Academic

We read Barbarians at the Gate during the past 2 weeks for my Law, Literature and Business class, and I was struck on this re-read by the off-hand profanity in the book. Many of the protagonists curse as a matter of course, using an f---ing here or a s--- there merely to emphasize a point. In the most creative category, one scornfully proclaimed that a rival was his sexual consultant: ???When I want his f???ing advice, I???ll ask for it.???

The profanity brought me up short because it???s not a part of my professional life anymore. In practice I cursed occasionally, and was around clients and fellow attorneys who did fairly frequently. But we hear less of this language in law school, particularly in student-faculty interactions. Indeed, during the discussion very few students could bring themselves to actually curse in class: ???f-bombs??? and ???that kind of language??? were as far as they went.

When I asked about the book???s profanity, the very first student to respond brought up gender. The 1980s Wall Street BATG describes is an unmistakably male world. There???s lots of testosterone sloshing around, posturing, grandstanding and pissing contests (that last one a metaphor that, as I pointed out to a male partner, just does not work for women). We discussed whether cursing creates a boys??? club women can???t join (because cursing is ???unladylike???), whether it???s a proof of masculinity, whether times have changed.

If you???re a legal academic you???re probably thinking about this SSRN paper. Or yesterday???s oral argument on the FCC???s rule penalizing the broadcast of ???fleeting expletives.??? Both of which, in different ways, seem to be grappling with words that have power because they???re transgressive, either in the academic realm or in 6-a.m.-to-10 p.m. TV Land. During class I wondered if expletives play a different role in the business world. Are they instead a badge of toughness, a signal of the willingness to play hardball? And do women who do not swear, because of personal preference or in fear of others' perception, risk looking weak?