1
00:00:10,031 --> 00:00:13,659
Welcome, bitches,
to the History of Swear Words.

2
00:00:15,161 --> 00:00:18,497
It felt kinda weird
saying that word, "bitch,"

3
00:00:18,581 --> 00:00:21,042
since I aspire to be the utmost gentleman.

4
00:00:22,168 --> 00:00:25,087
Thankfully, there are
so many ways to say the b-word

5
00:00:25,171 --> 00:00:27,631
without directly insulting a woman.

6
00:00:28,215 --> 00:00:29,675
For instance, I could say,

7
00:00:29,759 --> 00:00:32,636
"I know we all like to bitch
and moan about air travel.

8
00:00:32,720 --> 00:00:36,057
But if you think about it,
airplanes are totally bitchin'!"

9
00:00:36,140 --> 00:00:37,349
-Fly!
-I can't!

10
00:00:37,433 --> 00:00:38,434
[gunfire]

11
00:00:39,143 --> 00:00:40,061
Fly, bitch!

12
00:00:41,729 --> 00:00:46,609
[sighing] Still, we can't deny
that the b-word holds great power,

13
00:00:46,692 --> 00:00:49,862
and with it comes great responsibility.

14
00:00:52,615 --> 00:00:53,657
"Bitch" is a slur.

15
00:00:53,741 --> 00:00:57,536
I said, "Biiiiitch!
I'm the man of the house."

16
00:00:57,620 --> 00:01:00,039
It's used of women
because they're uncontrollable,

17
00:01:00,122 --> 00:01:01,874
they're too loud, they're too opinionated.

18
00:01:01,957 --> 00:01:03,626
No one's ever
called me a bitch to my face.

19
00:01:03,709 --> 00:01:05,086
You bitch!

20
00:01:05,169 --> 00:01:06,295
Probably behind my back.

21
00:01:06,378 --> 00:01:10,216
I think it can be a really hurtful,
misogynistic, damaging word.

22
00:01:10,800 --> 00:01:12,176
You called your wife a bitch?

23
00:01:12,259 --> 00:01:13,761
[woman] Darryl? Where are those guys?

24
00:01:13,844 --> 00:01:17,723
I would advise any straight man
to never call a woman a bitch.

25
00:01:17,807 --> 00:01:20,226
I don't use that word. I say "the b-word."

26
00:01:20,309 --> 00:01:22,978
It's a way to disempower,
but it's also a way to empower.

27
00:01:23,062 --> 00:01:27,358
Yeah, I call myself a bitch.
My female friends can call me a bitch.

28
00:01:27,441 --> 00:01:30,277
Even my grandma
can call me a bitch, if she wants to.

29
00:01:30,361 --> 00:01:32,613
But if a guy calls me a bitch,

30
00:01:32,696 --> 00:01:34,865
I'mma burn his motherfucking house down.

31
00:01:36,325 --> 00:01:39,411
Join me on a journey
as we explore the word,

32
00:01:40,037 --> 00:01:42,706
its origin and its impact.

33
00:01:48,712 --> 00:01:49,672
[bleep]

34
00:01:49,755 --> 00:01:50,881
[cat meows]

35
00:01:54,135 --> 00:01:55,177
[Nicolas] "Bitch."

36
00:01:55,761 --> 00:01:59,932
It can be sexist, racist,
empowering, offensive, funny.

37
00:02:00,015 --> 00:02:02,017
This word does it all.

38
00:02:02,101 --> 00:02:03,853
[typing]

39
00:02:04,770 --> 00:02:08,607
People use the word "bitch" nowadays
for a bunch of different reasons.

40
00:02:08,691 --> 00:02:11,193
It's used still as a slur against women.

41
00:02:11,277 --> 00:02:13,070
So it's used to denigrate women.

42
00:02:13,154 --> 00:02:15,239
You goddamn bitch!

43
00:02:15,322 --> 00:02:18,200
It's used to bring women down to size.

44
00:02:18,284 --> 00:02:20,995
She wants to be some
immature little bitch and blow everybody.

45
00:02:21,078 --> 00:02:25,457
It's still used to refer
to a malicious or domineering woman.

46
00:02:25,541 --> 00:02:29,545
What kind of cold, heartless bitch
would do that to someone they love?

47
00:02:29,628 --> 00:02:32,464
My name's Mireille Miller-Young,
and I'm a professor

48
00:02:32,548 --> 00:02:35,342
of feminist studies at UC Santa Barbara.

49
00:02:35,426 --> 00:02:39,680
And my specialty is sexuality and race.

50
00:02:39,763 --> 00:02:42,474
"Bitch" is used
to really disempower women.

