"Like the term 'nigger,' 'bitch 'serves the social function of isolation and discrediting a class of people who do not conform to the socially accepted patterns of behavior." This quote comes from The Bitch Manifesto written by Joreen and many statements that she made echoed feelings that I have held in the past. Men and women use the term "bitch" to deter women from acting outside of their prescribed social roles and characteristics. When a women shows anger or aggression peers advise her "not to be a bitch about it." When women say things that others do not wish to hear, they are told to "quit bitching." This is a term that is meant to have a negative connotation, however I have respected women who would be labeled as "bitches."

Even though my mother was a "housewife" and my father the "breadwinner", my parents still raised a bitch. They taught me from a young age that I could aspire to be whatever I wanted to be and I have never questioned that to this day. My Father used to threaten to lock me in my room (to prevent me from competing-not that I ever did) when I went through a stage where I desired to be Miss America. I was raised to always voice my opinion, because it mattered. It is because my mother was a housewife and still raised me in the way she did that made me question the universality (even amongst middle-class white women) of the assertions made by Betty Friedan in "The Feminine Mystique."

Although both Firedan and Joreen had problems with essentialism within their manifesto's, they were both very important in bringing about momentum in the women's liberation movement. Both of their writings enabled the reader to find insight into their identity that they might not have been able to truly conceptualize without the assistance of others voicing it. For example, I realized that I was a true bitch:)