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TechnoratiThe rise of Clinton as the first female frontrunner proves the word remains as incendiary as ever
When you work for a magazine called Bitch, the phone tends to ring a lot when the word pops up in the news. Since a supporter of Senator John McCain used the b-word to refer to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton last week, it has been ringing like crazy. People want to know whether it is still a bad word. Or they already think it's a bad word and want to discuss whether its use has implications for free speech or sexual harassment or political campaigns.
Bitch is a word I use culturally to describe any woman who is strong, angry, uncompromising and, often, uninterested in pleasing men. I use it for the woman who has a better job than a man and doesn't apologise for it. I use it for the woman who doesn't back down from a confrontation.
So let's not be disingenuous. Of course it's a bad word. As a culture, we've done everything possible to make sure of that, starting with a mindset that deems powerful women to be scary, angry and unfeminine - and sees uncompromising speech from women as anathema to a tidy, well-run world.
It's for just these reasons that when Lisa Jervis and I started our magazine in 1996, no other title was up for consideration. When we were on tour with a 10th-year anniversary anthology, men wandered up after several readings to ask, nervously, if we hated men. We always told them the same thing: "If you actually read the magazine you'll find that it's not about hating men but elevating women." But too many people don't see the difference. And that's why the b-word is still so problematic.
People who don't like Clinton have been throwing the slur at her since at least 1991. So everyone in the room laughed knowingly when a woman at a campaign event in South Carolina asked McCain: "How do we beat the bitch?"
In fact, the most surprising thing about the whole dust-up is that something like this hasn't happened sooner. Sure, it was disrespectful of McCain to laugh off the insult. (Rather than admonishing the supporter, he called it an "excellent question", before adding: "I respect Senator Clinton.") And, sure, the questioner was transparently courting soundbite fame. (Congratulations, faceless woman! Stay classy!) But for Clinton, this episode has to be pretty much a case of another day, another insult.
When people call Clinton a bitch, it's an expression of pure sexism - a hope that they can shut up not only one woman but every woman who dares to be assertive. Simply put: if you don't like Clinton's stance on healthcare, there are plenty of ways to say so without invoking her gender.
So the word remains as incendiary as ever. In 1996, when the word was barely squeaking past network TV censors, I would never have thought it could get any more loaded. But the rise of the first serious female runner for the presidency has proved me wrong.
I'm all for a lively discussion of how the word is used in daily life: by men, by women, in jest, in earnest. But I don't foresee that dialogue taking place in a political arena that considers mere femaleness a deficiency. Talking about the use of the word just isn't helpful if we don't also address the many unsaid words that follow in its wake.
My own definition of the term being what it is, I can confidently say that I want my next president to be a bitch, and that goes for men and women. Outspoken? Check. Commanding? Indeed. Unworried about pleasing everybody? Sure. And guess what? I'm not even sure that person is Hillary Clinton.
Andi Zeisler is the co-founder and editorial director of the magazine Bitch: Feminist Response to Pop Culture. A longer version of this article appeared in the Washington Post
© 2007 The Guardian
54 Comments so far
Show AllA strong assertive woman is a bitch and men are afraid of bitches? *Future newsflash* - "marriage at the all time low of zero percent, jewelry store owners riot and cripple the nation" ....if irony eats itself during a convolution, is it canabalism or iron-ism?
I believe the Democrats will be making a huge mistake if
Hillary is their choice. She has too many negative things
going for her. I'm still not sure America is willing to
elect a woman president, and I'm almost positive Hillary
is not the right woman to place bets on. If she is one of
the choices on the ballot next Nov. I may just go fishing.
I certainly will NOT vote for any of the Republican crew.
Bush and Cheney cured me of that! (No I didn't vote for
GW but I have been guilty of voting for a Repub in the
past.) After these eight years I just can't see that ever
happening again. Is Hillary a bitch? Depends on your
point of view. Is she a liar? Probably,no worse than the
rest of the candidates. It's natural for politicians to
lie, they could never tell the truth and get elected.
