The World Beyond BetterMost > Women Today
What does "bitch" mean now?
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: milomorris on April 13, 2012, 11:00:53 am ---The cultural hold-out from that social contract is that any word that insults women is by default more heinous than any word that insults men. Chivalry isn't quite dead yet.
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??? Um, see my post above re examples of use of the word "bitch" by millionaire rappers whose music sells millions of copies to millions of people, who win Grammys and star in movies and get profiled in the New York Times and the New Yorker and are basically the toast of modern pop culture.
Or perhaps you can point me to 8,222 similarly offensive uses of the word "dick" in songs by women, including more than 100 with the word in the title itself?
As for the c-word, I believe you're incorrect about its heinous status being due to chivalry. I think it's heinous because it is sort of on par with the "n-word" (when used by white people) or the "f-word": the ultimate offensive slur used against a historically oppressed population. There is no equivalently heinous word for men (dick) or white people (honky) or straight people (breeder) because those groups, collectively, have been historically privileged.
serious crayons:
--- Quote from: Jeff Wrangler on April 13, 2012, 11:41:04 am ---Perhaps it depends on the slur, but I was never happy or comfortable with reclaiming "queer." And, curiously, the only people I ever met personally, face-to-face, who had no problem using that word, were invariably at least a decade younger than me, if not more.
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Yeah, I've always wondered about whether offensiveness lingers regarding the q-word, considering it's in the title of a TV show and the name of a field of academic studies.
--- Quote ---(OT and BTW, welcome back, Katharine. I've been missing you.)
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Thanks! :-*
Marina:
Katharine, you are right - some words are just not worth reclaiming. I didn't think of the rap definition, just the mean definition, but calling someone a bitch is not a great thing do do. I think we sometimes forget when we say these things. The C-word is just plain ugly - ugly to hear, ugly to read, ugly facial expression to say it - it's a violent word, almost. (Although words are used for a purpose in literature, I think) I remember reading something that some young women had written and were tossing it around online, and that one isn't worth reclaiming either. :) I have used the word "balls" to refer to courage or lack of, and the unisex A-word, but I guess I'll just stick with the good old "F" word when I'm mad enough to curse! lol :)
serious crayons:
Good way to put it, Marina.
Though I'll have to say I'm not really fond of using "balls" to mean courage. That's insulting to women, as well.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on April 13, 2012, 12:01:19 pm ---Yeah, I've always wondered about whether offensiveness lingers regarding the q-word, considering it's in the title of a TV show and the name of a field of academic studies.
--- End quote ---
At the risk of wandering way OT. ...
While I watched the first season of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy faithfully, the title did make me a tad uncomfortable. It might be interesting, and maybe revealing, to know why the show was named Queer Eye and not, say, Gay Eye. Interesting (to me, anyway) to note also that except for Ted the food guy, everyone else on the show was a lot younger than I am. I might be guilty of stereotyping here, but I would also expect that younger stylistas and fashionistas would be just the type to "reclaim" the word and use it archly.
"Queer Studies" may be a received title for an academic field, but, again, I suspect that name came from academics of a younger generation than me.
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