Henrietta Hay's Column

"Bitch -- the female of the dog, wolf, fox, etc....." So says Webster's New World Dictionary. It also says, "...a malicious, bad-tempered or aggressive woman."

I certainly do not want to get into a discussion of those words, which are not acceptable in polite society. Actually, there aren't too many of them any more. I think I've heard most of them, but (my mother would be proud) I don't say very many of them out loud. I may mutter one or two under my breath when some driver cuts in front of me or makes an illegal turn, but that's a private matter.

Now that the word "bitch" has hit the headlines and TV news and has and become part of dinner table conversation, maybe it is time for it to take its place in that list of words formerly forbidden and now acceptable. Or even better, let's make it a compliment.

The shock value of words does change. There was a movie in the 1940's in which one character uttered the word "virgin" aloud. For that reason alone it was censored for children, and in a pure act of rebellion I insisted that they let my young son in to see it with me. It was a very innocuous movie. More recently Lorena Bobbbit made another word acceptable, although I can't quite bring myself to write it. And TV is full of colorful ads discussing the problems of menopause. We have made great strides in language!

But "bitch" is different. It is profanity and is meant to insult. It is an abusive word used against women. In today's political climate it is used chiefly to refer to strong women with strong opinions openly expressed. It refers to women who are -- Heaven forbid -- aggressive. There is no doubting its meaning.

As a feminist, I find it interesting to note that there are no comparable words referring to the male of the species. The ones that are available insult, not the men, but their mothers.

The word "bitch" was so offensive to white haired, grandmotherly Barbara Bush that she couldn't quite bring herself to say it aloud, but she got her meaning across when she referred to Geraldine Ferraro as a "that word that rhymes with witch." Newtie's mother was less delicate in referring to Hillary and said it right out loud on national television. Pat Schroeder was called the "Wicked Bitch of the West" after she pressed for an investigation of Tailhook. I suspect that the word got tossed at Colorado University President, Judith Albino, on that infamous night of the president/deans/regents battle. And every activist woman I know has been called that by someone somewhere, although usually not on the front page.

I think that these women are wonderful role models, and have brought new luster to the word. Maybe it is time to make the title "bitch" a badge of honor.

Many women columnists have been writing about Newtie's mother and her "slip of the tongue." Katherine Lanpher, writing for the St. Paul Pioneer Press says, "Too often, if you are powerful and competent and vocal and female, the phrase that comes to an opponent's mind is not 'powerful and competent,' but, 'bitch.'.... I suggest that we should embrace the moniker of bitch."

We can make it a complementary word rather than a demeaning one. We can use it as a common noun, like tall or skinny or fat or blonde, only with a new meaning. Only powerful women are entitled to use it. In answer to, "Who does that Senator think she is?" We can say, "She is a bitch." We could be proud to be called that. And it would sure defuse the opposition.

Barbara Ehrenreich writes in Time about Hillary's gracious response to Newtie and his mother. She disagrees with it, however and says Hillary was too polite. "The only dignified response for Hillary Clinton or any other woman similarly maligned is to stand up, straighten her spine and unflinchingly embrace the epithet." In spite of her courteous behavior, Washington is sprouting buttons that say, "SHE IS."

I would agree with Ehrenreich's conclusion, "Personally . . . I would be honored to have Newt Gingrich, even by proxy, call me a bitch."