"When people call Clinton a bitch, it's an expression of pure sexism - a hope that they can shut up not only one woman but every woman who dares to be assertive. Simply put: if you don't like Clinton's stance on healthcare, there are plenty of ways to say so without invoking her gender."
Does this explain why alot of people think of Hillary as a bitch but not Nancy Pelosi? I'm not sure you want to defend someone as cynical, duplicit, and unnervingly unprincipled as Hillary to make the gender argument. Does Nancy Pelosi triangulate on the Iraq War? the Iran resolution? Does her campaign plant questions? Is she refusing to release her records of what she did while she was in the Whitehouse? Is she a former board member of Wal-Mart who takes more money from the Defense Industry than any other candidate has, Republican or Democrat? Does she openly accepts donations from convicted felons and PACs uncritically? No. Nancy Pelosi does not. Yes. Hillary does.
When people call Hillary a bitch it's more likely they call her a bitch for those reasons than because she's a woman. If she were a man, your typical anticorproate politico would more than likely call her a 'corporate *something'. Think about it. The w-word sounds alot worse when applied to a woman than Mitt Romney. That doesn't make it right to invoke gender, but I don't think people necessarily invoke it to hate Hillary for being a woman; they have plenty of other reasons to provoke them to sense that maybe she's a condescending, power-hungry, corporate spokesperson that is willing to say anything to anyone (although she'd prefer a planted question) to score some points on a Washington D.C. scorebooard that increasingly looks like the part of this country with the worse judgment and the worse people.
Planting questions and saying that she has some dirt on Obama so he should watch out. Yes, I do think that's something a bitch would do. And while she's at it, she might as well blame 'the vast right wing conspiracy' that for some godforsaken reason has nothing better to do than attack her and Bill. Give me a break. She's the phoniest of the phoniest. I look forward to watching her explain to people in Iowa why she plays the blame game everytime she loses points in the polls. For once, I'd like a candidate who doesn't watch the polls. Thats why I will not be voting for Hillary. (Plus she voted for the war, and I'm not voting for any of those fools who put us in Iraq.)
So when do they get around to calling H a dyke again. We could take bets on when that will happen and who will do it, for surely it will happen. Andi's definition of the word bitch applies to the word dyke as well.
Now with a woman entering the Presidential race, observers will get a peek at the true attitude men have toward women-- or at least a big majority. I may not vote for Hillary as I tend toward Kucinich, but I believe it's rotten to refer to her or any woman as a bitch. And why aren't there potty names for men? Men will show their true colors if Hillary is elected and by doing so, women will not have to guess just what sort of character they are dealing with. However, Pelosi is giving woman a bad image with her putting impeachement off the table. Hillary needs to let us know exactly where she stands and stop politicking. However, she doesn't need dirt thrown in her face with filthy adjectives. How about finding a good word for Guilliani, or Rush Limbaugh, as well as the Bush Crime family?
I don't dislike Clinton for being a woman...I hate her for destroying the concept of 'Progressivism'. She is wrong on all the issues and she is entirely devoid of scruples.
Can I get some thoughts on my own taboo-pushing design?
http://www.bleedingheartsclub.com/index_files/Warho.htm
The term isn't exclusive to Condi, but she just fit the spoof best. Bush/Cheney/Rummy and the whole lot are Warho's, too.
I use it as a term of endearment, as in:
you stupid bitch!
This article is supposed to be about something?
Nothing good has come out of the attempt to turn terms of contempt into "empowering" terms. "Nigger/niggah" has done nothing but provide reinforcement for bigotry; trying to appropriate "bitch" for use among feminists has had the opposite of the intended effect.
"I want my next president to be a bitch, and that goes for men and women. Outspoken? Check. Commanding? Indeed."
