You Bitch!

Sorry guys for the delay. We were undergoing some maintenance issues, but we are back on board! And bitchy week is here. And maybe extended, depending how much in depth we go in.
So lets begin with the topic at hand...The infamous usage of the word bitch!
Now where should we begin?
The definition, history, evolution...Given there is so much information, I decided to break this topic into segments, because not only I want to express opinions, but lets share some knowledge. Today we will explore the history of the word bitch...

The term bitch is derived from the word, bicche or bicce, meaning female in the dog family. This dates back to 1000 AD, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Eventually around the 14th century, the term evolved to describe a woman with lewd or sexual practices, so in other words, what we call a whore today. At this time, this was considered the ultimate insult to a woman. In other words, everyone agrees the term bitch is always coined to describe a female.

Now there isn't an exact date when the term was "claimed" by women. However, its safe to assume it occurred during the second wave of feminist movement in the late 1960s. Now this reappropriation of a word has occurred to different terms as well. Examples would include queer, and the infamous N word. There are ongoing heated debates about who can use them, and in what context. The point of reappropriation is changing the word that once was used as an insult and reclaim, or re-appropriate its use, but in the opposite context. With the word, bitch, in this case, was used as an insult towards women, so during the feminist movement, women reclaimed the word, to mean its modern form of usage, which is a strong, aggressive, assertive woman. 
An excerpt from the Bitch Manifesto by Joreen Freeman..."Bitches prefer to plan their own lives rather from live day to day, action to action, person to person. They are independent cusses and believe they are capable of doing anything they damn well want to. If something gets in their way; well thats why they become Bitches."
Pop culture has seized the word, and now its everywhere to mean everything. You can hear the word Bitch on songs, tv shows, and etc. It has become integrated to our everyday language. What I want to explore, has it lost its meaning? Or did women actually "reclaim" the word? And can men call women bitches?
More to come...told you we were going in on this one.

xOxO,
Jen