Sugar and Spice and All Things Bitch- Wait, what?

As a child, we are taught from a fictional nursery rhyme that little girls are made from "sugar and spice and all things nice". In the modern era we live in, this can be translated to 'sweet' as a lover, a wife and a mother, 'spice' to keep our partners satisfied in the bedroom and 'all things nice' to please everybody around us- family, colleagues, lovers and friends. From a young age, this nursery rhyme drills into us that girls are 'all things nice'. But as we get older, staying sweet and nice becomes more of a challenge as we lose our naive sight of the world and the people around us and start to become more cynical in the way that we view things.

Sometimes in life though, we want to be a 'bitch'. Opinionated and bolshy with a sharp tongue and blunt words, the only term that has come to describe a woman with these attributes is 'bitch'. Screw manners, screw politeness and screw being sweet. This is no longer the 1800's. We no longer need to keep our mouth shut in order to maintain our sweet disposition. Here, in the 21st century, feminists have granted us the power to use our voice and use our words and speak up when we aren't happy. They have granted us the power to be honest- with ourselves, and to others. 

So when your partner comes home from work, and you find out he's been sleeping with his secretary, you no longer need to cry yourself to sleep but stay in the failing relationship, miserable, for the sake of keeping your nuclear family unit together. You can slap him across his lying face, throw his clothes out of the window and scream at him how cliche he is and how you hope he catches an STD. 

Similarly, when you're queuing in Tesco to buy some bread and a man old enough to be your great uncle approaches you offering you an hour (probably less at his age) in his company, no longer do you have to simper and smile and awkwardly walk away pulling down your skirt. You are well within your rights to throw a middle finger up and call him a b*stard before sashaying away in your mini skirt. 

The great thing about being a bitch though, is that it doesn't just have to be men you can get the better of. You can be a so called 'bitch' to your fellow females too. Although the year-old rule stands that 'sisters have got to stick together', sometimes females can be damn right evil for no reason. Why should you stand by someone who wont stand by you? If a girl sniggers at you with her friends as you walk down the road, why shouldn't you turn around and call her a cow? (May I take this time to apologize to cows all over the world for being the chosen animal used to insult rude and grumpy females). And if one of your co-workers is being an ice queen, shredding all your paperwork by 'accident' as she competes for that promotion, why shouldn't you turn around and tell her that the shade of lipstick shes wearing is the same colour as your dogs rear end? 

There is no harm in being a 'bitch', when being a 'bitch' is just a woman who is not afraid to be honest, frank and true to herself. Why do we look at a woman who can independently stand up for herself in such a negative light? Surely this is what we would wish of all of our daughters and mothers and sisters and aunts? Independence is never a bad thing. Standing on your own two feet is never something to be ashamed of. It is something that feminists all over the world have fought for- and still continue to- for years and years and years. Feminists from 50 years ago would be proud of each and every one of us girls for being a 'bitch'. It is probably something many of them only ever dreamed of. Not the 'bitch' who shoves a girls head down the toilet at school, or the girl who posts a photo of you online that she's edited to make out as though it's something explicit- that girl, she's not a 'bitch'. She's a bully. And being a bully and standing up for yourself, they aren't the same thing. Don't be a bully. Be a 'bitch' who won't let anyone walk over her or tell her what to do. 

Let's bring an end to the word 'bitch'. Let's replace it with the word 'strong'.

Love from,
Florence Grace