51
00:02:42,558 --> 00:02:46,020
When you say someone's a bitch,
you're trying to take their power away,

52
00:02:46,103 --> 00:02:48,230
and their voice away,
trying to make them shut up.

53
00:02:48,314 --> 00:02:52,693
Women hate to be called "bitch"
because it is just so dismissive.

54
00:02:52,776 --> 00:02:57,198
And it's actually punishing us
for speaking up for ourselves.

55
00:02:57,281 --> 00:03:02,870
If a woman is addressed as a bitch,
that's obviously defamatory.

56
00:03:02,953 --> 00:03:04,413
When addressed to a male…

57
00:03:04,496 --> 00:03:07,583
You're a filthy bitch
and I bust your balls.

58
00:03:07,666 --> 00:03:10,419
…it is defaming that male.

59
00:03:10,502 --> 00:03:12,755
"You are bad.
But also, the way that you're bad

60
00:03:12,838 --> 00:03:15,007
is in a way that is female-like."

61
00:03:15,090 --> 00:03:19,386
So it's insulting the male
and it's insulting women in general.

62
00:03:19,470 --> 00:03:22,681
Because to be female is to be bad.

63
00:03:23,515 --> 00:03:28,187
So, basically, it's a shotgun word.
It hits everyone.

64
00:03:29,772 --> 00:03:32,274
When you hear the word "bitch,"

65
00:03:32,358 --> 00:03:33,651
what comes to mind?

66
00:03:35,402 --> 00:03:39,490
Okay, maybe don't say her name out loud.
And hey, maybe it's not even a woman.

67
00:03:39,573 --> 00:03:43,869
Men can be bitches too,
when we want to emasculate them.

68
00:03:43,953 --> 00:03:45,579
But how did this word become

69
00:03:45,663 --> 00:03:49,500
the English language's
most frequent gendered insult?

70
00:03:49,583 --> 00:03:51,335
[typing]

71
00:03:51,835 --> 00:03:53,254
[Kory] "Bitch" is a really old word.

72
00:03:53,337 --> 00:03:57,716
It was first used around 1000 A.D.
So it's about a thousand years old.

73
00:03:57,800 --> 00:04:03,264
It comes from an Old English word,
"bicce," which means the female dog.

74
00:04:03,347 --> 00:04:05,432
There was a time
when we were all growing up,

75
00:04:05,516 --> 00:04:08,143
when we would go around and,
any time we'd meet a lady dog,

76
00:04:08,227 --> 00:04:09,895
we'd be like, "Look at that bitch."

77
00:04:09,979 --> 00:04:12,106
And be like,
"You can't send me to jail for that!

78
00:04:12,189 --> 00:04:13,899
That's just the meaning of the word!"

79
00:04:13,983 --> 00:04:15,109
I like dogs.

80
00:04:15,192 --> 00:04:18,237
[laughing]
So it doesn't bother me. "Bitch" is fine.

81
00:04:18,320 --> 00:04:19,488
My dog's a bitch.

82
00:04:20,030 --> 00:04:23,409
Literally. It's a female dog.
But I never call her that.

83
00:04:23,951 --> 00:04:24,994
Um…

84
00:04:25,661 --> 00:04:26,745
I call her a cunt.

85
00:04:27,246 --> 00:04:29,999
[Nicolas] However,
the evolution from dog to woman

86
00:04:30,082 --> 00:04:33,752
is just the beginning
of this, uh, complex story.

87
00:04:34,253 --> 00:04:37,423
In the history of "bitch,"
we think that it largely

88
00:04:37,506 --> 00:04:40,050
was transported from dogs to humans

89
00:04:40,718 --> 00:04:43,595
through the idea of dogs in heat.

90
00:04:43,679 --> 00:04:46,557
You really start seeing it
taking on a new meaning

91
00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:48,559
around 1400s.

92
00:04:48,642 --> 00:04:51,520
That sense of a dog in heat,

93
00:04:51,603 --> 00:04:55,733
you add in wordplay,
you add in sort of this in-joke,

94
00:04:55,816 --> 00:05:00,029
and it's really easy to…
to see then how "bitch" gets applied

95
00:05:00,112 --> 00:05:02,698
to women that are thought
to be lewd or immoral

96
00:05:02,781 --> 00:05:04,491
or who want sex too much.

97
00:05:04,575 --> 00:05:08,329
And from there, it grows
and gains this other meaning

98
00:05:08,412 --> 00:05:11,457
to refer to a woman who is uncontrollable,

99
00:05:11,540 --> 00:05:15,002
too loud, too forceful, too opinionated.

100
00:05:15,085 --> 00:05:17,629
So "bitch" does spike in use

101
00:05:17,713 --> 00:05:20,883
through the suffrage movement
during the 20th century,

102
00:05:20,966 --> 00:05:23,677
and then later
during second-wave feminism.

