[1] After the book's release, Fairman was consulted by media sources including CNN and The New York Times, as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, on issues surrounding word taboo in society.

He taught high-school-level history for nine years before returning to his alma mater, where he ultimately received his Juris Doctor degree.

Subsequently, he was a clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for Judge Fortunato Benavides, and worked for the law firm Weil Gotshal in their office in Dallas.

[2] He specialized in areas of freedom of speech and word taboo,[3] and earned a reputation as an expert on the subject of legal ethics.

[4][5] Fairman was motivated to conduct research on "fuck" after learning of a Columbus, Ohio, man who was arrested for using the word in an email to a judge in 2004.

[6] Fairman delayed writing the article until he received tenure because he was concerned its publication would adversely affect his professional reputation.

[14] At the time of his death, Fairman's 2007 Cardozo Law Review article, "Fuck" was still classed with the 20 top downloaded works on the Social Science Research Network.

He presents case studies of these conflicting applications of the law and uses them to analyze public perceptions surrounding freedom of speech.

[15][18] Fairman draws parallels between the protection of comedians' usage of taboo language and the ability of individuals in society to express ideas freely.

The review characterized the book as of a higher quality than The Compleat Motherfucker: A History of the Mother of all Dirty Words (2009) by Jim Dawson.

[23] After the book's publication, Fairman was consulted by media sources, including CNN, on issues involving word taboo.

[24][25][26] The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio invited Fairman to host its forum "Word Taboos" in 2010; his presentation was titled "Putting the 'F' in Free Speech".