You and I Are Too Old NOT to Be a B.I.T.C.H.....

Too Old for This Sh*t: How to Take Your Life Back from an Ageist Society

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A reader reminds me that BITCH has a whole other meaning. Stay with me here…

Google the word. I love the definitions of “Whiny Bitch” which is directed at liberals, when the term is vastly more apt for some on the other side of the aisle. We are ever accusing others of what we are ourselves, but that is for the self-aware.

That’s the Urban Dictionary, however. Here:

1. a malicious, unpleasant, selfish person, especially a woman.

2. Older Use. a lewd woman.

3. Disparaging and Offensive. any woman.

That’s ripe, right? ANY woman. And when the term “bitch” is directed at a man, it’s intended to carry a far greater level of insult.

You tired of this? I am. Let’s own it.

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Marilyn D

, offered this instead:

B.I.T.C.H.

Babe in Total Control of Herself

First of all I had to pick myself up off the floor when I quit laughing. I love it when we can own an insult and rework it. That is a super power.

I agree with many of my fellow Stackers that in truth, we control little if anything external, but for how we choose to see, perceive, feel and react to life.

Which, kinda, is everything, but I digress.

Choosing how to react to insults, stupidity, all of it, is a super power. So if you and I are a B.I.T.C.H. in this sense, I’m owning it.

I’ve been called a bitch when I stand up for myself.

Been called a bitch any time I set a guardrail, call someone’s bullshit out, out an asshole or otherwise, pull the tarp off a pile of garbage.

Including my own. I don’t call myself a bitch; in such cases I do ask what the hell I was thinking, but I digress again.

Bitch is a favored patriarchal word to demean women. It has a long and storied history as an insult, which is why I love Marilyn’s version.

You and I are WAY Too Old to be insulted by being called a Bitch, most especially if said insult is hurled at us for being powerful, righteous, outspoken and by god in the face of a patriarchy which is working awfully hard to get all of us “Bitches” back in the kitchen, barefoot and making babies.

In you missed this please see this article from Vox on “pronatalism” which is gobbledy-gook for making more White Supremacist babies.

If you really want a good education on this, please listen to Revenge of Childless Cat Ladies (otherwise known as all of us aging bitches) on On the Media, please go here.

At the ripe age of 71, I’ve learned that when someone is hurling this insult at me or anyone else, in so many cases it’s a way to control, demean and reduce female power.

It so often means that someone is terrified of the goddess in us, also known as the goodness in us.

When we use our power for good we are unstoppable.

When that gets in patriarchy’s way, we’re bitches.

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If a woman in the fullness of her power is a bitch, then I am having it.

That ability to slap back and use insults for power is part of why Harris is so appealing to Gen Z voters.

We’re overdue to do the same.

Own the insult. Make it yours.

I’m very proud to be a childless bitch dog mom ol’ lady. I’m in excellent company.

Let’s be proud to be bitches, in the best sense of the word. Someone fears your power.

I’m having it.

Let’s play.

Photo by Matan Levanon on Unsplash

Thanks to Marilyn for this inspiration. And thanks to all the other women who are sick and tired of being demeaned for their sex, most especially for the power bequeathed them for their sex.

If this article appealed, please consider

If you know someone who’d like a little perspective on being called the big B, please consider

Either way, own the insults and make them yours. Nothing strips a bully of their power faster than laughter.