103
00:05:23,761 --> 00:05:27,264
So through the '60s and '70s,
you see this huge bump.

104
00:05:27,348 --> 00:05:32,061
And you do see the word "bitch"
applied specifically to feminists

105
00:05:32,144 --> 00:05:35,356
because it's like, "You said
it's fine for us to call you bitches."

106
00:05:36,315 --> 00:05:39,777
Over time, the definition of "bitch"

107
00:05:39,860 --> 00:05:43,572
expanded to include
basically any woman we don't like.

108
00:05:44,156 --> 00:05:45,366
A sexist slur.

109
00:05:45,449 --> 00:05:47,159
[typing]

110
00:05:48,452 --> 00:05:51,163
It's not that complicated
to avoid being called a bitch.

111
00:05:51,246 --> 00:05:55,709
All you have to do is…
Well, don't… smile, don't… talk.

112
00:05:55,793 --> 00:05:59,296
Don't be too pretty. Don't ask
for a manager at a restaurant.

113
00:05:59,380 --> 00:06:00,839
Don't turn a guy down.

114
00:06:00,923 --> 00:06:03,008
Don't walk down the street
with confidence.

115
00:06:03,092 --> 00:06:05,594
Don't hold a job.
Don't stay at home with your kids.

116
00:06:05,677 --> 00:06:08,263
Don't be loud. Don't be quiet.

117
00:06:08,347 --> 00:06:11,392
Don't be mean.
Don't stand up for yourself.

118
00:06:11,475 --> 00:06:13,811
Be a congresswoman.
Don't be a congresswoman.

119
00:06:13,894 --> 00:06:15,521
Don't stand up.

120
00:06:15,604 --> 00:06:17,189
Don't sit down.

121
00:06:17,272 --> 00:06:19,691
Don't drive. Don't frown. Am I a poet?

122
00:06:19,775 --> 00:06:21,902
[laughs]

123
00:06:22,903 --> 00:06:23,904
"Bitch.

124
00:06:24,613 --> 00:06:25,823
A female dog."

125
00:06:26,990 --> 00:06:31,453
No mention of how 99.99%
of the people use the word.

126
00:06:31,537 --> 00:06:35,290
I mean, what year is this from?
1885? No. It's from 2015.

127
00:06:35,374 --> 00:06:36,208
That's right.

128
00:06:36,291 --> 00:06:40,963
The Merriam-Webster dictionary
didn't label the word "bitch" offensive

129
00:06:41,046 --> 00:06:43,924
until the same year
it added the word "twerk."

130
00:06:45,467 --> 00:06:48,971
The job of every lexicographer
isn't just to enter new words.

131
00:06:49,054 --> 00:06:52,558
It's to also to make sure that words
that are already in the dictionary

132
00:06:53,100 --> 00:06:56,019
have as many meanings
as we currently use them with.

133
00:06:56,103 --> 00:06:59,648
When I was working at Merriam-Webster,
I noticed that the entry for "bitch"

134
00:06:59,731 --> 00:07:02,943
in one of our dictionaries had no labels.

135
00:07:03,026 --> 00:07:05,028
It just said that the word "bitch"

136
00:07:05,112 --> 00:07:08,824
meant "a female dog"
and "a domineering woman."

137
00:07:09,324 --> 00:07:11,869
So it didn't say that "bitch"
was an offensive word.

138
00:07:11,952 --> 00:07:16,457
It didn't say that it was
a disapproving or disparaging word.

139
00:07:16,540 --> 00:07:20,878
So that really is kind of what sent me
down the rabbit hole of… of "bitch,"

140
00:07:20,961 --> 00:07:25,841
and how did it end up
not having a label in the dictionary?

141
00:07:25,924 --> 00:07:27,468
It now does. I put one in.

142
00:07:29,678 --> 00:07:33,724
It was high time the dictionary
recognized "bitch" for its true meaning.

143
00:07:34,224 --> 00:07:35,434
For over a thousand years,

144
00:07:35,517 --> 00:07:38,145
we've been using it
to bitch about humans we don't like.

145
00:07:39,062 --> 00:07:42,149
So, let's honor and remember
some of our…

146
00:07:42,232 --> 00:07:45,694
♪ Bygone bitches! ♪

147
00:07:46,612 --> 00:07:50,240
Nefertiti, queen of Kemet.
14th century B.C.

148
00:07:50,324 --> 00:07:52,034
Famous queen bitch.

149
00:07:52,117 --> 00:07:55,204
Known as one of the most despised women
in human history.

150
00:07:55,913 --> 00:07:58,373
Elizabeth Báthory. Famous crazy bitch.

