Scans_Daily

Is this really misogynist? The usual concept of "bitch" as a pejorative term for a woman strikes me as implying qualities which are very much at odds with running away from something. It seems to me to be more likely a case of homonyms. The phrase "like a bitch", in my mind at least, seems quite divergent from the usage of calling someone "a bitch" and much more closely related to calling them "somebody's bitch", which I've always heard as a gender neutral insult. And the idea I've always associated with that phrase is not "bitch" as a misogynist insult, but rather "bitch" defined as a female dog. The idea of "running away like a bitch" conveys to me the idea of someone so badly defeated as to end up seeming subhuman, slinking off with their tail between their legs, not someone behaving like a woman of any sort.

Of course, all of this is really moot; if you find the phrase offensive or misogynist, I am by no means trying to invalidate that. Even if the phrase itself wasn't meant to or doesn't directly convey misogyny, it bringing to mind associations with other uses of the word is enough to trigger that reaction anyway. I merely think it brings up questions that are potentially interesting, at the very least on an academic level: can a word that is misogynistic or otherwise offensive in some uses be seen as neutral in others? And if so, is it acceptable to use such a word in those contexts expecting that others will recognize the intent, or is the association with other uses too strong?