Re-Feminist History (aka Bitchstory)

Catch up on podcast episodes!  Bitchstory Join Patreon and get weekly  Bitchscopes  & more!    This week on the podcast we are talking about a woman I’m certain you’ve never heard of.  She was a philosopher.  Philosophy is such a fascinating study.  My brain doesn’t work quite that way but I love how philosophical people force me to consider things I’d never considered (and I generally consider a lot!).  Hannah made people a bit uncomfortable. And I feel like that’s actually a good thing sometimes…something we need a little more of today.   Hannah Arendt did not believe that evil always looks like a monster… Sometimes, she said, it looks like a man doing his job. “The sad truth is that most evil is done by people who never make up their minds to be good or evil.” That idea alone should qualify her as required reading in modern America. Arendt was a German-Jewish political theorist who fled the Nazis, landed in the United State...

  He killed her. And after he did, he called her a “fucking bitch.” Not during a struggle. Not in fear. After. That word didn’t slip out accidentally. It arrived fully formed. Comfortable. Familiar. Practiced. Every woman I know recognized the tone instantly. Not as politics. As memory. Because we’ve heard it before. In kitchens. In cars. In breakups that turned into threats. In workplaces. In bedrooms. In courtrooms. It’s the voice men use when they decide your humanity is optional. And here’s the part that keeps circling in my head: It wouldn’t have mattered what she did. It wouldn’t have mattered if she was polite. Or calm. Or compliant. Or quiet. Or grateful. Or perfect. Because the word doesn’t describe behavior. It describes disobedience. Every woman learns this early: You can be kind and still be called a bitch. You can be careful and still be called a bitch. You can be small and still be called a bitch. You can be bleeding and ...