151
00:07:58,457 --> 00:08:00,250
A real Hungarian noblewoman

152
00:08:00,334 --> 00:08:03,587
who killed more people
than Bram Stoker's fictional Dracula.

153
00:08:04,171 --> 00:08:05,964
But you don't see her bragging about it.

154
00:08:06,548 --> 00:08:07,424
Lizzie Borden.

155
00:08:07,508 --> 00:08:09,885
Famous axe-murdering bitch
who was acquitted.

156
00:08:10,469 --> 00:08:11,970
That's kinda bitchin'.

157
00:08:12,471 --> 00:08:13,680
Anna Wintour.

158
00:08:13,764 --> 00:08:16,934
Legendary editor of Vogue.
Ice-cold bitch.

159
00:08:19,937 --> 00:08:22,356
[Kory] "Bitch" is one of the few slurs

160
00:08:22,439 --> 00:08:24,566
that is undergoing
the process of reclamation.

161
00:08:24,650 --> 00:08:28,195
Reclaiming of language
seeks to empower women

162
00:08:28,278 --> 00:08:32,157
through their experiences
of repression and discrimination.

163
00:08:32,241 --> 00:08:37,412
My friends are allowed to call me a bitch,
if they do it in, like, a loving way.

164
00:08:37,496 --> 00:08:41,959
If I got, like, a promotion or something,
and someone's like, "This bitch, yay!"

165
00:08:42,042 --> 00:08:47,965
I remember the first time I called
a group of women "bitches" from the stage.

166
00:08:48,048 --> 00:08:51,176
Someone told me,
"Just call them bitches. They'll love it."

167
00:08:51,260 --> 00:08:54,721
And I was like, "No, they won't."
And they did.

168
00:08:54,805 --> 00:08:56,056
"Yo, my bitches."

169
00:08:56,139 --> 00:08:57,808
"Yeah. Bitches, make some noise!"

170
00:08:58,392 --> 00:09:00,852
I know that when I was finding
my sense of feminism,

171
00:09:00,936 --> 00:09:03,272
I was like, "I'll never use
the word 'bitch' again,

172
00:09:03,355 --> 00:09:07,442
and I'll never let anyone use
the word 'bitch' or call someone a bitch."

173
00:09:07,526 --> 00:09:10,153
Um, and now
it's one of the words I use most.

174
00:09:10,237 --> 00:09:14,992
[London] It's powerful, it's feminist,
it's sexy, it's quick, it's snappy.

175
00:09:15,075 --> 00:09:17,828
You can put things before and after it
to make it better or worse.

176
00:09:17,911 --> 00:09:20,455
We need "bitch."
It's so important to the English language.

177
00:09:20,539 --> 00:09:21,540
Don't get rid of "bitch."

178
00:09:21,623 --> 00:09:22,916
You call yourself a bitch…

179
00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:24,501
-I'm a bitch.
-I'm a bad bitch.

180
00:09:24,585 --> 00:09:25,419
I am a bitch.

181
00:09:25,502 --> 00:09:28,797
…people who see you
and hear you will think,

182
00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:30,882
"I guess it's not
such a bad word after all."

183
00:09:30,966 --> 00:09:34,303
You don't get called a bitch as a woman
unless you're making a man realize

184
00:09:34,386 --> 00:09:36,013
that he's a little bitch.

185
00:09:36,096 --> 00:09:38,140
You are such a bitch.

186
00:09:38,223 --> 00:09:42,853
I think that
there's a certain weird magic to slurs,

187
00:09:43,437 --> 00:09:47,399
that make it so that
only people in that targeted group

188
00:09:47,482 --> 00:09:50,444
have the right to play with it
and try to make it into something else.

189
00:09:51,987 --> 00:09:54,865
"Bitch" has seen a little bit of uneven,

190
00:09:54,948 --> 00:09:57,909
not-quite-negative use
in the 20th century.

191
00:09:57,993 --> 00:10:02,789
Ernest Hemingway used it of his mom
to refer to her strength.

192
00:10:02,873 --> 00:10:07,336
For Hemingway, "bitch" was a way
of separating men from the women.

193
00:10:07,419 --> 00:10:12,299
Sort of say, "Men are these people,
and women can be bitches."

194
00:10:12,382 --> 00:10:16,094
But it can also be that combination
of the… the sacred and profane.

195
00:10:16,178 --> 00:10:17,471
It could be a bitch goddess.

196
00:10:17,554 --> 00:10:20,599
It became almost a proprietary thing
for him,

197
00:10:20,682 --> 00:10:24,227
and he would use it
as his way of acknowledging your presence,

198
00:10:24,311 --> 00:10:27,356
that you had power,
that you inflamed him in some way.