Does the author REALLY want a "commanding" president? This need to see a "commanding" figure seems to me to be the source of American abjectness. I don't want a commanding executive, but one who understands what law is for, and who places him or herself solely at the service of the public, not some shite who thinks that their duty is to "perteck" citizens from their liberties.
tetti_tatti November 22nd, 2007 8:19 pm
Hillary wants to be the first woman war criminal. But she won't.
----------
Correct you are when you say she won't be the first woman war criminal because.......Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, Madeleine Albright, et al.......spring to mind.
Hillary wants to be the first woman war criminal. But she won't. We'll have another Republican in the White House, save this thread.
Amerikkka would never choose a black man or a woman for President, Democraps are making a big mistake (yet another).
GEOFF29---the only difference between you and me, my man, is that you can ride a bicycle and I can't. (smile)
I think your posts are crystal clear and much more likely to get read in their entirety. I fear my long-winded offerings are too likely to get skipped. Maybe I need a catchy "hook". Nah!!!! That would still only help with the first few lines. I tell you---I need succinct lessons!
As for the wobbles and the empath distinctions----all of one cloth, if you ask me---I mean if we ARE all ONE, then everything expresses some crucial piece. A bundle of seemingly contradictory agreements coalesce to illuminate and motivate change/growth. Glad I don't have Cheney's piece----- a real misery, I believe, but necesssary nonetheless.
How's that for succinct improvement lesson number 1?
I think the moral of the story is that some of us wobble over on the, "I'll take care of the beast. Just give me the damn mirror, the ball of string, and the sword, and I'll go down there and take care of it. Ok, so they got some improved armaments, give me that cursed ring too. I know we were told not to use it but, desperate times to make a long story so and so forth."
We on that side catch heat from those wobbling over toward the nurturing, practical, caring, side of the equation. I won't speak for you. Come to think of it, Steinbeck did a brilliant job Grapes of Wrath with that, do those of you on that side on whom those of us on this side depend for the eventual survival of this species sort of agree?
I know they invent these anomalies from time to time and come up with Clinton using microwave technology or some such thing, god what a muddle.
christ almighty star of the sea, I need your help speaking your own mind. You are so clear folks get it.
Me, I'll die for the cause if it's required! I'm on that side of the wobbling equation but I try and be an empath as much as possible. Good teachers who were tough on me like you are!
I think the columnist was being polite to the extreme. Number one rule, never vote for the BITCHES and the BASTARDS the meida picks for YOU. Never! Have you not learned anything in the past six years.
Coffee
To me, as a non-native speaker, a bitch is:
1) a female dog
2) a whore
3) to complain
4) a homosexual
5) the queen of any suit in playing cards
6) anything arduous or very disagreeable
7) anything pleasant or admirable
8) a malicious, devious, or heartless woman
By the way, the closest equivalent for masculine is BASTARD, in the sense used by that woman in the article.
A bitch in the White House you say, but we've already done that for at least six years. What's the point?
KEM PATRICK, I have to disagree on a very minor point: the sourse of "biotch." While doing time in prison, the word "biotch" was used to imitate the way David Chapeau would use it in his weekly program. The innmates were having a good time and would use the phrase where the trustees were working. It never was used to mean that some inmate was anothers "biotch" - that's almost impossible in today's prison system. While sodomy does happen, it's the exception rather than the rule.
As usual, the MSM want to portray the prison system as something it simply isn't - if you you are a rapist or child molester, God help you.
The gaurds will look the other way, until justice has been brought to bear on the individual. If he survives the beating (I have seen many wait several days before given medical attention), you will then be removed from the general population and put in the "shoe", or security housing unit until you are paroled.
I don't see what's the problem here - we've had Cheney's bitch in the WH since 2001. Sigh.
So you'd like an outspoken and commanding president unworried about pleasing others.
But you've already got one!
Ok, he may not be outspoken...
Welcome to Mondo Bizzarro land. The descendant of 4000 years of gender slavery in order to achieve the highest public office has to make deals with Wall Street and with the arms merchants to maintain war forever both at home and abroad so she can be a Unitary Imperial President too, so they won't sink the economy if she gets elected without them, so they can continue to sink the economy with their current policies and she won't get in the way.
