Daniya Mozaffar

Mrs. Martin
English 110
5th November 5, 2014
From Bitches to Ugly: The Power of Words and Gender
I learned as a young child that the B word was not something to be spoken. A
word that would have bad consequences for me I said it. When I was 13, I learned what
the B word was and meant. I still remember how I turned bright red when my best
friend Dania told me what it was in 2nd block Algebra. For the longest time, I would be
ashamed when my friends would say the B word. Not because they said it, but because
I heard it. Because I was somehow a part of their conversation, and that was almost a sin
in my little 13-year-olds book. But then suddenly, the B word became bitch. To be
honest, I dont remember when that really happened. Sometimes I try to pinpoint when
the change occurred, but it usually ends up with me mentally starting to sing Anaconda
by Nicki Minaj. Its almost as hard as trying to remember when I learned how to tie my
shoes, or learned to drink milk out of my bowl after finishing my cereal without the milk
dripping like a broken faucet down my face. It came naturally. I find it almost hilarious
that the word that I once considered the worst thing that could be ever said, to now be a
part of my daily life. I have no sense of guilt right now as I type bitch onto this essay. I
dont find being called bitch much of an offense. I also listen to songs that have bitch as a

repeated lyric without any sense of remorse. Swearing and profanity have become a great
influence in my life. It affects how I react to situations. Believe me when I say that if you
make me mad, bitch or douche are probably the first words to come out of my mouth
before I bad mouth you. Why is that? Why is profanity suddenly so common? What
happened to the power of these words?
The science behind swearing is simple; as you grow your brain develops. As
Margret Semrud-Clikeman explains in her article Research in Brain Function and
Learning: the more development of the brain, the easier it is to learn harder and harder
concepts (Semrud-Clikeman). According to the Reseasrch done by the National Institute
of Health: The brain does not fully develop until the age of 25, with adolescence being
the prime time for brain development. This is most likely why swearing is more
prominent in teenage years as your brain is developed enough to understand the context
of swear words, just not developed enough to make good choices (qtd. In Rollins). The
science of swearing is just a game of age and development. The psychology behind
swearing is a different game; its a game of power. Emily Sohn explains in her article
Why do People Swear? that swear words, or curse words have a sense of power on
them just by being a taboo. The more you restrict something, the more power it has
(Sohn). It's like telling a child that they can't eat a cookie, only to find them a few
minutes later trying to sneak a cookie out of the cookie jar. The excitement of saying the
word comes from knowing how you're doing something bad. In Jean Kilbourne Essay
Two Ways a Woman Can Get Hurt", there is an advertisement shown of a skateboard

company called "Bitch Skateboards". On the advertisement was a man holding a gun to
the head of a woman (Kilbourne 428). In defense to the profanity of the advertisement,
Sal Rocco Jr, the founder of the company argued in an interview with The Los Angeles
Times that "violence is everywhere" and that "the kids today are punks...They tag and
smoke weed and drink and most of them get prostitutes...It's like a college initiation.
(Ferrell) The sad reality is, that its true. As Dr. Carl Pickhardt greatly discusses in his
article Surviving (Your Childs) Adolescence: Adolescents are always willing to take
risks and try something new (Pickhardt), which is why it only makes sense that they have
risky behaviors. This is especially true for men, as Dr, Nigel Barber realizes in his article
The Human Beast, who are more likely to fight back in an argument with a peer, while
woman are more likely to stay away from risky behaviors (Barber). Dr. Goal Auzeen
Saedi takes this farther in her article Millennial Media", where she explains how
swearing itself follows the same patterns, with college aged students swearing the most,
with both genders swearing fairly equally (Saedi). While both genders may swear in a
fairly consistent manner, they both have very different reasons.
Currently on iTunes top 100, there are 16 explicit songs, three in the top 36. All of
the profane songs are rap. 12 of the 16 songs are rapped by men. In Joan Morgans piece
From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hoes one of the points she makes is that one of the most
prominent reasons for profanity in rap, is because it is the way for men to regain power
they have lost (Morgan 447). In a research done by The Bureau of Labor Statistics,
currently in the United States 10.4 million men do not have a job (qtd. In Wessel). As

Richard Whitmire and Susan McGee Bailey explain in their article The Gender Gap:
60% of college students are females, leaving only 40% of men (Whitmire, Bailey). The
general dominance of men has greatly decreased in the last few years. For men, it is
harder and harder to be the stereotyped dominant figure. Michael Kimmels piece Bros
Before Hos: The Guy Code describes that society has classified men as the powerful, to
be the lead, not to be like woman. Men must not have a venerable side (Kimmel 609).
Not only that, the media shows that men are always the dominant, and should never take
no for an answer (Kilborne 421). Swearing can also degrade men. This is shown in
Carmen Vazquezs piece Appearances, when she talks of the Mickey who is repeatedly
called faggot by a man who believed him to be gay. Because Mickey did not fit the
norms (looking feminine) he was pushed down with cursing (Vazquez 473). This is, again
to degrade the other person, to raise themselves. Profanity in men is primarily to gain
power, which is one of the reasons it has become so common. Woman clearly swear as

perfect (Haydar 404). What we deem perfect is greatly influenced by media The media
doesnt say that being called a slut is bad thing, but rather says that not being called
perfect is. Which is why profanity has become almost a compliment for woman. As
Kilbourne argues, woman are shown through multiple sources of entertainment that
acting provocative is the only way to get a man (Kilbourne 425). In the four songs on the
top 100 of iTunes which are sung by woman, all have something to do with the
encouragement of sexual acts as a way of getting a man. For example, in the song
Only, Nicki Minaj raps lyrics such as let 'em eat my ass like a cupcake and Fuck
with them real niggas. The glorification of provocative acts has led to the words usually
associated with such acts to lose their meaning. Words such as slut, whore, and bitch
dont mean anything they use to be because we hear them every day, all the time.

Link to Video: http://www.fastcocreate.com/3037453/watch-little-girls-dropping-f-bombsfor-equalityand-a-t-shirt-brand

Profanity for woman means nothing because it has lost the power that was once
associating with it.
While researching profanity and gender, one idea that constantly kept coming back
was power. Teenagers swear to feel the power of freedom, men swear to regain power
they have lost, and woman swear because the power of those words are gone. This essay
itself is about power on words. Each and every one of us are in some sort of power
struggle, whether it be eternally or externally. Do this, do that, change this, change that,
choose this, choose that; deciding itself is a battle. In a world where gender is classified
by a box full of unreachable goals, all we really have are these small forms of power. To
watch TV instead of reading, to cut our hair short instead of keeping it long, to choose to
say profane words. Has profanity increased? I believe it has. I believe we swear because
it is one of the forms we gain some sense of control in our lives that is dictated by the
unrealistic views of society. After being patronized and tortured over my body and how I
look, I have found the freedom to choose to swear one of the ways I gain the self-esteem
I lost during my middle school years. Words are so much more powerful than we can ever
imagine, and gender is just one of the few places that it touches. Words are the most
powerful form of rebellion we own. It is the strongest weapon we carry in our arsenal.
Words are the toughest shield we have. Words are powerful.

Works Cited
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