varieties_of_life

I’ve recently come across a situation that I needed to get off my chest.  Now to begin, I admit that I haven’t always been the nicest person.  In my younger and stupider years, I was downright mean.  Now that I’m older, I’ve grown and matured.  The one thing that has remained constant throughout my years is that I’m the kind of person who says what they mean and means what they say.  This attribute coupled with my meanness made me an outright bitch.  Do I disagree with that title?  No.  Does that title still pertain to me as a person?  No.  I still speak my mind, but I do it a lot more tactfully than previously.  So, my question is does being an strong-minded, outspoken, independent woman make me a bitch?  When it’s being used as an insult, bitch is an epithet thrown at women who speak their minds, who have opinions and do not shy away from expressing them and who do not sit by and smile uncomfortably if they are bothered or offended.  Just because I don’t let people push me around and I stand up for myself, make me any less of the great person I am.  Why is “bitch” the first word that comes out of someone’s mouth when they meet a person like me?  Don’t they know that I’m a soccer mom who is on the school athletic board.  I go to mass every Sunday.  I volunteer for my children’s school and our church.  I’m also a member of a society that helps needy families.  Because I stood up for myself when a local mechanic tried to overcharge me, I’m a bitch?  Said best by actress Bette Davis: “When a man gives his opinion, he’s a man; when a woman gives her opinion, she’s a bitch.” 

What is funny is that nowdays people throw that word around so cavalierly.  I think that it has really lessened the shock value.  For instance, a lot of people say “That’s my bitch.”  Like it’s a good thing.  An insult is an insult no matter who you say it.  It’s really sad that people use is so much that it really has become less offensive and more acceptable.  It even has the more used variant of “be-yotch”.

What I find to be even worse is that for men this is truly the word du jour.  The first thing out of their mouth when they get turned down for a date or if they have a female boss that turns down their ideas is bitch.  What I find incredible is that some women actually take it as a compliment.  They write books and articles about how its a compliment to their character being called a bitch because that means they’re not letting people run all over them or a sign of strenth.  Are these women crazy?  I know if I’m called a bitch my first reaction is not to say “Thank you.” 

I guess overall you should be proud of who you are and what it took to get there.  All I know if you can call me what you want, just don’t call me bitch. 

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