Bitch Culture

706 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How the concept of bitch evolved

Popularized words such as “bitch” have transitioned throughout time. Originating in the Anglo Saxon time period in the northern European area such as Germany, Norway, and Sweden(“bitch”,n1,etymology). The term was originally formulated to described a quadruped that exhibits “growling or snarling” characteristics. Today the term has been morphed to represent and demean women.The term “bitch” has evolved and, in my definition, is a derogatory term society uses to subvert women and is used incorrectly as a compliment among adolescents.
The word “bitch” has transitioned throughout time from describing a female dog to a female person(“bitch”,n1,1a). Even in previous time periods there were distinct roles in every functioning society. Throughout history it is seen where females were reduced to a lower class of citizenship than males, so the transition of the word is not a far fetched concept. The word having the ability to strip independent free thinking women of their dignity by reducing them to that of an animal would be a verbal form of oppressing a woman and keeping them “well trained” like an animal. It allows a woman’s character to be questioned and it ostracizes them from the others.
“Bitch” already began to redefine itself by the 1800’s. In 1856 it was used in Never Too Late by C. Reade to describe someone spoiling ones schemes(“bitch”v2,2). This allowed the term to jump from describing something such as a female dog or woman to the an act of ruining plans, event, or situation. A later transition came in the mid 1900’s to describe a persons complaints of a certain matter. The characteristics of spoiling or complaining is generally attributed to women or males with women-like qualities. This allows the concept of the word...

... middle of paper ...

... is seen in the media displayed as a good word to be addressed by and as a degrading

Works Cited
Baldwin, Martina. "What's Up, Bitch? Women's Use Of A Derogatory Word." Conference Papers
-- International Communication Association (2010): 1. Supplemental Index. Web. 26 March. 2014.

Coyne, James C., Richard C. Sherman, and Karen O'Brien. "Expletives And Woman's Place."
Sex Roles 4.6 (1978): 827-835. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web. 6 Apr. 2014.

Gross, Beverly. "Bitch." Salmagundi 103 (1994): 146. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching
File. Web. 2 Apr. 2014

Justin. "B*TCH, PLEASE! How to Use the Word “Bitch” Correctly." Real Life English RSS.
WordPress Admin, 7 May 2012. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.

Mean Girls.Mark Waters.Paramount Pictures,2004.DVD.

West,Kanye.,JayZ. "That’s My Bitch." Online video clip.
YouTube. YouTube, 9 Aug. 2011. Web. 30 March. 2014.

Show More
Related

  • Gloria Naylor's The Meaning Of A Word

    425 Words  | 1 Pages

    Naylor implies that derogatory terms have a twist and are a disguise of acknowledgement to her race. Although it was initially created to humiliate and dehumanize African Americans, ‘the n-word’ develops into a word that admires men of that race.

    Read More

  • Project Respect: Da Baddest B*tch by Rapper Trina

    826 Words  | 2 Pages

    The very title of the song endorses the use of the expression “bad b*tches”. In the music industry, the used of the word “b*tch” is not uncommon. It is most commonly used by men as a means of degrading women. Female rappers, like Trina, try to change what is a degrading word and turn it into a compliment. Female rappers like herself use this “bad b*tch” persona as a defense mechanism. They call themselves these distasteful words before a man has the chance to do it. They see it as strength and rejoice in beating them to the punch. It is a dangerous game they are playing. Throughout Trina’s song “Da baddest b*tch” she referred to herself as a bad b*tch multiple times. “I'm representin' for the bitches/All eyes on your riches” Trina’s depiction of a “bad b*tch” in this song is a woman that is concerned with money and the possession of money; A woman that would do anything to make money no matter the cost. This message is a harmful one. The word “b*tch” is not empowering; it is demeaning. Women give men an excuse to refer to them as “b*tches” because women call themselves’ and other women “b*tches” and “bad b*tches”. Women need to wake up and really that they will not be respected by men or either other women with such behavior. Calling yourself a “b*tch” or “bad b*tch” is a welcome mat to disrespect. Women should resist the catchy lyrics and clever hooks of the songs both me...

