Discounted Dreams

this is one of my fav photos on tumblr tbh omg

I’m against the reclamation of misogynistic slurs on a theoretical level in that it doesn’t empower women as a class, in a society where those words are not taboo and are routinely used by men to oppress us. You can’t talk about ‘taking them back’ when men still hold them in an iron fist, and that grip is never questioned. That said, what personally made me understand that being called a ‘bitch’ by men didn’t mean I was badass or strong, was the way they used that word, that manifestation of their hatred of us, against other men. They didn’t call the other men in their lives ‘bitches’ when they were difficult, or argumentative, or tough. They called them ‘bitches’ when they were behaving in a way seen as weak, or somehow ‘ruining the fun.’ It made me realise that, social realities aside, bitch isn’t a word used to try to knock strong women down a peg. It’s a word used to degrade and devalue all women, because men don’t just want to put ‘strong’ women in their place, they want to keep us all acutely conscious of our inferiority.

Very interested