1. Younger women have reclaimed the word bitch as an act of rebellious empowerment & use it to demonstrate they aren’t being insulted by the Patriarchy anymore.
First generation feminists & women older than that were called bitch as a serious insult, equating women to a female
dog only used to breed. Millennials started using bitch as something you’d call a friend affectionately. ie “I’m so excited to have brunch with my
bitches this weekend!.
To call a friend “bitch” is to take what was an insult & reclaim it, which cuts the systemic oppression associated with the word. A hetero cisgender man using the word bitch is still thought of as an insult, while LGBTQ & hetero cisgender female identifying humans can use the word bitch positively. It is saying we know ya tried to keep us down, Patriarchy, but you can’t. It’
s purposely in
your face as a reclamation.
2. It can also be a light joking, sarcastic way to express envy. Instead of saying “I’m so envious you have 2 bedrooms, I only have 1 .”, the shorthand colloquialism is to say “You bitch!”. It’
s meant as
wow you are so lucky! Or I am jealous but you are my friend “You lucky bitch!”.
3. It can also express awe, affirmation, excitement or way to go like exclaiming “
Yes!” but instead people say “
Yes, bitch!” Or just “Biiiiiiiiiitch!”.
4. Similar to #
3, it can also be compassion, understanding or “I
see you/I feel you” by saying “Biiiiiiiitch…” but the tone
may incline down instead of up to emphasize
empathy.
