Sexist language today

If you’re the average college student, you’re no stranger to the art of cursing. Foul language flows like water on this campus. Why shouldn’t it?

Four-letter exclamations should pepper our speech. They make language more interesting and let us express frustration or joy. I would never preach Sunday School morality about cursing or warn you that cursing is the last refuge of the ignorant mind.

I love expletives as much as the next undergraduate. Maybe even more than the average student. There are plenty of times when the majority of my speech is foul, especially immediately before and after exams.

I was raised by a woman who cursed like a sailor, and I dare say I learned from the best. But last summer, my roommate and I made a pact: we were no longer going to use the word “bitch.”

We made this decision because that word, unlike most of the other baseline curse words, is inexcusably misogynist. I’m sure that plenty of apologists will furiously proclaim that the word refers to a female dog and isn’t sexist at all, but that explanation is flimsy at best.

As a culture, we’re a long time removed from the word having anything to do with canine anatomy. Instead, the word now refers to two very damaging stereotypes, one about women and one about men.

When used to describe a woman, the word means that she’s cold, cruel, and catty. Or maybe she’s vindictive, demanding, and back-stabbing. When used as a verb, the word references the image of the complaining woman who is never satisfied.

Again, the apologists will shout that the word can be used to describe these traits in men as well. But it isn’t. One of the double standards we’re all familiar with is the assertive career woman who gets labeled a bitch for behaving in the same way as her male colleagues.

It’s simply dishonest to pretend that women and men are treated the same or that the word means the same thing, regardless of context. When the word is used to describe a man, it’s a label that he isn’t sufficiently masculine. He’s either a submissive wimp or a cringing coward.

Worse, in the eyes of our misogynist culture, he’s being compared to a woman. This is the ultimate insult in a society that continually oppresses women and sets them apart as subservient to men.

Often, the specter of sexual assault in the prison system is invoked by the phrase “my bitch.” What could be more reprehensible than making a mockery of the anguish of real victims of sexual assault in order to score cheap laughs in a conversation?

These are the reasons that my roommate and I set out to purge the word from our vocabularies. We could no longer ignore the real social problems reflected in how casually and frequently the word is used.

Every time the word is used, it only strengthens harmful stereotypes about women, men, and the relations between the two. I implore you to do the same. At the very least, the next time someone uses the word around you, stop and think about what they really mean.

­— atcrane@indiana.edu