bitch. (verb) Complain.

Clearly this is related to the implication that bitches complain. Any gender can bitch and bitching is not an action engaged in solely by women. Nonetheless, the term remains genderized. Bitching is not considered professional or polite. When a woman complains, she is much more likely to have her concerns characterized as bitching, as opposed to a man who presents similar issues in a similar way. Conversely, when a man's actions are described as “bitching” there is an implied negative judgment, perhaps even the implication that he is whining and certainly not acting the way a “real man” would.

Figures 2 and 3 demonstrate the impact of gender on the interpretation of the shaking of a finger. Former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev and Senator Hillary Clinton have drawn the ire of many, each in his and her own time. Yet we are unlikely to think that Khrushchev was a bitch when he complained. Labeling someone as “bitching” often acts to delegitimize reasonable complaints, or undermine a woman exercising appropriate authority. Not that Khrushchev's complaints were considered legitimate or reasonable in this country.

Figure 2 is Khrushchev as he appeared on the cover of the December 2, 1957 edition of Life Magazine. In Figure 3, Senator Clinton's photograph was taken by EPA/SCANPIX. These images are copyrighted and unlicensed. I believe that the use of these scaled-down, low-resolution portions of images to illustrate the article “bitch (verb) ” qualifies as fair use under United States copyright law.