199
00:10:27,439 --> 00:10:28,607
A bitch is a bitch.

200
00:10:28,690 --> 00:10:32,069
He was so attached to the idea of

201
00:10:32,152 --> 00:10:36,031
giving the ascendancy to the ideal
of American masculinity,

202
00:10:36,114 --> 00:10:38,408
that nothing else
could live up to it, I mean--

203
00:10:38,492 --> 00:10:42,663
And by that,
white male American masculinity.

204
00:10:42,746 --> 00:10:45,624
So anything else was,
at best, second-rate.

205
00:10:45,707 --> 00:10:48,251
If you were lucky,
you were a bitch goddess.

206
00:10:48,335 --> 00:10:51,421
"Bitch" got paired with "goddess,"
so you would see "bitch goddess" used

207
00:10:51,505 --> 00:10:54,174
to refer to anything changeable
and uncontrollable.

208
00:10:54,257 --> 00:10:56,843
Um, Fate was often called a bitch goddess.

209
00:10:56,927 --> 00:11:02,641
But these uses were also done by men.
By the people who use "bitch" as a slur.

210
00:11:02,724 --> 00:11:04,685
So it's not really reclamation.

211
00:11:04,768 --> 00:11:08,647
It is setting up a usage pattern
that reclamation can go off of.

212
00:11:08,730 --> 00:11:12,150
[Nicolas] Some of the earliest examples
of women empowering themselves

213
00:11:12,234 --> 00:11:14,736
using the word "bitch" was in music.

214
00:11:14,820 --> 00:11:16,947
Curse words are something
that we've been using

215
00:11:17,030 --> 00:11:18,990
in the Black community for generations.

216
00:11:19,074 --> 00:11:21,952
In street corners, in the jazz clubs.

217
00:11:22,035 --> 00:11:24,621
I mean, even going back
to, like, the '20s and '30s,

218
00:11:24,705 --> 00:11:27,666
it was a sanctuary where people
could say what they wanted to say.

219
00:11:27,749 --> 00:11:30,043
And part of people saying
what they wanted to say

220
00:11:30,127 --> 00:11:34,548
was women using the "bitch" word
and really embracing their sexuality.

221
00:11:35,048 --> 00:11:37,175
And a great example of that
is Lucille Bogan.

222
00:11:37,259 --> 00:11:40,303
♪ They know I'm a bitch from Baltimore ♪

223
00:11:40,387 --> 00:11:42,055
Anybody who's a real blues fan

224
00:11:42,139 --> 00:11:44,725
knows who she is
and has sung some of her songs.

225
00:11:44,808 --> 00:11:48,311
In fact, the last line
of The Rolling Stones' song "Start Me Up,"

226
00:11:48,395 --> 00:11:49,896
"You make a dead man come,"

227
00:11:49,980 --> 00:11:53,608
is a tribute to Lucille Bogan's song
"When the Cows Come Home."

228
00:11:53,692 --> 00:11:58,739
♪ You can fuck my cock or suck my cock
Baby, until the cows come home ♪

229
00:11:58,822 --> 00:12:01,199
You actually felt like you wanted
to have a cigarette

230
00:12:01,283 --> 00:12:03,076
after you heard a Lucille Bogan song.

231
00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,788
I mean, she completely owned who she was,

232
00:12:06,872 --> 00:12:09,791
let you know who she was,
let you know what she could do.

233
00:12:09,875 --> 00:12:14,129
♪ If you suck my pussy, baby
I'll suck your dick ♪

234
00:12:14,212 --> 00:12:16,173
-♪ I'll do it to you, honey ♪
-[laughing]

235
00:12:16,256 --> 00:12:18,508
-♪ Till I make you shit ♪
-Oh!

236
00:12:18,592 --> 00:12:20,218
-What year is this from?
-♪ Oh, baby ♪

237
00:12:20,302 --> 00:12:23,221
This is like listening
to my grandma do porn.

238
00:12:23,305 --> 00:12:25,682
This would make Cardi B blush!

239
00:12:25,766 --> 00:12:27,350
If "bitch" meant promiscuous,

240
00:12:27,434 --> 00:12:29,227
-this lady was a bitch!
-♪ Do it to me, Papa ♪

241
00:12:29,311 --> 00:12:31,688
♪ Break me in until tomorrow come ♪

242
00:12:34,441 --> 00:12:36,526
"Bitch" really begins this reclamation

243
00:12:36,610 --> 00:12:38,987
in earnest in the 1960s.

244
00:12:39,070 --> 00:12:43,909
So, 1968, Jo Freeman publishes
The Bitch Manifesto,

245
00:12:43,992 --> 00:12:49,039
about what it means to be a bitch
and what it means to live into bitchhood.

