilty on Monday to exhibiting an obscene publication by wearing the shirt, an item of merchandising promoting the English heavy metal band Cradle of Filth.
Outside court Bowdler's legal aid lawyer, Michael Forrest, called for a test case on offensive language.
Mr Forrest told AAP Bowdler had opted to plead guilty but a debate was overdue on the use of obscene language.
"The courts have lost the battle on shit and f.... What does that mean? Maybe there has been a shift from what is acceptable."
He said Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann was suspended for five matches after using c... in a racist slur against the Sri Lankan team.
"You just get into deep trouble when you use female genitalia to swear because half the population don't like it," Mr Forrest said.
Eros Foundation co-ordinator Robbie Swan said women had reclaimed c... "as a great word, as a word of strength and proprietary in describing their parts".
The Australian
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