The Bitch

On the Importance of Bitches, and of Being a Bitch


Bitchy adj : having the threatening characteristics of a female canine (a wolf, 
dingo, coyote, wild dog, fox) applied esp. to a woman who is active, direct, 
blunt, obnoxious, competent, loud-mouthed, independent, stubborn, demanding, 
achieving, overwhelming, Lusty, strong-minded, scary, ambitious, tough, brassy, 
boisterous, turbulent, sprawling, strident, striding, and large (physically 
and/or psychically). Canny Comment:

Bitches are good examples of how women can be strong enough to survive even the 
rigid, punitive socialization of our society. As young girls it never quite 
penetrated their consciousness that women were supposed to be inferior to men in 
any but the mother/helpmate role. They asserted themselves as children and never 
really internalized the slave style of wheedling and cajolery which is called 
feminine....All Bitches refused, in mind and spirit, to conform to the idea that 
there were limits on what they could be and do.
     -- Joreen, "The Bitch Manifesto"

-- Mary Daly and Jane Caputi, Websters' First New Intergalactic Wickedary of
the English Language

Isn't it odd how men think they're insulting a woman by calling her a "bitch"?

The story of Rome's founders, Romulus and Remus, being suckled by a wolf-bitch 
may come from a very ancient Sabine cult of Lupa, the Goddess as a She-Wolf.

But why men fear "bitches" may have more to do with a dim memory of the 
association of many death-dealing goddesses with hounds, such as Artemis, Hecate 
and Hel. To this day, much folklore associates dogs with death.

"According to the Vedic tradition, the Bitch-goddess Sarama was the mistress of 
the death dogs, and a divine huntress like Artemis, Diana, Anath and other 
western versions of the lunar maiden."
 -- Barbara Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Legends