B*&%$

Does anyone else struggle with the word B*&CH? I do. One of my favorite characters: Lafayette on True Blood throws it around like it's about to go out of style and I still love him, but I can't bring myself to let that word slip past my lips. Sadly, there aren't any alternatives that get the point across quite as well as that word. B*&ch is a very versatile word, it can be an insult or an affirmation of female power as in "Queen B*&ch." "She is such a *Diva!" or "What a *Shrew!" lack a certain forcefulness that if you replace the * with B&*ch it can propel it into another linguistic category. There can be an almost grudging sense of respect attached to that word. An episode of one of my favorite show centered around a group of four African-American females (now off the air): Girlfriends, devoted an entire episode to that word. The basic premise was that an outsider called one of them a *b*&ch and it made them re-examine their own usage of the word amongst themselves. I think, ultimately they decided to stop using it but it was an unsatisfactory sort of lesson. There wasn't a good alternative that they could find. Does the dual uses of the word b*&ch, both as an insult or suggestion of female power detract from it's usage in pop culture? It does for me...words have a lot of power and I think that this word is a destructive force that takes away from women more than it gives.