'99 Problems' via Obama and 'nem.

Outside of the Hillary-is-a-bitch reference, we thought this was pretty cool.

G.D.

G.D.

Gene "G.D." Demby is the founder and editor of PostBourgie. In his day job, he blogs and reports on race and ethnicity for NPR's Code Switch team.
G.D.
  • Since Dick and Barack are eighth cousins, I agree it’s cool.

  • LH

    I didn’t care for the juxtaposition of bitches and Hillary, either. What has any bitch done to deserve such?

  • LH: Clever, I guess. I’m generally not a fan of referring to women as bitches.

  • LH

    Oh, neither am I. For my money the term is gender neutral.

  • LH: ‘Bitch’ can’t be gender neutral. It’s inherently genderized.

  • LH

    G.D.: According to whom?

  • LH: Care to explain how it isn’t?

  • LH

    G.D.: For now I’d be more interested in you walking me through how it is.

  • LH: Okay. Let’s play your little game.

    Have you ever heard it used in a gender neutral way? Could you use it in a sentence that doesn’t denote/allude to gender?

    To call a woman a ‘bitch’ is obviously loaded with all kinds of genderized/sexist baggage.

    To call a dude a ‘bitch’ is to impugn his masculinity.

    To say someone is ‘bitching’ is to say they’re whining…like a woman (or, literally, a female dog).

    And so on.

    So. Ball’s in your court. When is it untethered to gender?

  • LH

    G.D.: It’s untethered to gender when used to denote weakness, which is how I most often use the term.

    Just this weekend past a friend told me that a man approached her. She told him that she has a man. His response was that her man didn’t have/need to know. She was like whatever and went out with him. Apparently word got back to her man, who eventually caught up with the guy who asked her out. He cowered and said he didn’t know she had a man, and that she asked him out.

    My response? ‘That’s bitch.’

    I’m not out to insult your intelligence, G.D., but you can’t tell me what *I* necessarily mean when I use a word, yanno?

  • L.H/: ‘It’s untethered to gender when used to denote weakness’

    think about that for a second. ‘Bitch’ is used to refer to women. You use it to refer to weakness.

    and yet you’re missing this obvious connection.

  • LH

    G.D.: It’s you who are making the connection between weakness and women or at the very least, telling me that I am.

    Or is your implication that ‘women’ and ‘weakness’ are [understood to be] synonymous?

  • okay, buddy.

    (you’re joking right?)

  • Big Word

    Sexual dimorphism is a bitch.

  • LH

    The second sentence was ‘said’ with tongue firmly implanted in cheek, yes.

    But the first one? I’m dead ass.

  • 2 Months ago, Id be a little uncomfortable about the whole HRC=bitch thing. Tonight? notsomuch. WHen this is all over…I will wish I hadnt enjoyed this video so much.

    Id feel better if they had used the radio edit.

    No. I really dont care. and I wish I did.

  • ladyboss09

    um… i ABHOR that song. in this case, i’m not sure what makes the clip video cool.

  • L.H: could we then assume that ‘pussy’ isn’t genderized either if you were using it to describe someone who was whiny and weak?

    ‘stop being a pussy, dude!’

    or is ‘bitch’ just genderized when anyone but you uses it?

  • LH

    G.D.: The word ‘pussy’ *is* inherently genderised … because it’s a slang term that describes something unique to females. ‘Bitch’ isn’t.

    I think that might be mate right there, fam.

  • G.D: Oh, I get it. You’re feigning ignorance.

  • LH

    LH: Did you intend to address that comment to yourself?

  • LH: Nope. My bust. Fixed.

  • LH

    G.D.: I’m really not feigning ignorance nor am I being disingenuous with you. I truly don’t see the word ‘bitch’ as gender specific. I understand that some people do and that they use the term accordingly, but I don’t and I know I’m not the only one.

  • misc1982

    LH: You know seeing it doesn’t make it any less so. But I suppose you’re entitled to your perspective…however narrow.

  • misc1982

    oops. I meant you *not* seeing it.

  • LH

    misc1982: Just as you seeing it doesn’t make it any more so, nor does it make your perspective any more broad.

    I’ve allowed that other people can and do use the term as G.D. described but think it’s arrogant for anyone to tell me that the way I use it necessarily runs along those lines, especially after I’ve reiterated that it does not.

  • LH: again: it’s gendered when everyone but you uses it?

  • quadmoniker

    L.H.
    There’s just no way to separate bitch from its gendered usage. You are able to use it to mean weakness because it’s associatied with women, and woman are associated with weakness. That may not be what you are consciously thinking, but those are the symbols you’re wielding.

    Try to flip it: when was the last time you used the word ‘dick’ to mean weak, and the people to whom you were speaking understood what you meant. People use dicks in ways that no longer literally refer to the male anatomy, but they tend to use it to describe someone whose a jerk, or someone who’s jerking around. That stems from our association with overly aggressive behavior in males. You just couldn’t say, “that’s dick,” and mean that’s bitch, and it’s because those terms are inherently gendered.

  • LH

    G.D.: You simply cannot be serious. You’re going to presume to speak for ‘everyone’ whilst at the same time rejecting what *I’m* telling you about what *I* said? Beyond that, you’re the one who decreed that the word is inherently genderised. I never agreed to that. What I said is that when *I* use the word ‘bitch’ it’s gender nuetral.

    When you talk to ‘everyone’ who uses the term let me know. In the interim you can either take *my* word about how *I* use and interpret the term or you can continue speaking on behalf of everyone–including me.

  • LH

    quadmoniker: Like G.D. before you, you’re associating weakness with women and then superimposing that association on my statement. That speaks to *your* perception of women, not mine.

    As for flipping it, let’s not. Rather, let’s:

    a) stick with the word I used;
    b) take me at my word that I know how I used the term.

  • LH: Fam, listening to what you’re saying. You’re using a word who’s very definition has a gendered component — it is inherently and immutably gendered — and saying that that component doesn’t exist when you use it.

    I can’t be serious? You’re taking a word with a history and baggage and saying that none of that matters when *you* use it, that you’re use of it exists in a vacuum.

  • LH

    G.D.: What I am telling you is that I use the word to refer to weakness and weaklings in a gender nuetral way.

  • lol. okay, fam.

  • quadmoniker

    L.H.,
    Maybe, at this point, is where we agree to forever disagree. What G.D. and I are saying is that there’s no way for it to be gender neutral. The word cannot possibly mean what YOU believe it to mean when you use it without its history. You can’t separate it. Part of a word’s meaning comes from your intent; the rest of it comes from the way it’s understood, which includes its historical context, by everyone who hears it.

  • LH

    quadmoniker: And never the Twain shall meet.