The "B" Word - Is This Just a Phase?

It seems that lately - well, the past couple of years – that I have been hearing the “B” word more and more. First, I heard it among groups of women referring to themselves, as in “How ya doin’ b*itches?” Then, as a real epithet from others trying to put women down. “You bleeping b*tch!” or “Don’t be such a b*tch!” Today it is gender-neutral, but I’d have a hard time calling a dude a “b*tch.”


There was some attempt initially to soften the word by the bizarre pronunciation, something like “Bee-Otch.” Lame. Then it became a word in the casual vernacular of the young and the restless. And now it even comes in title of movies, books, TV shows (“Good Christian B*tches). What a slap to Christians everywhere. Or would that be a “b*tch slap” to Christians? Seems offensive to me.

As kids, as we became more worldly (and could cross the street on our own), we snickered as we used bawdy language. I, myself, started with hell and damn, righteously defending their use by saying, “It’s in the Bible, so how bad can it be?” Same with ass. Let’s see, something like, “Mary was riding Joseph’s ass as they entered Bethlehem.” I am not sure which Bible version that is from – you get the picture.

Then when we really wanted to be bad, (not in today’s sense of “good”) we might call someone a “b*itch” as a gross putdown. If an adult happened to hear us, we would meekly say we were talking about female dogs. Likely story.

So even though it has been present for some time, that word still slams into my eardrums and is not pleasant. There are so many better words to use when using “b*tch” in a nice way, like “How ya doin’ guys?” Of course, (can you believe it), there are women who are offended by being called “guys” but not by being called “b*tches.”

I continue to hope it is a phase. Like cursing your mother when you were really mad, just to get a reaction. We grew up and out of that (if we lived). Maybe we need to find a replacement, something a little softer and less hard on the ears. Let’s keep to the dog theme, so “How ya doin’ puppies?”