> OED gives at least two different senses for this word. That of female genitalia is attested as early as 1699, but it's not considered for the sense meaning "coward". The other one, which I copy below, is the purported source of pussy meaning "coward". Basically, using a pet name usually given to women, like sweetheart, princess, etc. to refer to a man mockingly.
The part where making fun of a person by calling them women names is what’s not okay, regardless of whose genitalia are involved or aren’t.
Regardless of the ancient linguistic evidence you want to trot out, "pussy" is a gendered term in this day and age. It just is. And using gendered terms as insults is going to make people uncomfortable, "social justice warriors" notwithstanding.
Those same people also understand that the word "pussy" means "vagina". I refuse to believe that everyone is truly under the impression that these are two completely independent words with no relation whatsoever. This is the same argument that leads people to believe that it's okay to call someone a faggot if you're not literally talking about gay people and I don't buy it.
Moreover I don't see what "hoops" you have to jump through to see why using the word in that way could upset some people. We should use language which isn't divisive.
Finally, the "pussy" thing is kind of secondary to me to "man up", which is also far from ideal to me in terms of phrasing.