246
00:12:49,122 --> 00:12:51,666
What you start seeing in the '90s
and in the 2000s

247
00:12:51,750 --> 00:12:56,880
is "bitch" being used positively
in TV and in music.

248
00:12:57,631 --> 00:13:00,675
Meredith Brooks' song "Bitch"

249
00:13:00,759 --> 00:13:02,886
was, like, so exciting.

250
00:13:02,969 --> 00:13:05,806
"I'm a bitch, I'm a lover,
I'm a child, I'm a mother,

251
00:13:05,889 --> 00:13:07,724
I'm a sinner, I'm a saint,

252
00:13:07,808 --> 00:13:11,228
I'm your hell, I'm your dream,
I'm nothing in between."

253
00:13:11,311 --> 00:13:12,938
"Bitch" is an intelligent song.

254
00:13:13,021 --> 00:13:15,565
It's not something
I would have written when I was 19.

255
00:13:15,649 --> 00:13:18,777
You got to say the word
and your parents couldn't get mad,

256
00:13:18,860 --> 00:13:20,987
"'Cause it's in the song, Mom and Dad!"

257
00:13:21,071 --> 00:13:22,697
If you don't wanna be called a bitch,

258
00:13:22,781 --> 00:13:26,368
definitely don't listen
to rap or rock from the '90s.

259
00:13:26,451 --> 00:13:31,206
The majority of rap music
in the '90s on through the 2000s

260
00:13:31,289 --> 00:13:32,582
was really male-oriented.

261
00:13:32,666 --> 00:13:36,670
I think hip-hop gets way too much lenience

262
00:13:36,753 --> 00:13:39,005
when it comes
to using that kind of language.

263
00:13:39,089 --> 00:13:41,967
Any song with Snoop Dogg,
any song with Tupac.

264
00:13:42,050 --> 00:13:43,343
"Smack my bitch up…"

265
00:13:43,426 --> 00:13:46,638
[laughs] Why did I think of that one?
That one's brutal.

266
00:13:47,222 --> 00:13:51,017
I don't… I don't condone that song!
It's a horrible song, it's a bad song!

267
00:13:51,101 --> 00:13:55,188
Men use the word "bitch"
to kind of claim their power over women.

268
00:13:55,272 --> 00:13:58,108
And, in that way, it's often misogynistic.

269
00:13:58,191 --> 00:14:01,236
A lot of hip-hop lyrics
can really be demeaning.

270
00:14:01,319 --> 00:14:05,448
You know, the b-word, uh… at times,
is definitely, you know, demeaning.

271
00:14:05,532 --> 00:14:09,703
I feel like people who normally
would not allow that type of talk

272
00:14:09,786 --> 00:14:13,582
in… in any other media
or any other kind of conversation

273
00:14:14,165 --> 00:14:15,709
are okay with it in hip-hop.

274
00:14:15,792 --> 00:14:18,795
That okayness makes me uncomfortable
in some ways.

275
00:14:18,879 --> 00:14:23,300
Because I wonder if there's not
some underlying racism to that okayness.

276
00:14:23,383 --> 00:14:26,344
I'm definitely not, you know,
the type of guy that demeans women.

277
00:14:26,428 --> 00:14:29,472
And I think that sometimes
you just need to chalk it up as hip-hop.

278
00:14:29,556 --> 00:14:33,476
I think it's something that I'd…
I'd like to challenge people not to do.

279
00:14:33,560 --> 00:14:36,062
Women pretty early on in hip-hop…

280
00:14:36,771 --> 00:14:38,315
stake the claim for themselves.

281
00:14:38,398 --> 00:14:43,528
There's a call to reclaim "bitch"
among feminist rap in the mid '90s.

282
00:14:43,612 --> 00:14:45,780
That sort of pushes it forward.

283
00:14:45,864 --> 00:14:49,659
Earliest memory of "bitch" is,
of course, Queen Latifah's "U.N.I.T.Y."

284
00:14:49,743 --> 00:14:52,579
She has this really strong lyric
that just says,

285
00:14:52,662 --> 00:14:54,247
"Who you callin' a bitch?"

286
00:14:54,331 --> 00:14:57,584
I'm like, "Yeah." I was so young,
but I'm like, "That ain't right."

287
00:14:57,667 --> 00:15:03,048
Since Queen Latifah through the present,
we see the use of "bitch" evolve.

288
00:15:03,131 --> 00:15:06,301
I honestly like when someone
who's angry with me calls me a bitch

289
00:15:06,384 --> 00:15:09,137
because it means I stood up for myself.

290
00:15:09,220 --> 00:15:13,683
♪ Took a DNA test, turns out
I'm 100% that bitch ♪

291
00:15:13,767 --> 00:15:16,645
Lizzo says she's "100% that bitch."

