How Bad is the Word BITCH?

I taught my kids that swear words are no big deal, but that ugly insults are.

So, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when my 14-year-old son, who is totally cool with the F-bomb, finds it shocking to hear someone called a bitch.

I find myself wondering if I have misled him. Have things changed?

For some reason, my phone plays my 18-year-old daughter’s songs whenever I’m in my car.

So, I have been pondering songs like “I Love It,” by Icona Pop, which contains the lyrics,“You’re from the Seventies, but I’m a Nineties bitch” and the bouncy little party tune “Blurred Lines” by Robin Thicke, with its line, “You’re the hottest bitch in the place.”

I realize people have been trying to reclaim the word “bitch.”

But when this post from the blog, “Sassy Notions,” tells me that “Linguistic sensitivity is self-defeating” and “So now, women can hold their heads high when called a bitch because they should be proud to be called an outspoken woman,” it strikes me as wishful thinking. Also, as blaming me for taking offense when offense is clearly meant.

A repairman once came to our apartment. When this physically huge man saw that my last name was different than my husband’s, he became enraged, calling me, among other things, a bitch. I nodded and soothed till I could get him out of my apartment.

So now, I watch the video for “Blurred Lines,” where fully clothed men dance with woman dressed only in nude-colored g-strings. Robin Thicke claimed in GQ, “We tried to do everything that was taboo . . . everything that is completely derogatory towards women. Because all three of us are happily married with children, we were like, ‘We're the perfect guys to make fun of this.’”

No. Not buying it.