And now men and women are calling her sexist names because she's been able to sell herself to all the right richfilth white male money-power action figures. And someone who makes their living capitalizing on sexist terms that compare human females to animals or body parts writes about the bad names.
Did I miss anything so far? As Uncle Kurt would say, "Busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, busy."
Peace.
Seems like an ad for the magazine.
she's a butch bitch.
" any woman who is strong, angry, uncompromising and, often, uninterested in pleasing men... the woman who has a better job than a man and doesn't apologise for it. I use it for the woman who doesn't back down from a confrontation."
So the best woman is really a man, maybe a man like Bush. To appear strong he is uncompromising; he is so sure he is right. He seems full of anger-- bitchy -- in press conferneces and his unscripted remarks. He's not interested in pleasing because he is sure he is right ( or is afraid he's not). He won't "back down" or "apologize". If only he had. then tens of thosands might now be still alive. Bush and the Bitch founders seem to be on the same page. It's all about being dominate and proving how tough one is. I'd like to see leaders, female or male, without this distrucitve baggage.
Funny. I've been trying to think of one word to decribe that egotistical f**k-wad, Giuliani, and I can't come up with anything.
~RAY~ It's PRITCH, = a cross of a prick and a bitch.
Had to throw this in. What exactly
is a be-otch?
HRC= arrogant, snotty, pretentious, egotistical, narrow-minded fascist SOB. Do you like that better?
Besides, she - and Condi - give all strong DECENT women a bad name - and a handy stereotype to use against an entire gender. We'd all be better off without their kind around - but the same goes for male politicians as well - they're all whoring for somebody. All egotistic ass-holes. Or else losers.
Americans are addicted to TV - and they're so stupid they don't even know why. So why would you expect them to figure out what to call real sociopaths of either gender (or anything inbetween)? It's a lost cause - the masses are dumb, stupid, ignorant - and love being that way. Bread and circuses - no progress in thousands of years... stagnation leads to extinction - it's about time...
'Nuff said.
No progressive I know of is calling Hillary a 'bitch' for her ego power - such as it is.
To assert otherwise makes a non-issue into just another false, distracting issue.
Hillary Clinton is disliked and roasted by many progressives because she shuns all but cliches and generalization on the deeper issues facing this country.
She pretends to be everything to everybody, and by doing so she reveals her innards: more personal ambition than inspired public wisdom.
Haven't we had enough of personal ambition posing as enlightenedd leadership, in Bush and his cohorts?
Is a female supposed to get away with such obfuscating BS any more than a male?
Absolutely not.
If she's being pimped by corporation, she's not a Bitch, she's a corp. Whore
GEOFF29---I know you called on our friend DD, but I think he's gone to greener pastures. The pickins on this site were just too slim. Maybe like the military recruiters, he had a quota and the month is getting short.
I loved your (succinct) remark-----she has materialized out of materialism, as have so many of the candidiates. Once again you packed allot of punch in very few words, but alas, I fear not everyone has such discriminating taste for a well chosen phrase.
call her whatever you want.
Discussing the term bitch and feminism is another subject.
language like that says more about the user than the recipient.
the best way to handle people who try to push buttons? don't be effected by it? or like we try to do on the posting board ignore them, or the whole conversation gets monopolized by the lowest common denom.
Well said, Thomas More!
Bitch is used to define a female dog (long before the popular cultural usage for women). Calling Clinton a bitch is an insult to female dogs.
Hillary isn't a bitch -- but her politics suck!
When a man is forceful, uncompromising, speaks his mind, tells others what their job is and what is expected, they are strong, upper management material, honest in their opinions, we are just Bitches. The more things change the more they stay the same.
Gee, what a stimulating discussion! Especially the thoughtful, coherent contributions of geoff29, arise257, militantliberal, and BogusStory to political discourse in America.
