Ultimate Fighting Champion Ronda Rousey recently started a campaign to help women with body issues through selling "Don't Be a DNB" t-shirts and donating the proceeds to Didi Hirsch 501c3. The slogan DNB, or Do-Nothing Bitch, has offended a lot of women instead of empowering them to be independent and strong. To those that have a problem with this, I want to know why.
The biggest issue people have is including "bitch" in the slogan, interpreting it as offensive and misogynistic. Yes, I agree, that's generally what this word means in pop culture. But let's please clear that up; that's not what's happening here. Rousey is telling us NOT to be a "bitch." Yes, she is using the term in a derogatory context but she is not calling or describing any woman or their actions as "bitchy." Then there's the other interpretation, that if you are not doing something, you're not just lazy, not just a plain old B, you're a DNB. Some may construe this as harsh, but being harsh can be just the motivation some people need. It certainly works for Rousey.
Others have asked how Rousey can claim she's not a DNB when all she really does is fight others for money and fame. The way I see it, Rousey's career is based on doing something she loves and working hard at it. That's all most people want out of a career and she went and got it. There may not be so much nobility associated with winning fights nowadays, but there is nobility in doing good things with your fame. Rousey is using her fame to help women find self-confidence and security in being themselves. She, and all other professional athletes that go out of their way to do these things, definitely deserve a congratulations, whether or not you think it's just for the PR.
In an interview, Rousey related how her mother used to tell her not to be a DNB and how it inspires her to work hard at all she does. In my opinion, we should all live by this mantra (if it makes you more comfortable, substitute another word for the B). Maybe some women aspire to be, as Rousey puts it, "the kind of chick that just tries to be pretty and be taken care of by someone else," or the trophy wife that lives off of the hope of an inheritance from her father or inappropriately older husband. But that is not me and I certainly know that does not describe my role-models.
I believe that you should work hard for things you want. And I also believe that you should work towards something that betters the people around you, or the people that aren't around you. That is what not being a DNB actually embraces: finding something you're passionate about, finding something you can do to help others, and doing something about it. Whether or not you like her DNB slogan, you can't deny she lives up to what she stands for. As a UFC champion and now starting a campaign for women struggling with their body images, Ronda Rousey is definitely not a DNB.
