Can the Word Bitch Be Used for Women - Essay Example

Re-appropriating “bitch” Hate speech that is aimed at disabling its target often has the simultaneous effect of enablingits very resistance. Its injurious power becomes the fueling power of its counter-appropriation. Linguistic re-appropriation refers to the process of appropriating a pejorative word especially by its targets. The definition of re-appropriation carries in itself a collection of academic and conventional interpretations of linguistic and sometimes non-linguistic acts that involve the use of abuse signs or signifiers that an original target of derogation consciously employs either positively or otherwise (Sturken, Cartwright, and Sturken 31). Can the word bitch be used to refer to any woman? If it can, then does it indicate a woman who is unlikable, mean, obnoxiously independent and whorish? Can the word bitch be used to refer to a woman in a good way? Can it be used as a term of empowerment to indicate a self-confident and strong woman instead of being employed in a degrading and harmful way?(Celious 4) These are fundamental questions that observers of rap especially in the US have continued to ask. These issues arise from the fact that over the past ten years, more and more female rappers have proclaimed themselves as “bitches”. Their use of the word bitch is meant to indicate the independence and strength of a woman as opposed to degrading the woman. The concern triggers the debate as to whether the word bitch has been re-appropriated. The paper renders itself to exploring the extent to which the word has been re-appropriated. It also brings up the argument as to the real meaning of the use of the word bitch by women indicative of empowerment while, in essence, the word continues to perform a degrading role. The issue arises from a sequence of discussions in magazines, movies and television programs that have rendered themselves to speaking about the current style of female rappers defining themselves as bitches as if it was a non-derogatory and powerful term. There are two schools of thought in response to this fundamental question. One school of thought regards the activities of the female artists to be empowering while the other school of thought sees them as debilitating. Those that argue that the actions are empowering suggest that products of culture such as media have no standard message. The message they communicate can be interpreted in numerous ways for different ends. On the other hand, those that suggest that the actions are debilitating are of the view that cultural products such as media indeed have standard messages. Even though standard messages may not exist, they argue that the function of the message is standard. The message is either meant to help, harm or be of no effect on consumers (Reed 42). Skeggs (1993) argued that female rappers who branded themselves bitches and revealed their sexuality were using the pejorative as power to subvert the tools used to dominate women by re-appropriating the term “bitch.” Following this argument of re-appropriation and subversion, successful female rappers such as Foxy Brown, Lil’ Kim and Missy Eliot who identify themselves as bitches can be seen as re-appropriating bitch. The re-appropriation of bitch by these artists is seen as an act of self-empowerment and empowerment of other women. The school of thought further argues that sex is power. It asserts that bitches whatever they decide to do in order to get paid (Celious 6). The other school of thought contends that bitch is not empowering. Instead, it is weakening. The primary premise of this assertion is that the term bitch is located in a society governed by the interrelation of sex and power. By the virtue of being men, men acquire status over women. Women occupy a relegated status with restricted access to resources on the account of being women. Similar to the use of bitch in life, it is used in music to bring a distinction between bad and good women. Bitch is used to separate sexually promiscuous women from respectable women. Portraying sexually promiscuous women provides a justification for sexual brutality against women. It follows then that these female artists’ identification of themselves as sexually promiscuous bitches is debilitating. It offers a justification for the offender to sexually brutalize women (Sturken, Cartwright, and Sturken 38). Although there lacks a consensus on whether the word bitch is debilitating or empowering, the word bitch may be endowing some female consumers. Three reasons explain this argument. First, naming or identifying oneself carries in itself empowerment. Language is a battleground with words and meanings as the center of the contest. The implication then is that the words and meanings that are accepted are regarded to have won. When these female rappers identify themselves as bitches, the acceptance of the term is a win for them, which is seen as an act of empowerment. Secondly, gaining access to these representations and the fact that these women represent success is a source of empowerment. The female artists, who refer to themselves as bitches, are viewed by other women as role models of achievement. They represent an elite group that commands a lot of respect from other women. They have succeeded in reinforcing their power and their dominance over other women, and have named the dominated group. The thrift by other women to achieve the status of these female artists, possibly explains the rapid increase in the number of women identifying themselves as bitches. In other words, the female artists set the rules for the game that is an act of empowerment (Celious 8). Thirdly, the perception of a group identity of the artists increases the probability of bitch being viewed as benevolent and empowering particularly when used by individuals apparently belonging to the same group. A good example, for this reason, is the re-appropriation of queer and black, once used to degrade homosexuals and African Americans and that became the inciting force that united the group to fight for better treatment for them. In the same way, instead of rejecting the word used to degrade them, these female artists identify themselves as bitches that become a unifying factor to fight for better treatment. The unifying feature of the re-appropriated word bitch then makes it an empowerment (Reed 43). In conclusion, the word bitch has to a great extent been successfully re-appropriated. Although there exist differences as to whether the re-appropriation is empowering or debilitating, it would be prudent to argue that it is in fact empowering. The re-appropriation has not taken effect over all consumers that calls for caution on users of language while using the word bitch. Works Cited Skeggs, B. “Two minute brother: contestation through gender, ‘race’ and sexuality.” Innovation, 6.3 (1993): 299-322. Print Celious, Aaron K. “How ‘bitch’ became a good thing–or, at least not that bad.” African American Research Perspectives: An Occasional Report of the Program for Research on Black Americans, African American Mental Health Research Center, Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan 8.2 (2002): 90. Print. Reed, Mike. “The Limits of Discourse Analysis in Organizational Analysis.” organization-london- 7.3 (2000): 524–530. Print. Sturken, Marita, Lisa Cartwright, and Marta Sturken. Practices of Looking: An Introduction to Visual Culture. Oxford University Press Oxford, 2001. Google Scholar. Web. 13 Mar. 2015. Read More