I'm sure Hillary is crying in her pillow tonight. You folks should share your deep thoughts with Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or that other neanderthal Michael Savage. Perhaps even Ralph Nader, whose big contribution to politics was to call Hillary a coward.
As Macbeth said, "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
I refer to another woman as being a "bitch" when she displays a self-serving attitude that lacks compassion and respect for others. Strength, in my opinion, has nothing to do with a woman being a bitch; just as strength has nothing to do with a man being a bastard.
When McCain's supporter asked "How do we beat the Bitch?" I thought she meant Giuliani.
I think Dubbya is more of a turkey then a chimp:
http://radio.weblogs.com/0107064/MyImages/bush
So we are all agreed now that Hillary should just be called an Asshole, like all the other Assholes in the race?
And can we call Dubya A Bitch, at least? I find that calling him Chimp degrades and objectifies men. Men are not all Bimbos, you know?
Swear words against men:
PERV = "uncompromising man uninterested in pleasing women"
SADIST, ASSHOLE, BASTARD, Working for "THE MAN" etc.
The above don't get used against men in a presidential campaign. Here are some that do: Facist, Racist, Extremist, Radical, Terrorist
Let's call Hillary a non-gender specific swear: She's a facist, racist, radical right-wing extremist who want's to be terrorist-in-chief, continuing the policies of the current administration (coinciding with her voting record) while insisting she's a different person than "W".
What a todo about absolutely nothing.
I don't give a damn how anyone tries to make excuses for this word ... or give it a new definition .. historically it is a rotten slur used to demean all women ...
I find it interesting that no one has called any/all the men running a "bunch of pricks" ... which they are of course ... especially ignorant/sexist mccain ...
Better a President Bitch than President Son-Of-Bitch (i suppose, eh Daniel?)
I want my next president to be a bitch, and that goes for men and women.
Granted! But what are your three wishes? That one required no magical power whatever.
Y'know what? This word thingy is really growing tiresome.
Women, if you can think of a word synonomous with "BITCH" that describes a male with similar trits, please, let's coin it and use it to keep an equal playing field.
I DO NOT consider a bitch to be, as mentioned above:
"strong, angry, uncompromising and, often, uninterested in pleasing men."
My wife is strong, self-reliant, and her own person--I wouldn't have her any other way!
To me a bitch is: 1.) Female 2.) Angry 3.) Controlling for no good reason 4.) Condescending 5.) Generally NOT NICE or open-minded
As I said, there are TONS of males who deserve a name that fits the bill as well. As far as I can tell, the term "asshole" seems to be the word of choice. I mean who hasn't called The Bushie boys assholes?! Or Codi a bitch?
See, it would be odd to call Condi an asshole or Cheney a bitch, wouldn't it.
See...it IS a perfect universe. )-:)/(-:)
"Bitch is a word I use culturally to describe any woman who is strong, angry, uncompromising and, often, uninterested in pleasing men..."
I muse... what would be "strong, angry, uncompromising and, often, uninterested in pleasing women" to describe a male counterpart? Macho? Stud? Jock? Führer? Cowboy?
I can't think of any word as pejorative for males as Andi's article cites for females.
I always thought 'bitch' was for mean women and 'ass' was for mean men. I need to catch up on my swears!
People (mostly men) have got to stop being so afraid of strong women - or any woman at all.
BITCH = Being In Total Control of Herself
Let's see...bitch rhymes with pitch, ditch, snitch, witch, itch, stitch, hitch, kitsch, and Mitch. For variety's sake, why don't we call Sen. Clinton some of these other things?
I would 100% define Hilary Clinton as a bitch, but not the sexist version discussed in the article above. She's getting pimped by corporate elites and she's a coward who ignores the will of the people who put her in power in the first place. That's a bitch if I've ever seen one.
How about, is she really a choice? I don't recall the part where I chose her, more like materialized one day out of materialism.
DD come in, copy?