Jo Freeman, a feminist scholar, once wrote in her book titled The Feminist Manifesto, “We must be strong, we must be militant, we must be dangerous. We must realize that Bitch is Beautiful and we have nothing to lose”. But why is being called such a negative term considered ‘beautiful’? Within the commonplace connotation, being a bitch is wholly negative. In order to understand why being a bitch should be celebrated, we must understand where the word comes from, why it has risen to popularity, and most importantly, what it means in today’s society.

The term ‘bitch’ dates back to the 15th century. It was originally meant to mean ‘a female dog’, but even back then it was used as an insult. Supposedly because female dogs had a multitude of puppies, and often times with many different male dogs, they were seen as promiscuous. Therefore, back in the 1400’s, if you called a girl a bitch, it meant she was sleeping around with (or rumored to be sleeping around with) two or more partners (Padres, Arielle). The next time the word was commonly used was during 1915-1930, when women as a whole decided to take a stand-- the women’s suffrage movement. The use of the term nearly doubled. The next time we saw a rise of the term ‘bitch’ was in popular music in the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, the word no longer stood for a promiscuous woman, but concurrently a money-hungry conniving one. But at this time, the reclamation of the word was also beginning. Lisa Jervis and Andi Zeisler created Bitch Magazine in 1996, where they stated, “It would be great to reclaim the word ‘bitch’ for strong, outspoken women, much the same way that ‘queer’ has been reclaimed by the gay community” (Padres, Arielle). Although we have not reached that point in absolute, in social conversation we do throw around terms like, ‘boss ass bitch’ and ‘bad bitch’ and it means a good thing.

Now that etymology is out of the way, we can further understand why it’s risen to popularity, not just how. Ever since the women’s suffrage movement, women have realized that they don’t need to take no for an answer. Thanks to those feminist pioneers, there is no ‘no, you can’t vote’, ‘no, you can’t be sexual’, and even now, ‘no, you can’t run for president’. Women are trying to level the playing field, although even at a young age we are told not to. If a young girl says what’s on her mind and knows what she wants, she comes across as bratty, while if a young boy does it, it is inspiring-- he’s a go-getter (Fader, Sarah). Women are taught from a young age that they will get what they want by being nice, by being passive and non confrontational, and conscious of hurting others’ feelings. Men are taught that women that don’t act passively are bitches, that they are cold-hearted and should be called out on said ‘bitchy behavior’ in order to bring them down to their expectations (Fader, Sarah). In an article written by Jessica Cho titled Powerful Women Aren’t Bitches, she states that “Past studies. . . have shown that when people write a letter to a stranger and want to seem smart, they come off as cold, and emotionless. But, if they’re asked to show warmth and friendliness, people will do things like not use any words more than six letters long. . . It’s like, if we want to be liked we play dumb. If we want to be respected we kinda act like assholes.” Women have to decide whether they want to be liked, or own up to their intelligence. Nobody says these stereotypes out loud, they are so ingrained into us as a culture that we don’t even notice that it is happening.

In today’s society, some people have noticed that being called a bitch for the typical reasons (i.e. promiscuity, confidence, powerful attitudes, and dominant personalities) is an incorrect assessment-- and society has done what it can to reclaim the word. The word bitch can be used in almost any connotation now. As a noun, bitch can mean the aforementioned, female dog and lewd woman. It can also mean a particularly difficult task. As a verb, to bitch means to complain about a topic (Bitch | Definition of Bitch). As an adjective, bitchin’ is another way of saying that something is cool. But you can also bitch-slap someone and have a resting bitch face (Padres, Arielle). The uses for the word is endless today. Most importantly, bitch now means a powerful woman-- not a bossy or bratty one. It can be used as a sense of empowerment. Being a ‘boss ass bitch’ is a great thing! It means that you’re tough, you can take on the world, and you’re going to get stuff done. Although it still has a vague sting, it is almost not an insult to be called a bitch. It all depends on your personal outlook of the word. So go ahead, call me a bitch. I might just say thank you.

Works Cited

Fader, Sarah. "Stop Calling Assertive Women B*tches." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 Feb. 2014. Web. 31 Oct. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-fader/stop-cal...>.

Chou, Jessica. "Powerful Women Aren't Bitches." Women Bitch Stereotype. Refinery29, 20 May 2015. Web. 31 Oct. 2016. <http://www.refinery29.com/powerful-women-arent-bit...>.

Pardes, Arielle. "The Evolution of the Bitch" VICE. VICE Media LLC, 09 Sept. 2014. Web. 31 Oct. 2016. <http://www.vice.com/read/the-evolution-of-the-bitc...>.