I don’t know what more needs explaining - comparing women to animals as a pejorative is misogynistic in a way that, say, calling a woman a night-owl is not. Precisely because of the already-mentioned bitch-in-heat connotations of the word.
No. I’m sure there are convoluted setups where the term is used in defiance of misogyny too. But the connection between the terms you asked about? That’s misogyny plain and simple.
I’m not sure what you have trouble understanding.
So, would it follow that any time a man is called a “dick” or a “bastard”, it implies the speaker dislikes all men, or feels superior to all men (are those fair definitions of misogynistic as applied to females)? Because, as I see it, these terms are used only to refer to men, and only in a pejorative fashion.
What about when a woman uses the term “bitch” against another woman, or a man calls another man a “dick” or “bastard”?
I would have thought that a female dog in heat acted just like a … well … nevermind …
It’s not self-evident. If you call a woman a “bitch”, a female dog, that’s an insult. If you call her a “vixen”, a female fox, that’s a compliment (at least, in English). If you call her a “cow”, a female kine, that’s another insult, but not nearly as sever of one as “bitch”. If you call her a “doe”, a female deer, that might be a compliment. If you call her a “ewe” or a “sow”, a female sheep or pig, it doesn’t mean anything at all, and will mostly just result in the speaker getting odd looks, even though “pig” in its gender-neutral form is definitely an insult. It’s clear how calling a person an animal could be an insult, but why the variation from one animal to the next?
I suspect I would not share your good fortune upon calling a lady a sow.
Indeed, sow has quite a storied history as a female insult. Chronos’s other points still stand, though.
I’d say it’s rude but not especially horrifying in American English as well. The usage of “bitch” to mean “sexually promiscuous” is extinct or nearly so in modern American English, and when used to insult a woman it nearly always means that she’s hostile or overly aggressive. (When used as an insult for a man it typically means that he’s whiny or unmasculine.)
I don’t think that’s a safe bet even in English. While “vixen” can be used to mean simply a sexy woman, I’d say the word also carries negative connotations like that the woman is trashy, mean, or violent. I don’t think that’s just me either, see for instance the entry in Merriam-Webster.
Semantic shift due to phonetic similarity may help explain why a neutral word for female dog took on negative connotation. The word “bitch” sounds similar to a Middle English word “bicched” meaning “cursed.”
[QUOTE=Geoffrey Chaucer]
“By Goddes armes, if thou falsly pleye,
This daggere shal thurghout thyn herte go!”
This fruyt cometh of the bicched bones two,
Forsweryng, ire, falsnesse, homycide!
Now, for the love of Crist, that for us dyde,
Lete youre othes bothe grete and smale.
But, sires, now wol I telle forth my tale.
[/QUOTE]
(The word “bicched” is of unknown origin. If it derived from an already negative connotation of female dog, then this hypothesis obviously fails. :rolleyes: )
(A small nitpick here, but “kine” is plural.)
Back in the 80s I knew a guy older than me, so he would be now be in his late 60s or early 70s. His take on the “life is a bitch” expression is that “no it isn’t, if life was a bitch, then it would be easy.”
That made no sense at all to me and it wasn’t until I found out that bitch used to have a meaning of a prostitute. I see now that this meme has changed to:
There’s a New Yorker cartoon, where two women at a dog show are talking, caption:
“Have you noticed how the men delight in not saying ‘female dog’?”
I don’t know, but it seems to me the more common insult back in the 60’s was “son of a bitch” thus insulting some and his mother at the same time - a two-fer.
Some animals are simply cooler than others.
“Tiger” is generally positive (sometimes used almost like a name, a la “go get 'em, tiger”). Tigers themselves are, of course, awesome. Likewise, “lion” may sometimes be used as a positive metaphor.
“Shark” can sorta-kinda be positive, if you say someone is a shark in business they’re probably good at their job (though might also have other negative qualities associated with predatory traits, which gets into the more negative connotations like “loan shark”). Generally most people would agree sharks are also awesome.
“Hawk”, “Eagle” (as in eagle-eyed): also cool and positive comparisons.
You mentioned fox/vixen for an attractive female, but “fox” can also more generally be used as a compliment insinuating that someone is clever. Whether foxes are really all that clever I’m not actually sure - might have even been an SD column on that before.
So there’s some good ones, but the majority of animal comparisons are definitely negative: pig, chicken, snake, jackal, whale, chimp, turtle, snail, crocodile, jackass, rat, vulture, urchin, etc. just to name a few more.
Now if someone is referred to as a “bull” or a “bear”… well we needn’t get into that here.
I’m disappointed no one has mentioned Jesse “Science, Bitch” Pinkman. Bitch is not always used as an insult to women. When its used by one male to another male its mostly playful. eg “I made you my bitch” if you win at an online game. Its male one up man ship rather than literally calling the other person a dog in heat.
No it would not follow. Maybe if we lived in a matriarchy. But we don’t.
Are you under the mistaken impression women can’t be misogynistic?
No one said it was - the OP, however, asked specifically about its application to women (and specific types of women, at that)
“mostly playful” references to prison rape. And I think the fact that you take online gamer speak as some sort of guide to what constitutes non-abusive usage of language is laughable.
Online gamers say a lot of very offensive things, “bitch” counts about 2 out of 10 on the abusive scale. I don’t know a single male that would be offended by that, especially because they’d most likely see it as a “breaking bad” reference. But a male calling a women a bitch is quite a bit more offensive. (My perception as an Australian anyway).
It might be worth pointing out that when used as a verb in American slang, “bitch” means complaining, usually in a highly derogatory way. Someone who “bitches” is usually (but not always) complaining unnecessarily. Often phrased as “bitch and moan”.
“Fox” is not generally a verb, but to “outfox” someone means to beat them by being clever and/or strategic.
I thought that was an interesting point and was definitely worth pointing out.
My mother knew I was a bit above average dealing with dogs-as-pets, so she asked my advice about a few unwanted behaviors her dog was displaying. In the end I pointed out that I had called the dear woman a bitch a half dozen times without her getting angry … she laughed …
Results of search for bitch as insult.:rolleyes: