This episode was written and hosted by J'na Jefferson. She is a music and culture journalist whose work has been seen in USA Today, Harper’s Bazaar, and BBC Culture. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter. 

RESOURCES

Books referenced in this episode

An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World by Geoffrey Hughes

Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap by Elijah Wald

His Song: The Musical Journey of Elton John by Elizabeth Rosenthal

Articles referenced in this episode

Kanye West Ponders The Word 'Bitch' On Twitter (MTV)

The War Over 'That Bitch' (The Atlantic)

Meet my new favorite Goddess (Urban Goddess Retreats)

No. 76: Nazareth, ‘Hair of the Dog’ – Top 100 Classic Rock Songs (Ultimate Classic Rock)

Use of the word “bitch” surged after women’s suffrage (Vox)
The Evolution of the Bitch (Vice)

The Bitch Manifesto by Jo Freedman

Miles Davis: The muse who changed him, and the heady Brew that rewrote jazz (The Guardian)

How Elton John’s “The Bitch Is Back” said a lot without specifying anything (The AV Club)

Elton John Comes Out as Bisexual in Rolling Stone’s 1976 Cover Story (Rolling Stone)

Hip slang vs. obscenity: Is a b-word always bad? (Associated Press)

How female musicians of the 90s reclaimed the word ‘bitch’ (Dazed)

Did N.W.A's Frequent Use of the Word Bitch Leave a Lasting Impact on the Hip Hop Industry? (E!)

Who You Calling A B--? (NPR)

TRANSCRIPT

In 2012, Kanye West tweeted something that, given his Trump- and divorce-era antics, is not as outlandish a statement as we’ve gotten used to hearing from him. “I usually never tweet questions but I struggle with this so here goes… Is the word BITCH acceptable?” he asked. For me, using the word “bitch” all depends on who exactly is saying it and how they’re using it — but it can have positive implications. But for now, let’s skip to 2016 when Kanye would again make headlines for his use of the word bitch in his song “Famous.” The song alludes to his belief that he helped his perpetual enemy Taylor Swift become famous after bum-rushing the stage during her acceptance speech at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. 

The lyrics in question? 

“I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex/Why? I made that bitch famous”

This is, of course, reinforcing the misogynistic idea that a man is entitled to say or do whatever they want to a woman if he believes she is indebted to him for whatever reason. 

My name is J’na Jefferson, and you’re listening to Have You Heard This One? A show about the stories from the back pages and hidden corners of music history. I am a New York-based music and culture journalist whose work has been seen in USA Today, Harper’s Bazaar, and BBC Culture, among many others. Most of my work focuses on the intersections between pop culture, feminism, and underrepresented figures in society, so trust me when I say I practically leapt at the opportunity to talk about this particular word, its place in our lexicon, and its use in some of our favorite songs. 

This whole saga between two superstars is about as timely a starting point as a journalist could imagine for a conversation about the sting that the word bitch still holds for people and the place that its usage holds in our universal language of music.  In this unifying part of our world, the context of bitch is just as important as its place in our everyday lives.

Though West said that he consulted with Swift about the lyrics in question, she seemingly rejected the idea while accepting her Album of the Year award at the 2016 Grammys, just one week after “Famous” was released. 

Taylor Swift: "I want to say to all the young women out there, there are going to be people along the way who will try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame. But if you just focus on the work, and you don’t let those people sidetrack you, someday when you get where you are going, you will look around, and you will know that it was you and the people who love you that put you there. And that will be the greatest feeling in the world.”

From there, the he said/she said of the century unraveled. In a video uploaded to Snapchat by West’s ex-wife Kim Kardashian — who was also referred to as a bitch in The Life Of Pablo’s “Highlights” — Swift and West did, in fact, discuss the use of the word “bitch” in the song. Swift cautioned him about the use of the misogynistic slur but encouraged him to “Go with whatever line you think is better. It’s really tongue in cheek, either way.”

After the video made the rounds and pulverized the notion that Swift had no idea she would be referenced in “Famous,” she released a statement noting that she was unaware she would be referred to as “that bitch.” Kanye then tweeted that “bitch” is not being used in a derogatory fashion but as a term of endearment, much like the N-word being reclaimed by the Black community. (I mean...well...this also really depends on who you talk to, honestly.)

A few years later, the word bitch came up again for Taylor, but this time it was from her own pen. In her 2019 song “The Man,” Taylor sings about sexist double standards.

But since she’s a woman, she’s “a bitch, not a baller” for doing the same thing.

The discourse in media following the 2016 Ye and Tay showdown focused on conversations about if bitch was offensive, innocuous, or empowering. Does the word’s meaning shapeshift depending on just who is using it and how it’s being used? For me, the conversation is about examining when “bitch” can be seen as empowering rather than demeaning and asking if it’s possible for the word to be used without being directed toward anyone. And, at the heart of it: can musicians give power back to women by using the word?

To really get a sense of the meaning behind the word, I think we’re going to have to start at the beginning. Yes, that means hitting the dictionary. “Bitch” derives from the Old English word bicce, or female dog, which also probably derives from the Old Norse term bikkjuna, which translates to "female of the dog.” The bicce definition dates back to at least 1000 CE. Bikkjuna can also refer to the “female of the fox,” wolf, and occasionally other beasts. At the end of the history of known languages, the word reinforces this idea that women are evil, dangerous, and animalistic. 

The word may also have some ties to Artemis, the fabled Greek goddess of the Hunt. Artemis was often seen with a pack of hunting dogs or wolves, and at times, she herself would transform into a dog or a wolf. Artemis’ free-spirited nature has been immortalized as untamable and unruly. As Amanda Young wrote on the blog Urban Goddess, “It is believed by some, that when a woman acted unruly, and outside the societal niceties for behavior in ancient Greek times, that men would call her a female dog. Although a different word than our ‘bitch,’ meaning she was as untamable as Artemis.” 

As a derogatory term geared towards women, however, “bitch” dates back to the 15th century, with its earliest iteration used to describe a sexually promiscuous woman. In the Encyclopedia of Swearing, historian Geoffrey Hughes writes, “The early applications were to a promiscuous or sensual woman, a metaphorical extension of the behavior of a bitch, or a female dog, in heat.” In The Dozens: The History of Rap’s Mama, Elijah Wald takes the explanation one step further. “When you call a man a son of a bitch, you call his mother a dog…In the dozens, you jus' elaborate an' expand it more."

And if you ask me, this totally tracks. I’m definitely more of a cat person, but for the purpose of this podcast and all things “bitch,” I switched my hat, and I did a little research about female dogs and how they behave in heat. Basically, there’s four stages of heat, and the second stage, estrus, is where a female dog is most accepting of a male dog’s attention and when she’s most fertile. I suppose that whichever 15th-century genius who thought that women were “bitches” leaned into the idea that, once again, women were no better than animals, especially when they were attempting to attract attention. I wonder why they hadn’t looked at sexually-driven men in a similar light.

But anyway!

Herein also lies the birth of other uses for the word “bitch.” “Son of a bitch” has roots that date back to the 17th century. It can refer to someone who did something funny, but it generally is what you say when you’re talking about someone who is a real jackass or asshole, rooted in the idea that they’re the product of a woman who also embodies that same sentiment. 

To understand the difference in how this idiom has been used, let’s talk about music. I mean, that’s why you’re here, right?

1975’s “Hair Of The Dog” from Nazareth uses “son of a bitch” through several plays on the idiom. In the chorus, the lead singer calls himself a “son of a bitch” in order to refer to himself as tough while also noting that he knows how to deal with a woman like her (a bitch) because he is also the son of a bitch — the product of a woman who behaves like the woman in the song.

The band also wanted to call the album Son Of A Bitch, but as lead singer Dan McCafferty told Classic Rock Revisited, the label went “apeshit” and explained that they couldn’t use that word.

Then, in the Charlie Daniels Band’s 1979 country banger, “The Devil Went Down To Georgia,” Daniels tells the tale of how a young cat named Johnny went head-to-head with Beelzebub in a fiddle-playing contest in exchange for his soul. Johnny beat the Devil in the fiddle-off and uttered these words to him as he accepted his loss.

There’s also using “bitch” to describe someone who has a gripe about something, taking us back to the belief that women, in particular, are whiny nags who have nothing better to do than to grumble about it. Are we seeing a pattern yet? 

Much of this idiom’s usage in music is found in songs that urge the listener to get off their ass and stop complaining. An example includes Van Morrison’s 2021 song “Stop Bitching, Do Something,” where he sings passionately about someone’s constant kvetching.

The word “bitch” as an insult really made headwinds in the last century. Vox notes that between 1916 and 1930, use of the word bitch made 60 percent more appearances in books and articles. And we have to look directly at the women’s suffrage movement for that. Think about it — this was a time of freedom and self-assurance from women. The 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, was ratified in 1920. Susan B. Anthony encouraged women — well, white women — to use their voices to make a change in their country through the power of voting, and most men had a very difficult time accepting that women were going to be equal under the eyes of the law. During this time, “bitch” also started being used to demean men as weak and saw growth in popularity as a slur used against gay men. 

Women worked in the military, factories, and hospitals during World War II, and during this time — the mid-'40s til the early ‘50s — ”bitch” saw a dip in usage. Everyone was likely too distracted with the idea of serving their country to be misogynist assholes, I suppose. Plus, the idea of women staying in their place, not making waves, and being subservient to men, i.e. all things that would not warrant the “bitch” label, became commonplace once again after the war ended. Don’t get me wrong: men still served as the primary breadwinners for nuclear families during this era, as women who weren’t serving in the war were the primary caretakers and housekeepers. 

Then, the ‘60s happened, as did the start of second-wave feminism. Many women threw out the idea of traditional gender roles and started asking, “Who says men get to have all the fun (and money and power and rights)?” Women once again entered the workforce en masse. Additionally, we started seeing the establishment of women’s health collectives, as well as rape crisis and trauma centers. Women’s studies departments started growing at colleges and universities across America. Female workers who were discriminated against by employers could sue for this mistreatment and were owed compensation. Things were definitely looking up! 

And it was also around this time that a feminist attorney kicked off a reclamation of the word by proclaiming that being a bitch wasn’t a bad thing at all. Jo Freeman wrote The Bitch Manifesto in 1968, in which she proclaimed that bitches are [quote] "aggressive, assertive, domineering, overbearing, strong-minded…direct, blunt, candid, thick-skinned…driven, achieving, ambitious, tough,” and more. “A Bitch takes shit from no one,” she wrote. “You may not like her, but you cannot ignore her…A woman should be proud to declare she is a Bitch, because Bitch is Beautiful." 

This is generally how I feel about the term. Instead of being afraid to be labeled as a bitch because you are strong-minded, opinionated, and unafraid, you should be proud of those traits and proud of the way they create fear in those who haven’t yet discovered that power within themselves. You go, bitch!

It wasn’t too long after this that the word “bitch” started appearing in popular music. In March 1970, Miles Davis released Bitches Brew. 

The title of this particular project varies in meaning and interpretations — from it being used to describe magic “cosmic ladies” or to describe the musicians themselves. 

Funk diva and Davis’ second wife Betty was the one who encouraged him to call the album Bitches Brew, which she insists was not derogatory. While provocative, the title encapsulates the daring new sounds traversed on the project, which garnered him the biggest first-week sales of his career. The work itself sent shockwaves around the music world and changed the way fans listened to jazz — proving that the provocative title didn’t hamper the album’s legacy. 

As far as I can tell, the first time the word was used in a rock song was the next year, in 1971. That was on the Rolling Stones’ album Sticky Fingers, featuring the hard rock tune “Bitch.”

Notice that the word is not directed towards a person but about the idea of love, proving that yes, even feelings can be referred to as “bitches” — and our shittiest feelings are usually the ones referred to as such. The use of that word in reference to a person in a song came when David Bowie’s glam rock tune “Queen Bitch” was released in the same year. 

The lyrics tell the story of a person watching their lover attempting to pursue other hookups in unexpected places after rejection, such as in drag bars — but the word bitch is actually never used. It just sits there in the title, almost as though it’s judging this person right off the bat. “Bitch” did make it on the radio, though, three years later. Elton John’s song “The Bitch Is Back” became the first top 10 hit to use the word, peaking at No. 4 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in November 1974. It was reportedly inspired by Maxine Fiebelman, the ex-wife of John’s songwriting collaborator Bernie Taupin, who would reportedly say that “the bitch is back” when Sir Elton was in a bad mood. Sir Elton says that the tune is “kind of his theme song.”

Nevertheless, many pop radio stations refused to play “The Bitch Is Back” at the time, citing the offensive word in the title. Rock stations didn’t appear to be playing the song at all —  it has no chart history in that genre, despite being a rock song. 

A few years after its release, the program director of WPIX-FM in New York told Billboard, “We will play records that are borderline suggestive records, such as 'Disco Lady' by Johnnie Taylor, but we will not play 'The Bitch Is Back' by Elton John. We won't play those types of records no matter how popular they get." For what it’s worth, some of the lyrics in “Disco Lady” are: “When you get the groove, it ain't no stoppin'/ Just can't help it, but I'm, I'm finger poppin'.”  Ew.

Many of the issues surrounding Elton John saying bitch may be rooted in some uncomfortable feelings about homosexuality. As we know, Elton John is iconically flamboyant. Because he didn’t come out until 1976, his eternal effervescence and fashion sense initially weren’t seen as threatening. But John coming full throttle on a glam rock track, strutting around and dubbing himself “the bitch,” rubbed some folks the wrong way — you know which kind of folks. While radio may have been iffy on the use of “bitch” regardless, hearing it from a possibly queer person awakened the homophobia in many. 

Jason Heller highlighted this idea for the AV Club, writing that, “While touring in 1974, John would sing ‘Bitch’ while riding around on the meaty shoulders of his bodyguard Jim Morris, a famed bodybuilder and the recently crowned Mr. America…Many in the music industry at the time seemed to assume that John…perhaps unconsciously, capitalized on his ambiguous sexuality. The way John preens and struts in ‘Bitch’; it’s hard to believe he didn’t at least know how to act the part.” 

Though not used in a derogatory sense, the word “bitch” can also be heard in Hall & Oates’ 1977 hit “Rich Girl,” which became the first No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 to feature the word. 

It seemingly wasn’t until the ‘80s and the rise of hip-hop where the word was used to demean other individuals. Now, I’m not saying hip-hop is at fault for this. It’s really the culture as a whole. A 2007 interview in The Seattle Times between journalist Megan K. Scott and author damali ayo illustrates it perfectly. ayo acknowledges that while bitch is an insult geared towards women regardless of their race, she notes that, quote, “the insult coming from a white man would be a double whammy, because of the history of white men in America oppressing or abusing women of color.” However, she continues, “A Black man calling a Black woman the name comes with its own issues…Given the history of discrimination faced by Black men and women, it could even hurt more knowing that someone from your own race was using these words against you.”

Much like there are different ways to convey levels and layers of bitchiness in everyday society, the same thing occurs in hip-hop. There’s the term “the bitch.” 1983’s “New York, New York” by Duke Bootee and Grandmaster Melle Mel is the first hip-hop song to use the curse. It’s done in reference to a woman who leaves her man with their children during the severe U.S. recession in the early ‘80s. 

By adding “the” in front of “bitch,” it’s clearly referencing someone who is perceived to be wicked, vile, or evil. This can also be said for the phrases “a bitch” and “that bitch.”

Then there’s the term “my bitch,” which is used in reference to someone being another person’s property and as means to assert dominance. It can also be used in other ways, like “I’m making this podcast my bitch,” because I know I’m doing a really good job. But if we’re looking at its most derogatory phrasing, let’s look at it as man over woman. Some may use it affectionately, like a little pet name. Kanye West and Jay-Z’s collaborative album Watch The Throne features the song “That’s My Bitch,” which finds the rappers trading bars over the things that they own: the baddest cars, the baddest chains, and the baddest women, by proclaiming that they’re “my bitch.”

There was a moment where using the word bitch in rap became a point of contention. The West Coast gangsta-rap group N.W.A.’s machismo energy was part of their brand, and that means when they said “bitch,” they meant it with their full chests. 

“With N.W.A's walk into hip-hop, calling women bitches in that way, it changed the game. They broke the word out," MC Lyte said in the “female rappers” episode of E!’s True Hollywood Story. And while we’re here talking about ending certain terms in hip-hop, I’m also hoping we put a stop to saying “female rappers,” because most of these women go harder in the booth than men do.

Well, anyway, NWA’s rise came at a time of harmony between the sexes in the rap game. MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shante, and Sha-Rock were just as respected in hip-hop as their male counterparts. But the shift started in the early ’90s when women were viewed as objects who were below men in every way — certainly not on their level. This was even more jolting considering the rise of the word in hip-hop during this time. Women rappers in this era frequently embraced a message about empowering other women to recognize that they could do anything they set their minds to and that their voices are strong and capable of making a change.

With all of this in mind, it can be very difficult to imagine that the word “bitch” could be reclaimed. To be very fair, it’s women and people in queer spaces that we have to thank for the reclamation and for so many more advancements in both language and the way we view and think about the world. 

While we had the heavy misogyny of hip-hop and gangsta rap in the ‘90s, we also saw the rise of third-wave feminism. Those women fought to reclaim, question, and redefine femininity, sexuality, gender, and more. This wouldn’t be the first time that we as a society did what we could to reclaim “bitch.” We’d use the word “bitchin’” to refer to something as cool or rad since the ‘50s and brought it back in the ‘80s. Queer spaces often use “bitch” as a term of endearment or pride. Like “Yes, bitch, you did that!” or “Work bitch!” when someone in their immediate space does something well.

We can also look to hip-hop to find women rappers making bold points about what it means to be a “bitch.” You know what they say: if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. There’s Queen Latifah’s “U.N.I.T.Y.” from 1993.

As well as Missy Elliott’s 1999 song “She’s A Bitch,” where the word is used both in a demeaning and empowering way. But when you listen to the song, it’s not her rapping about other women. The chorus is rapped from the perspective of what other people see when they see her being her confident self.

In the 2000s and beyond, women rappers really took the word and made it their own. Today, we’re seeing a lot more uses of “bitch” to describe a strong-willed, taking-no-shit person, specifically by women of color in music. Listen to “Da Baddest Bitch” by Trina, the Miami rapper’s debut solo single, which was released in 2000. 

Trina told MTV Rap Fix in 2011:

Trina: “I think that’s a term just for any strong, independent woman that’s just holding herself down. The independence is a big thing for me, I think women definitely should be independent, and if you’re able to just be focused and determined, to me, that means you’re a bad bitch.”

If you ask me, the definition of a bad bitch depends on the person. I think it’s about being in control of who you are and not letting anyone stop you from doing what you want to do. Being a bad bitch has an energy about it, and once you see a bad bitch, you know what the energy emits. 

Being a bad bitch is also a mindset, just like being “that bitch” is, too. Enter Lizzo’s No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit, “Truth Hurts.” 

In this song, Lizzo proclaims that she doesn’t need to keep crying over some lame man because she knows she’s “100 percent that bitch” in addition to being a “bad bitch.” A cardinal rule of bad bitchery is that you never allow yourself to cry over things that weren’t meant to be. You simply chalk up the lesson to your life experience board and move on with your bad self! 

There are other ways that “bitch” has been empowering in hip-hop. There’s a “real-ass bitch,” like the City Girls say in “Act Up.” There’s also the “boss ass bitch” as described by the crunk girl group PTAF, as well as Nicki Minaj and Doja Cat. Most recently, in her song “Plan B,” Megan thee Stallion punctuates the chorus with “you’s a bitch” in reference to dropping a bum ass man in order to put self-love first.

An example of this type of feminism was also found outside of hip-hop. For instance, we have Meredith Brooks’ 1997 song “Bitch,” which aimed to reclaim the word as a means to showcase that women are human. 

Since then, pop stars like Britney Spears and Madonna dropped songs like “Work Bitch” and “Bitch, I’m Madonna” to reclaim the word as a means to amplify energy during the “Hustle Hard” and “Team No Sleep” era. Though, it is worth mentioning that Britney was in the midst of her lengthy conservatorship when “Work Bitch” dropped, so there’s no telling what creative control she really had during the time of its release. 

There’s also the iconic queer pop and folk musician Bitch, who releases music under the indie record label Kill Rock Stars. She has worked to reclaim the word in her music, most recently releasing her album Bitchcraft in 2022.

Nonetheless, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Black women, in particular, have totally kicked ass when it comes to working to reclaim the word. Why is that?

Well, let’s look again at how “bitch” has been used to denigrate women over time, especially Black women. As discussed, the word has historically been equated with someone or something evil, wrong, or a problem in order to assert their dominance over it. Black women, in particular, throughout history, have been stereotyped exactly like that: to be evil, angry, sexually promiscuous, manipulative, and untrustworthy. Having to bear the burdens of both racism and sexism is no easy feat, and I can tell you from experience that nothing stings more than being called “the b-word” on top of “the n-word.” I definitely can still feel the sting of the word because when you hear it in the context where it’s supposed to be disrespectful, you know exactly what it feels like. 

Yet, I believe that Black women who have worked for decades to push forward the reclamation of the word “bitch” are well aware of the historical meaning it carries. It’s often used against women who the patriarchy believes need to be taken down a peg, who need to be put in check, who need to understand their “submissive” role on this Earth, or if they want to be considered “feminine,” it’s used to add pressure on gender roles and how we perform our sexuality. So for women, and Black women in particular, to take the word back and turn it into something positive? To take a word like “bitch” and flip it to “bad bitch,” or “that bitch,” or “real-ass bitch,” all women who are looking out for themselves and their best interest, not worried about what others say? Well, that’s pretty bitchin’ if you ask me. 

To wrap this up: we know that words, their meaning, and their implications have a tendency to change over time. A word that is meant to hurt, and still could, also has the ability to become empowering — depending on who is saying it. As a word that’s shifted into a term used to uphold the patriarchy, “bitch” is not going anywhere. But just as there will be several more generations of women who are called “bitches,” there will also be many more who opt to shift the direction of this slur into something that doesn’t sting so much. Something that diverts from its pain and redirects it into power, maybe even pride.