292
00:15:16,728 --> 00:15:19,648
If she said she was 100% a bitch,
that would be a negative thing,

293
00:15:19,731 --> 00:15:23,026
because being a bitch is bad,
but being that bitch is good.

294
00:15:23,109 --> 00:15:25,403
Okay, so my DNA test
for that bitch came back,

295
00:15:25,487 --> 00:15:29,074
and I am 92% that bitch,

296
00:15:29,157 --> 00:15:32,410
and I am eight percent empathetic,
nice, and caring,

297
00:15:32,494 --> 00:15:35,163
and sweet, and so charming.

298
00:15:35,246 --> 00:15:39,250
I am 50% that bitch. That's great.

299
00:15:39,334 --> 00:15:42,462
I am 30% some whore.

300
00:15:43,046 --> 00:15:46,049
And 20% Cherokee.

301
00:15:46,633 --> 00:15:49,803
Oh, my God, I had no idea! Fun!

302
00:15:51,304 --> 00:15:54,349
The reclamation of the word
also happens for gay men,

303
00:15:54,432 --> 00:15:57,227
who take a word
traditionally used to hurt them

304
00:15:57,310 --> 00:16:01,398
and turn it into a way of fostering
community and friendship.

305
00:16:02,482 --> 00:16:05,026
I was called a bitch growing up so much.

306
00:16:05,110 --> 00:16:09,948
It was a workaround for a lot of people
who didn't want to call me a faggot.

307
00:16:10,031 --> 00:16:11,908
In the homosexual male community,

308
00:16:11,992 --> 00:16:15,161
in… over the last 40 years,
it's taken on a special status

309
00:16:15,245 --> 00:16:19,207
where it's a joking term of affection
for another homosexual male.

310
00:16:19,290 --> 00:16:22,085
It is… sort of like, "I recognize you."

311
00:16:22,168 --> 00:16:26,089
Like, "We had the same, like, shit
growing up together.

312
00:16:26,172 --> 00:16:28,591
You were called a bitch
like I was called a bitch."

313
00:16:28,675 --> 00:16:30,260
In terms of my gay friends,

314
00:16:30,343 --> 00:16:33,638
a lot of these are gay men
who absolutely worship women,

315
00:16:33,722 --> 00:16:35,932
and, like, all their idols are women.

316
00:16:36,016 --> 00:16:39,811
All of my best friends are bitches. Like,
"Hey, bitch, you did an amazing job."

317
00:16:39,894 --> 00:16:44,065
"Bitch, your workplace is elevated
because you show up every day, bitch."

318
00:16:44,149 --> 00:16:47,485
There's nothing better
than a gay man calling you a bitch.

319
00:16:47,569 --> 00:16:50,196
The word "bitch" has been
on an interesting journey

320
00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:52,073
as feminism has progressed.

321
00:16:52,157 --> 00:16:56,244
There's, like, you know, internal debate
of how it can be reclaimed.

322
00:16:56,327 --> 00:16:59,622
I have a boy and a girl,
and they both use "bitch" all the time.

323
00:16:59,706 --> 00:17:02,667
Like, "Bitch!" And it's just
what they call their friends.

324
00:17:02,751 --> 00:17:06,504
For me, it's still a bad word,
and something you don't call women.

325
00:17:06,588 --> 00:17:09,049
It does disturb an older generation

326
00:17:09,132 --> 00:17:12,635
that feels that
they had to fight for respect,

327
00:17:12,719 --> 00:17:15,764
and that there's something
ultimately disrespectful

328
00:17:15,847 --> 00:17:16,973
about the word "bitch."

329
00:17:17,057 --> 00:17:20,351
I don't think we can ever fully reclaim
the word "bitch," unfortunately,

330
00:17:20,435 --> 00:17:22,228
because it's a man's world.

331
00:17:22,312 --> 00:17:23,855
We may think we've reclaimed it,

332
00:17:23,938 --> 00:17:27,734
but then they'll have a little man group
and say it to their friends.

333
00:17:27,817 --> 00:17:32,697
But people like Lizzo and myself are doing
their best to make it sound good. [laughs]

334
00:17:34,115 --> 00:17:36,618
So, where do we land
with the word "bitch"?

335
00:17:36,701 --> 00:17:38,369
Are we allowed to use it or not?

336
00:17:38,953 --> 00:17:41,247
Can someone please just clear this up?

337
00:17:41,331 --> 00:17:43,124
[typing]

338
00:17:43,875 --> 00:17:47,629
The reclamation deals with
an area of linguistics called semiotics.

339
00:17:47,712 --> 00:17:51,007
And that is really,
what's the intention of the speaker

340
00:17:51,091 --> 00:17:53,093
and what's the reception of the hearer?

