Modified On August 7, 2007
We can at least agree that Councilwoman Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn is finding it difficult to fill her days. How else to explain her recent effort to introduce a measure against the use of the word “bitch.”
As reported in the NYT, Mealy says it creates “a paradigm of shame and indignity” for all women.
The measure, which 19 of the 51 council members have signed onto, was prompted in part by the frequent use of the word in hip-hop music. Ten rappers were cited in the legislation, along with an excerpt from an 1811 dictionary that defined the word as &qujot;A she dog, or doggess; the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman.”
Leaving aside the fact that our new favorite word around SHECKYmag HQ is “doggess,” we are stunned by this latest piece of legislation.
…Mealy acknowledged that the measure was unenforceable, but she argued that it would carry symbolic power against the pejorative uses of the word. Even so, a number of New Yorkers said they were taken aback by the idea of prohibiting a term that they not only use, but do so with relish and affection.
Even if you acknowledge that your action was largely symbolic, why would you do it, knowing how utterly unconstitutional, unenforceable, undemocratic, un-American it is? Are there not better ways of symbolically registering your disgust with the popular use of a word that some find offensive?
Back at the West Village piano bar on Sunday evening, Poppi Kramer had just finished up her cabaret set. She scoffed at the proposal. “I’m a stand-up comic. You may as well just say to me, don’t even use the word ‘the.'”