The Bitch Factor

  

Saw this article in Jezebel titled  Being a Bitch is Every Smart Woman's Birthright. I can't decide if it was meant as satire or not, but I don't agree with it. 

A really smart woman, an empowered, self confident woman doesn't need to tear down other women, be sarcastic, or nasty.

On the other hand the word "bitch" in  the feminist context can indicate a strong or assertive woman. I certainly can get the reasoning behind the attempt to reappropriate the word and agree with Jo Freeman's statement BUT. Yes, there is that BUT, defining the difference seems to be lost on a lot of people and has reappropriation really worked? So many woman seem to confuse being strong as meaning they can be sarky and rude. I really like how this author confronted the word in the commentary from 2008. She concludes "if we could successfully turn the word into something we could be proud of"  but I wonder why?  Why not accept it for what it is and work on changing attitudes. Will re appropriating it really diffuse and dissempower the mindset behind those who attack women they deem isn't subservient enough.  I don't believe it will, it's 2012 and woman are still having to deal with an attitude that belongs to the dark ages.