    Read More

  • Carolyn Krizer's Poem Bitch

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    During the cringe-worthy reunion, the speaker is fighting an internal battle with her feelings. There is something inside of her trying to claw its way out, and the bottled up bitterness threatening to rip its way to the surface. She personifies her suppressed emotions in the form of a disobedient female dog, hence the name “Bitch”. When the woman is approached by the man, she refers to hers...

    Read More

  • Eli Clare Freaks And Queers Analysis

    1059 Words  | 3 Pages

    For instance, in the show Freaks and Geeks, we find individuals, calling themselves freaks, because they do not belong in the ‘status quo,’ and live or desire to live alternative lifestyles. Would this be disrespectful to individuals who according to 19th and 20th century lingo, were called freaks? I think it is highly disrespectful indeed, because in the show, we find these kids who are not disabled, and are all white using a term which has caused so much pain to others,used it in such a free way, to be different and alternate. It goes back to what he was saying about how individuals who identify with the pink triangle and the term freak, need to also be a witness to the pain that other individuals suffered, like the gay POC and non-disabled POC. And it is worse because these kids in no way bear any semblance with either of the categories mentioned. It’s becoming some sort of norm, in which white people of years passed create words which are meant to relegate different individuals to the outside, and then after this relegation is done, choose to use it as freely as they want. For instance the use of the word ‘nigger’, white people want to include this word in their vocabulary so bad, because slavery happened more than 300 years ago. But they forget the pain that comes with this word, but you cannot truly forget what

    Read More

  • Comparison of the Two Essays "The Meaning of a Word" and "Being a Chink"

    971 Words  | 2 Pages

    are simply meaningless words meant to damage, humiliate and degrade certain groups of people. To prove those words worthless, the same groups of people that those hate words

    Read More

  • Female Chaauvinist Pigs: Women And The Rise Of Raunch Culture, By Ariel Levy

    1879 Words  | 4 Pages

    Women have been forced to conform to social and gender stereotypes for centuries. In part of that, they some times re-enforce those stereotypes by being the personification of those stereotypes. Saying that women belong in the kitchen or that they are less intellectual than males creates an inappropriate expectation towards women. These stereotypes cause women to be the stepping stools for men making women seems inferior when they are compared to males. This affects women by being unable to reach the higher standards that men possess. In “Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture” written by Ariel Levy, she speaks of women who have become aware of these higher standards; thus, conform to male stereotypes. This causes them to become female chauvinist pigs. Contrasting Levy would be Jayme Poisson and her article “Parents Keep Child’s Gender Secret”. In her article she details a baby named Storm and his/hers parents push to create a genderless baby. Making Storm this way is their desire to have their child be free of social and gender stereotypes. Whether a female is conforming to stereotypes or simply disregarding them, they will

    Read More

  • Nigger: Historical and Current Use

    3576 Words  | 8 Pages

    As a black American male, the word nigger conjures up within me hate, hostility, violence, oppression, and a very shameful and unfortunate part of American History. The word symbolizes the everlasting chains of a people plagued with hate and bondage simply because of skin color. For many black people, including myself, nigger is the most pejorative word in the English language. Even when compared to racial slurs like kike, honkey, cracker, wet back, spic, jungle bunny, pod, tarbaby, and white trash, nigger is noted as the worst insult in the English language. The word nigger suggests that black people are second class citizens, ignorant and less than human.

    Read More

  • The Word Nigger

    1466 Words  | 3 Pages

    In this thesis, I’ve actually learned a few things. From looking up the word in etymology books, I concluded that the society has come to realize that we do use the word amongst ourselves but never to the extent to which it has been used centuries ago towards our ancestors. One book quotes “…African Americans commonly use the word in different ways among themelves…”

    Read More

  • What Is The Symbolic Power Of Words Or Powerful?

    2186 Words  | 5 Pages

    The word “cunt” used in modern language carries a heavy offensive potency in just one syllable. Saying phrases such as “You’re a cunt!” “Stop being such a cunt” or “You fucking cunt” for those with more gusto for its use, reveals the misogyny that the word possesses. After all, “cunt” is another, albeit derogatory, word for vagina and (most) females have a vagina; and the vagina is the central powerful symbol for femininity. What does it mean then to essentially be a “vagina” (read cunt)? Furthermore, as a woman, what does it mean to have such a pejorative word aimed towards you with the intent to offend, harm, and essentially oppress one’s own femininity? Yet, as British journalist Zoe Williams states, the word “vagina” is not used to insult women; however, cunt” is. To be called a “cunt,” then, suggests that the offender is attempting to dishonor this very symbol of womanhood, by scandalizing the word in attempt to claim and perpetuate its pejorative power, thus diminishing the woman, and inadvertently her power.

    Read More

  • Feminism In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

    817 Words  | 2 Pages

    Men are supposedly “more powerful” than women when it comes to a lot of things. The book Of Mice And Men takes place in the1930’s where feminism would show up a ton. A lot of feminism is still relevant today, like groups who support feminism and some that are against it. And lots of women are being disrespected because of those who are against feminism or those who just don’t have respect for women and their rights. Even though the ways that men disrespect women have changed the disrespect for them is still alive and relevant today.

    Read More

  • Being a Lady versus a Woman

    566 Words  | 2 Pages

    As one speaks, usually, thoughts flow in and out, making what is said a whirlwind of terms. As a teenager in now the ‘new’ millennium, two perplex me that seem commonly misused and misspoken; the words of ‘Lady’ and ‘Woman’. Many might feel as if these two words are as interchangeable as the books in a library, however, I strongly disagree. Though these two words are similar, distinct differences exist between them.

    Read More

  • In The Black Arts Movement

    870 Words  | 2 Pages

    In these readings, the word is used to express frustration and anger as well as a sense of being abused and forced to endure. Sonia Sanchez uses the compound motherfucker/motherfucka to emphasize her disdain of whites in the poem TCB (Taking Care of Business). At the end of that poem however she says “now, that is sed. Let’s get to work” (Sanchez 723). This seems to have used the “fuck” as a cathartic mechanism to vent her frustrations. Once these frustrations are unleashed Sanchez conveys her willingness to “get to work” on the issues she has with the cursed whites. June Jordan uses fuck to describe both the physical and mental rape that occurs in her “Poem about My Rights”. Disgust with a French law that stated if a man penetrates a woman but does not ejaculate then he is not guilty of raping her, Jordan responds to this with asking if she smashed his head in with hammer and he and his buddies fuck her that she consented because they did not ejaculate. She then states how this “fucked me over” (Jordan 767) because she is in the wrong place at the wrong time and the wrong color skin so she must have wanted to get

    Read More

  • Alleen Pace Nilsen's View of Sexism in English

    761 Words  | 2 Pages

    Nilsen began this study of the dictionary not with the intention of prescribing language change but simply to see what the language would reveal about sexism to her. Sexism is not something that existing independently in American English or in the particular dictionary that she happened to read. Rather it exists in people's minds.

    Read More

  • Comparison of One is Not Born a Woman by Wittig and The Second Sex Simone De Beauvoir

    873 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...rms of power and source of pride in society. Emphasizing sexism in language and rising the concern with words can be a vital feminist strategy to provoke social change (Weatherall, 2002). Language can produce a false imagination and represents women and men unequally, as if members of one sex were somehow less wholly human, less complex, and has fewer rights than members of the other sex. Sexist language also characterizes serotypes of women and men, sometimes to the disadvantage of both, but more often to the disadvantage of women. (Wareing & Thomas, 2012). As a result, it is necessary that individuals have the right to define, and to redefine as their lives unfold, their own gender identities, without regard to genitalia, assigned birth sex, or initial gender role. Language about women is not a nonaligned or an insignificant issue but profoundly a political one.

    Read More

  • Rape Culture

    1619 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rape Culture Many of the attitudes, beliefs, and mistaken ideas about rape have been with us for centuries. By looking at myths, such as “women ask for it,” and “it would do some women good to get raped,” from a historical perspective, leads us to better understanding how they evolved. Women are still seen as the property of men, and are protected as such. Men and women are still taught to occupy very different roles in today’s world.

    Read More

More about Bitch Culture

Open Document