B's and H's and the Rest of It

***DISCLAIMER: There will be profanity in the following post, not because I enjoy it, but because I feel its use is necessary to make a point. Thank you......******

I have just about had it with this nonsense. The nonsense to which I am in reference is this whole "bitch, ho" debacle. Because this isn't about some random curse words, this is about empowerment or lack thereof.

Men should not call women bitches and hos (is that the correct spelling or should it be hoes?......no that's a garden tool.....anyway). This is true. Women should not call other women bitches and/or hos. This is a problem that should have been addressed and solved by WOMEN a long time ago.

I'm sorry, I for one do not need Al Sharpton or Russell Simmons or Harvey Levin or even my own husband telling me this. This is something that my MOTHER (a WOMAN, mind you) taught me a long time ago. I was taught as a very young girl that there are certain things that you simply do not allow anyone, be they man, woman or child, to call you. You know, things such as "stupid", "fat", "ugly", "bitch" and "whore". I'm pretty sure, not positive, but pretty sure, that every little girl (and a lot of little boys) were told this at some point in their life. At what point did we forget this?

Was it when we were trying to look cool in front of friends when we were teenagers and dog out on some girl who had the "reputation"? (Bear in mind, reputation is not always fact and oftentimes is a complete fabrication.) Was it when we were trying to emulate some rebellious rock star or movie actor, not realizing what they were doing was putting on a show for our entertainment, not for our imitation? Was it when the first man called us a bitch or a ho because they were angry or jealous, not to mention incapable of producing a word which more accurately reflected how they were feeling at the time? When was it? When did we forget to act like civilized creatures with a higher logic and a higher purpose than the animals around us?

And when did we, as women, start letting men tell us, after so many years of this, that we were allowed to say something about it now? I've been saying something about it for years and have pretty much either been ignored or told "well, boys will be boys." Okay, so when do boys become men? Oh, I suppose when THEY make the decision to be morally correct and righteous. It's a little too late for that fellas.

Women have been fighting this battle for years and now, just because some MAN decides that we (women) need to organize a march to protest how we have been treated for YEARS, we're supposed to jump up and say "Yessah, massah"? I don't think so. Ihave BEEN protesting this treatment over half of my life, and I am not the only woman who has done so. Where were you THEN? Yes, you Mr. Simmons, with your Def Comedy Jam with it's misogynistic overtones. Was it when you had two daughters of your own? So, what, now you're trying to take back decades of the garbage that you and your ilk (men that is) helped to spead like the cancer that it is?

This is for women to take care of. This is for women to teach their sons and daughters to be better than. ( Men, I'm sorry for the few good ones that are out there. You have a hard time letting your light shine through this. Keep trying though. Maybe, after enough generations have passed, this will be but a distant, if ugly, memory in our collective subconscious.) This is not for men to take us by our hands and tell us "It's okay, you can do it." This is for us to tell ourselves "we can do it together." Because until we can demand respect from ourselves, there is no way that we can command respect from anyone else.

Now, Al......chew on that.

Peace allllllllll.......................