Art Thou, A Bitch? by: Irissa Kai written: 2016
Bitch; should we ride with it or ditch it? The Roots: Female Canines Tracing its lineage, the word ‘bitch’ dates back to as early as the 15th century. Literally meaning ‘lady dog’, it was reserved specifically for promiscuous women (an allusion to female dogs having so many puppies). Then, when women achieved political rights to vote and men were far from pleased about it, the word revolutionized. It became an all-around insult for men to use on women who threatened their superiority complex. In the 1970s came the Second Wave feminism, and so did The Bitch Manifesto by Jo Freeman. It declared that ‘we (bitches) must be strong, we must be militant, we must dangerous. Looks like the two were joining forces. (Yay…?) The Climb: Bad Bitch Come the 80’s and alas, the ‘bad bitch’ was born. It still lives on today, where the word is glamorized in popular culture. The feminist facelift the world underwent during the past few decades ultimately leads to its mainstreaming. According to Urban Dictionary: bitch (n.) - a lewd woman or any person that is subservient to another (v.) - to complain, & exclaim hardship ‘Bitch’ is no stranger to the music scene with Rihanna’s ‘Bitch Better Have My Money’ and PTAF’s ‘Boss Ass Bitch’. Its rising popularity is also accredited to many, if not all rap music like Jay-Z's ‘99 Problems’. The notorious word achieved the ability to be used in both a negative and positive light. Bitch became a term of endearment amongst friends, mostly used by feminine individuals. ‘Main bitch’ was used exclusively for the favourite friend or a steady partner, a status many wished to attain. It became synonymous with strong, independent women who stuck to their beliefs and didn’t take any sh*t from others. Not to forget, it was still used to call out the ‘mean girls’ and promote feminism. The beauty of the B-word is that it doesn’t discriminate against gender and can be used, practically, by anyone. The widespread use and acceptance of the term helped anyone who associates with it to feel empowered. In other words, if you call yourself a bitch, a proud one, it just makes it A-okay for someone else to call you a bitch.
The Struggle: Sexism Yet, feeling empowered and being empowered are two different things. If you really think about it, ‘bitch’ is kind of sexist. Heck, it is. Don’t believe me? Even Kanye West thinks so.
Let’s debunk it. If a woman is called a bitch, it’s often because she’s too opinionated, bossy, heartless, aggressive, whiny, etc. It creates competition between women and it becomes a question of who’s the toughest bitch. This power comes at the expense of someone else, namely, women. The subversion demanded from the use of such a word delineates the inherent femininity found in it. Likewise, if a man is called a bitch, it’s probably because he’s not tough or strong enough, too emotional and acting feminine. In the traditional sense, having been dictated by patriarchy, it means traits of gentleness, grace, and sensitivity. It leads to the emasculation of a man of traditional masculinity (strong, dominant, cis, heterosexual). Their gender deviance wrongfully insinuates homosexuality, transsexuality or just a gentle personality. Calling a man/woman a bitch displays internalized sexism. Basically, we shame them for doing their gender wrong. Now we’d like to know, what about the transgender/non-binary? Times have changed and while cisgender is largely seen as the default, we know it not to be so. So since transgender/non-binary people don’t conform to either gender stated, what kind of oppression are they subjected to? Albeit its wide spectrum of definitions, ‘bitch’ does not hold a specific one for the transgender/non-binary people. The term certainly is neutral in carrying negative undertones, but it shows bias towards cisgender people. The term ‘bitch’ is now a weapon of gender-based
oppression. Although cisnormativity is rarely deliberate, we cannot help the fact that this term is almost always perceived as hurtful and offensive to the transgender/non-binary community. At most, it only erases the existence of people that do not fit into the binary gender. At this point, it’s already beyond sexism. It’s beyond the gender stereotypes. It becomes a case of humanity. To shame an individual for being who they are, and not what society expects of them. To dismiss their choice of being who they want to be without being confined to rigid gender roles. A transgender/non-binary individual can choose to adopt masculine and feminine or both qualities, however, they like. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we should create a derogatory term for them to reverse sexism. Instead, we must realize that to call them a bitch would only perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes, especially when they are neither male nor female. The Fall: Rape Apart from that, with its widespread use, people have adopted the term outside of its original meaning. It was made way more demeaning than it was intended to be. Female rape victims were and are still called ‘crazy bitches’ and ‘bitch had it coming’ by abusers. Male rape victims, especially in prisons, were sexually assaulted and made ‘little bitches’ by inmates. By calling them bitches, it takes away the victim’s power, dominating them sexually, often using violence. It justified the abuser's actions on why they raped, abused, assaulted their victim. He/she/they ‘had it coming’ probably because they refused to be submissive, explaining the abuser’s actions to gain control. He/she/they were made into tools probably because they were seen as weak, explaining the abuser’s actions to maintain dominance. It is dehumanising.
The Revival: A Clean Slate We have become so desensitized to the word that we throw it around without a second thought for the sting leaves on others. But can we reclaim it? To make it a good thing and make it stay that way. I hardly think so. The word ‘bitch’ wasn’t a good thing, to begin with, so it’s hard to drop its bad blood. Maybe for starters, we could own the word and claim it our own. It neutralizes the sting if we call ourselves bitches, right? Claim ‘bitch’ for strong, outspoken individuals, much like ‘queer’ has been reclaimed by the LGBT community. It has to be claimed through solidarity and support, putting an end to internalized sexism. But has that arrived? Bitch, please.