A (male) friend of mine used the term “shrew” to refer to women who had been vexing him. I don’t think he’d ever use the “B-word,” and I wondered if “shrew” were simply a euphinism for that word.
Would you women out there feel offended if a man referred to a woman as a “shrew”?
P.S. Do you think we should just use the term “A-hole” for both sexes?
A shrew is, factually, just a bad-tempered little rodent. Just like a bitch is a mother dog, who may well be snappish if bothered. There are lots more offensive terms to be upset about. It would depend on the attitude of the individual, to me.
I need to step a little farther back from the OP and say that I find all name-calling/labeling offensive. It was never done in my family of origin, and very few of my friends do it (and I do keep some distance from friends who do it). Yes, I refer to people in traffic as “idiots” or “assholes,” but those are people I don’t, in fact, interact with, and I would never say to someone, “You’re an idiot.” I don’t find the word “shrew” offensive, but I find the act of calling someone a namne with the intent to insult offensive.
Well, if the shoe fits… 
Actually, I find bitch to be a little bit on the swear word side. Calling her a shrew is a bit more imaginative. No, I wouldn’t find it offensive.
Do you reserve “a-hole” to men only, and use another word for women? The possible offense, to me, is that when a person, of either sex does something vexing, it’s not really relevant what their sex is. Some words, possibly, have a historical orgin of making the vexing behavior even more negative, because of the vexing peron’s sex.
Yes, yes, I knoweth thy friend. Old William is always getting into trouble, what with writing all those ridiculous plays and sonnets. I suggest thou scoldeth him, and the lady who hast vex’d him twenty-fold.
It depends. How big a bitch is the shrew?
If he’s making a reference to The Taming of the Shrew and all it’s associated criticism by feminists throughout the centuries, then offensive or not I think that’s pretty clever.
Meh. I’ve been called shrew when I was acting like one. I’ve been called bitch when I was acting like one. I think I’d only be offended if someone called me that when I wasn’t actually being one.
Well, I’m not a woman but if even if the guy in the OP used the actual term “bitch” I still wouldn’t find it too terribly offensive. I don’t get the impression he was using it in a misogynistic terms. (As in she did what she did because she’s a typical woman.)
He was merely pointing out that THIS particular woman was a bitch…er…uh… shrew.
I find both those words offensive if they are directed at me.
A friend of ours refers to his wife as a “crow” when she’s being bitchy. I’m not so offended if the behavior is drawing the insult as much as I am when the insulting term is used in general to describe the gender. “Yeah, we were at a party and all the bitches were hanging out in the kitchen.” No sir, that won’t do.
Nope.
How about if one refers to a woman as “a shrew’s cunt”, is that offensive?
Don’t know, but I do know it’s very, very tiny…
Are we looking for a word that is insulting but not sexist? I’m not sure you can find one that everyone agrees on.
That’s the motivation of the OP: are insults by nature sexist (or sexually determined)?
[MST3K]Killer Shrew, Killer Shrew,
Don’t know the difference between me and you.
It comes out at night to give you a fright.
Don’t look now but {s}he’s gonna take a bite[/MST3K]
You’re confusing etymology with definition. A shrew means both 1) a rodent or 2) a scolding woman. Factually.
Well there are gender-neutral insults so no. But a gendered insult is probably always tangled up with gender politics. On the other hand I’d say shrew is more “sexist” than “cunt.” The term “shrew” evokes a particular caricature of aggressive women that historically promoted the idea that women should be quiet, passive and compliant. cf. “scold” “fishwife” “nag” “harpy” etc. All of these seem archaic, now so they can be either entertaining or sexist or both, but anyway if someone uses them knowingly - it’s ha ha. But if some right-wing fundamentalist tosses it around I’ll tend to get irritated.
And you think I didn’t know this?