[Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
Art Deco
deco at moscow.com
Wed Nov 18 11:31:25 PST 2009
At the risk of offending everybody (which I have done on numerous occasions) and given the distinction between "bitch" and "bitchy" Ms. Hovey has perspicaciously made, here's another viewpoint:
When a minority person, a homosexual, or a woman do not perform well in a particular job/position and their performance does not rise to expectations even with careful mentoring and monitoring, management is often reluctant to remove that person for fear of being labeled or sued for being "racist", "homophobic", "sexist", etc.
This is an insidious form of discrimination also. Not only is it unjustified special treatment, but it is counterproductive -- it tends to help justify and to perpetuate incorrect stereotypes and bad feelings, leaving incompetents to be thought of as general representatives of their class and of as undeserving also.
Tom posted a dictionary definition of "bitchy." There is no gender reference in that definition. There is none in the Encarta definition nor is there any in The New American Oxford Dictionary definition. This is true of the word itself and of the referents to which it may be applied. None of the definitions of "bitchy", unlike those definitions for "jezebel", e.g., specify that the referent is female.
If someone is malicious, spiteful, petulantly childish, etc, they are bitchy. The word describes behavior completely under the control of the person to whom it is applied, and moreover, behavior that is generally destructive. It is not like the n-word, "squaw", "poof", "cunt" or ...(well, you get the idea) traits that are either hereditary or nondestructive.
Unless someone has lived in a convent most of your life, it is strange that they have not heard the word "bitchy" used to describe both men and women who are spiteful, petulant, etc. In fact, there are several male clerks and proprietors in Moscow/Pullman businesses and males in Moscow/Pullman government to which the word "bitchy" is applied not infrequently.
Bitching about applying the word "bitchy" to a woman for whom the word correctly describes is like the insidious discrimination described above. Are women to get special treatment by being secured from being called "bitchy" even those the word fits and has long ago lost its gender reference? That's what sounds very sexist to me, like not firing an incompetent woman for fear of being falsely labeled as "sexist." And such insistence that we not accurately use the word "bitchy" is bound to be counterproductive -- leading those of either gender who bitch about using "bitchy" to describe deserving people to be described as "bitchy" themselves.
There are many places where progress needs to continue to be made with respect to gender roles. There are cases where language itself can be very sexist. I suggest to those of us in that battle that we worry more about derogatory terms whose referents are female or imply undesirable clearly feminine traits rather than words like "bitchy" whose referents have long ago became genderless.
Wayne A. Fox
1009 Karen Lane
PO Box 9421
Moscow, ID 83843
waf at moscow.com
208 882-7975
----- Original Message -----
From: keely emerinemix
To: Sue Hovey ; deco at moscow.com ; vision2020 at moscow.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 9:22 AM
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
And, of course, there's the verb "to bitch," which means complaining to your friends of either gender about the inconvenience of having to have sex-less snow tires put on your equally sex-less car by Les Schwab attendants both male and female who work hard but nonetheless have six hours of cars ahead of you -- six hours of work on cars driven by women and men who are also complaining to their guy and gal friends about the wait. Synonyms here might be "whine, moan, and gripe," and not one of them describes only female behavior.
So while the noun and the adjective originally referred negatively to women, I guess the verb form hearkens back to the days when men perceived that even the mildest, most tepid complaint from their women was mere confirmation that, darn it all, they needed to be watched out for.
Particularly if it was "that time of the month." You know how we get . . .
Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com
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From: suehovey at moscow.com
To: kjajmix1 at msn.com; deco at moscow.com; vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
Date: Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:32:04 -0800
So we do....There is, perhaps, a perceived distinction between "bitchy" and "bitch," though. One is a noun, the other an adjective and by inference less pejorative. And I don't tally by gender so what you say may be true in my world, too.
Sue H
----- Original Message -----
From: keely emerinemix
To: deco at moscow.com ; vision2020 at moscow.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 9:18 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
We do live in different worlds . . .
Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com
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From: deco at moscow.com
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:43:06 -0800
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
We must live in two different worlds. In mine "bitchy" means childishly petulant. In my world women use the term much more than men, and use it unisexually.
W.
----- Original Message -----
From: keely emerinemix
To: deco at moscow.com ; vision2020 at moscow.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 5:09 PM
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
I'm with Gary on this one (sorry, Gary). "Bitchy" and forms thereof may be something leveled at a guy, like "Hey, dude, just stop bitchin' about it!" But at its core, and as the etymology confirms, it's the denigrating of a woman by likening her to a she-dog. When McCain staffers called Hillary Clinton a bitch, the offense wasn't that they were mean to her; they could just as easily have said she was "an arrogant a--hole" or something equally snotty. But "bitch" is the pejorative you need when you want to cut a woman down or put her in her place, and even its recent androgynous use -- along the lines of "Hey, car bitch! Go get my Corvette!" for the parking valet -- is meant to demean the object as someone worthy of dismissal and denigration.
And women know "dismissal" and "denigration" all too well . . .
Keely
www.keely-prevailingwinds.com
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From: deco at moscow.com
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:02:27 -0800
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
I am unaware that calling anyone, man or woman, "bitchy" is sexist, but a matter of fact in the context of "arms akimbo."
Perhaps, you need to stop looking at the world through keyholes.
W.
----- Original Message -----
From: the lockshop
To: Art Deco ; Vision 2020
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:40 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
I think she looks.....fine.
What's amusing is a remark that denies the out of context use of the photo as sexist followed by comment that includes the term "bitchy."
g
----- Original Message -----
From: Art Deco
To: Vision 2020
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
Perhaps I missed something, but where does it say it was used without permission. I do not have access to the contract between Runner's World and Ms. Palin, but in my experience such photo shoot contracts give total control of the material created to the payer for the photo shoot. Perhaps you have other information.
In any case, Palin did give permission for the photo to be used by Runner's World. I hardly think the photo sexist, but with her arms akimbo, she does look a little bitchy.
W.
----- Original Message -----
From: the lockshop
To: Art Deco ; Vision 2020
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 11:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
Considering the text on that cover and the fact that the photo was taken for an article to appear in Runners World magazine and used without permission one sort of has to wonder how this rag justifies calling itself "Newsweek." Perhaps Left Wing Opinionweak would be more appropriate. Considering their dwindling circulation, I suppose it hardly matters.
g
----- Original Message -----
From: Art Deco
To: Vision 2020
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 9:42 AM
Subject: [Vision2020] The new The Saga Continues...
Let's see. Didn't she pose for the photo at issue for distribution in a magazine, or was that some egregious impostor?
Palin slams 'sexist' Newsweek cover
Posted: November 17th, 2009 12:06 PM ET
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney
Palin is not happy with the latest Newsweek cover.
(CNN) - Sarah Palin's image is everywhere as she launches a highly-anticipated book tour this week, but the former Alaska governor is unhappy with at least one media organization's depiction of her.
Palin took aim at Newsweek's eye-catching cover this week that shows the former vice presidential candidate in her running outfit - an image that was apparently lifted from a Runner's World photo shoot months ago. Writing on her Facebook page Monday night, Palin said the depiction is flat out "sexist, and oh-so-expected."
"The choice of photo for the cover of this week's Newsweek is unfortunate. When it comes to Sarah Palin, this 'news' magazine has relished focusing on the irrelevant rather than the relevant," Palin wrote. "The out-of-context Newsweek approach is sexist, and oh-so-expected by now."
"If anyone can learn anything from it: it shows why you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, gender, or color of skin. The media will do anything to draw attention – even if out of context," Palin also said.
The photo is accompanied by text that states "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sarah? She's bad news for the GOP - and for everybody else too."
Palin has held back few punches at the media in the initial stages of her publicity tour. The former governor slammed the Associated Press for its recent fact check that took issue with several of the memoir's contentions and, in her Oprah appearance that aired Monday, Palin slammed the way the media treated her family during the campaign.
The Alaska Republican also doesn't hold back in her book, writing at one point, "I had been out of journalism for a long time, and it was pretty obvious the rules had changed. I felt sick about the depths to which some in the press had apparently sunk, not because it was unfair to me and John, but because it was unfair to the American electorate."
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