Cloudya

I’m not the kind of girl who refers to her friends as “bitches”, and I am not okay with that label being used to refer to me.  Words have connotations, and the word “bitch” carries a connotation of someone nasty and cruel.  Someone small.  That is something I work very hard not to be.

But it’s more than that.

Women have to work so hard, every day, just to get on a level playing field with men.  Just to be taken seriously.  Just to be seen as something close to an equal.  We should be lending each other a hand up, not elbowing and muscling each other down.  We should be pushing each other to be more.  To be better.  We should be encouraging and helping, not degrading.

“Lighten up,” you say.  “It’s a term of endearment.”

Except that language is a very powerful thing.  Think of the terminology men use to refer to their friends.  I have never heard a man say, “This is my taint, right here.  This is my asshole.  This is my number one jerk.”  No.  Men use words like “homeboy”.  “Buddy.”  “Bro.”

Bro.  Brother.

If you are my friend, then you respect me, and I respect you.  Don’t call me a “bitch”.  If you want to call me something, call me “sister”.  I’ll do everything in my power to live up to the title.