There's Nothing Like "Bitch"

Here's an Op-Ed piece by guest blogger Kate Mitchell, the CA NOW legislative and advocacy intern, widening the discussion started by the Washington Post piece by Andi Zeisler one of the founders of Bitch Magazine.

I've been reading Bitch Magazine consistently for about 5 years. Nothing beats its insightful, witty commentary on a range of modern feminist dilemmas--from women in the media to environmental responsibility, third wave politics to graphic novels, and most recently gender-neutral pronouns and asexuality. And then there's the contentious and hilarious relationship with Jane, a rival publication. Certainly Bitch isn't on the fringe of the fringe, but I can count on its writers for, what else, but bitchy quips about popular culture. At the same time, it's easy to revel in my own feminist bitchiness and lose sight of the importance of the word---that is, until it's thrown in my face because I'm too assertive, or I "drive like a woman," or I dare to speak up when a man at a theme park calls me a dyke (the most recent utterance).

Andi Zeisler, one of the magazine's founders and editors, gave her definition of the word in a recent article in the Washington Post: "Bitch is a word we use culturally to describe any woman who is strong, angry, uncompromising and, often, uninterested in pleasing men. We use the term for a woman on the street who doesn't respond to men's catcalls or smile when they say, "Cheer up, baby, it can't be that bad." We use it for the woman who has a better job than a man and doesn't apologize for it. We use it for the woman who doesn't back down from a confrontation."

I agree with Zeisler, but that doesn't make it hurt any less. She goes on to say that what's painful is what goes unsaid, that underlying sexism that hangs in the air after a slur is uttered. "Dyke" I can deal with--perhaps because it seems so hyperbolic and ridiculous--but there's nothing like "bitch." In my experience, there's no other insult that women use so liberally against one another--and has so far to go on the path towards reclamation. How have you all out in the blogosphere experienced the word? Out of hatred, disdain, or maybe as a compliment? Perhaps you've accepted the bitch inside?