341
00:17:53,176 --> 00:17:56,387
"Bitch" can mean one thing
when spoken by one person,

342
00:17:56,471 --> 00:18:00,183
in one context,
to one particular listener,

343
00:18:00,266 --> 00:18:04,687
and it can mean a totally opposite thing
when spoken by that same person,

344
00:18:04,771 --> 00:18:07,941
in the same context, to a second listener.

345
00:18:08,024 --> 00:18:10,652
I may say to one of my closest friends,

346
00:18:10,735 --> 00:18:13,446
like, "Bitch, I gotta tell you something,"
you know?

347
00:18:13,530 --> 00:18:15,532
But if a woman who I don't know

348
00:18:15,615 --> 00:18:19,202
comes up just wanting to, like, gossip
and she's like, "Bitch, I wanna--"

349
00:18:19,285 --> 00:18:22,205
I'm gonna immediately be like,
"I don't-- I don't know you."

350
00:18:22,288 --> 00:18:25,375
It's a word that we can use
for each other,

351
00:18:25,458 --> 00:18:27,377
and we can be empowered by it,

352
00:18:27,460 --> 00:18:31,172
but it's not a word that men
will ever be able to freely call us

353
00:18:31,256 --> 00:18:34,342
and have it be like, "Oh, thanks, John!"

354
00:18:35,885 --> 00:18:38,596
It seems to me that "bitch" isn't a word.

355
00:18:39,180 --> 00:18:41,599
It's a moment, an experience.

356
00:18:41,683 --> 00:18:44,561
Other swear words
like "shit," "fuck," "damn,"

357
00:18:44,644 --> 00:18:46,729
are reactionary and universal.

358
00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,233
But "bitch" can be used like a weapon.

359
00:18:51,276 --> 00:18:52,569
And it's personal.

360
00:18:52,652 --> 00:18:54,195
I do still use the word "bitch,"

361
00:18:54,279 --> 00:18:57,073
though I use it
a whole lot less than I used to.

362
00:18:57,157 --> 00:19:01,202
You know, language is pattern,
and if you have learned the pattern

363
00:19:01,286 --> 00:19:03,538
of "bitch" being used
as a slur against women,

364
00:19:03,621 --> 00:19:07,000
it takes a lot of conscious effort
to unlearn that pattern,

365
00:19:07,083 --> 00:19:10,545
even if you're a recipient of that slur.

366
00:19:10,628 --> 00:19:15,800
Instead of using the word "bitch,"
I'd rather refer to women as "queens."

367
00:19:15,884 --> 00:19:18,469
But I do recognize
that "bitch" hits different.

368
00:19:18,553 --> 00:19:20,638
If you on a plane
and people start fighting,

369
00:19:20,722 --> 00:19:22,765
you gotta be like,
"Bitch, they was fightin'."

370
00:19:22,849 --> 00:19:24,893
You can't be like,
"Queen, they was fightin'."

371
00:19:24,976 --> 00:19:26,394
It just-- It doesn't go.

372
00:19:26,477 --> 00:19:29,856
You know what I'm saying?
You gotta show some discernment.

373
00:19:29,939 --> 00:19:31,149
[laughs]

374
00:19:31,232 --> 00:19:32,984
If I ever have a daughter someday,

375
00:19:33,067 --> 00:19:37,572
I would much rather her identify
as a bitch than a nice girl.

376
00:19:37,655 --> 00:19:41,701
I mean, I guess the ultimate goal
is for her to be a nice bitch.

377
00:19:41,784 --> 00:19:42,911
Like Malala.

378
00:19:43,411 --> 00:19:46,372
On my group thread with, like, 11 gay men,

379
00:19:46,456 --> 00:19:49,334
seven of which hate me
and three of which are close friends,

380
00:19:49,417 --> 00:19:51,002
will I continue to use the word?

381
00:19:51,085 --> 00:19:52,295
Yeah, probably.

382
00:19:52,378 --> 00:19:56,424
The word "bitch" has gone on a journey.
From meaning a female dog…

383
00:19:56,925 --> 00:19:59,719
to then, like, a slutty woman,

384
00:19:59,802 --> 00:20:02,263
and now to a great woman like myself.

385
00:20:02,347 --> 00:20:03,973
I like it! It's gone on a journey.

386
00:20:04,057 --> 00:20:06,684
It's really…
It's-- it's grown. It's growth.

387
00:20:06,768 --> 00:20:09,354
You know what that is? That's growth.
Good for you, bitch!

388
00:20:09,437 --> 00:20:12,148
You started off as a dog,
and now look at you, you're Cardi B.

389
00:20:12,232 --> 00:20:13,816
Good for you! [laughs]