“You’re a bitch.”

A phrase that everyone is familiar with, whether you’re the recipient or the commentator. We all know or are someone that has been called a bitch. It’s not viewed to be a good thing, in fact, most times the phrase is used to bring a person down and degrade them. When a woman says something that you don’t agree with, or you don’t like her attitude, you call her a bitch. When a woman turns you down at the bar, or she doesn’t respond when you tell her to smile more, she is a frigid bitch. She’s confident and wants equal treatment? Must be a bitch.

Ladies, be the biggest bitch you can be.

Since the dawn of time women have been made to feel as though they are second-class citizens. There was a point in time where women couldn’t vote, own property, and couldn’t work. Women have been repressed for ages, and the situation has not gotten much better. There’s still a wage gap; there is still blatant sexism in school and the workplace. Do men have to take off their wedding bands when they go into an interview in fear of rejection? Are men mocked in STEM fields? Do men have to deal with unwanted contact and catcalls? I may be playing my woman card by saying it, but being a woman is not easy. We live in fear every day. Was your son given a rape whistle on his first day at college?

Women are still seen as weak people. Men still expect us to step to the side if we’re walking in a narrow hallway coming towards each other. Men still expect us to apologize for everything we do and for every suggestion we have. These expectations won’t likely leave anytime soon. So stop stepping to the side. Let yourselves collide until they learn to move the hell over. Stop apologizing; they never do it so why should you? Be confident in everything that you do, be the bitch that doesn’t take no for an answer in the office. Be the bitch that didn’t bring coffee. Be the bitch that makes the decisions. Being a bitch is viewed as a negative thing, don’t let it be.

In my twenty-one years, I have been called a bitch literally over a thousand times. Usually by strangers when I don’t pick my head up when they call to me on the street. I am called a bitch at school, at work, and everywhere in between. For the longest time, I blamed myself for that. I thought that it made me unapproachable and believed that everyone hated me. I now understand what they all mean when they yell that nasty phrase at me. When I have an opinion, I make sure that it is heard in a respectful manner. It is usually an unpopular opinion, but it’s still valid. I do not undermine people when talking about my beliefs, but they are important. When I want something done at work or school, I make sure it gets done.Some will say that I am controlling or that I don’t work well with others, but that is not the case. If I want something done, I want it done right. If someone makes a mistake, it’s going to get corrected. I’m not going to bully anyone into doing things exactly my way; I don’t even care if it’s my way at all as long as it’s right. I get things done and for that, I am a bitch.

Be the bitch you want to see society treat as a human being.