Ya’ll know the word b***h has become the new n-word in some ways. Even though it doesn’t have nearly the same history, certain people can say the word in certain company and other’s cant,because as soon as someone gets a little too comfortable and let’s anything that rhymes with itch and starts with a b roll off their tongue when they don’t know you like that, it is on and poppin’! Think it’s not? Let this video show you.

by Charing Ball

Is there ever any justification for calling a woman the B-word?

If I’m judging by most of my proudly feminist friends and Queen Latifah, who once belted out, “Who you calling a Itchbay” before socking some disrespectful dude in the eye, the answer is an infatuate no.  Now we can’t go through life socking people, even though we may want to, but none of us likes being referred to as bitches – even though we are quick to call someone else a Itchbay if they push us far enough.

People talk a lot about how rappers like to use the B-word gingerly in their songs.  However, the word is employed in much of media – from movies to TV shows and even in magazines. The word itself has even found a home in the political spectrum with commentators using the word to label female politicians, whose politics differ from their own.

But recently, there appeared to be glimmer of hope and promise of a Itchbay-free day.  Jay-Z, fresh off of his latest baby-making venture, supposedly wrote a poem for his new child Blueprint IV…err…I mean Blue Ivy, saying: “Before I got in the game, made a change, and got rich/ I didn’t think hard about using the word Beyotch/ I rapped, I flipped it, I sold it, I lived it/ Now with my daughter in this world I curse those that give it.” Awl, that’s so sweet. A proud new poppa, feeling the joys that only a new baby could bring, has inspired Jay-Z in such a way that years of protesting by C. Delores Tucker, couldn’t.

Problem is that the reports were wrong. And even as Blue Ivy coos her way to stardom on Glory, nothing will stop Jay-Z from using the B-world. Not even the big B (eyonce) herself.  Way to stand your ground for something you believe in Jay.  Nevertheless, while some folks are outraged by Jay-Z’s denouncement of the fraudulent report, some are wondering what the big deal is.  Sure the B-word is defined as a female dog and has been traditionally used to demean women, and emasculate men, but it’s not like when these rappers say it, they are calling all women bitches. Right?

Many of us are still so inhibited by our nature to be seen as the idyllic version of womanhood; you know the woman that is selfless, always kind and smiling, never raises her voice or temper and knows how to be seen and not heard, that any presentation to the contrary ultimately brings responses of scorn and contempt.  And yet some women, who desire to be liberated by the restraints offered to them by the ideal woman, have fully embraced the B-word and even go as far as to use it as a terms of endearment.  You could probably go on Facebook right now and find hundreds of profiles, which read something like; First name “the baddest Itchbay” Last name.

There’s a letter floating around online that’s said to be a poem Jay Z wrote to his darling daughter Blue Ivy. In it, Jay has supposedly vowed to never use the B word again out of love and respect for his little girl, but something seems a little suspect about this. Here are the lines:

Before I got in the game, made a change, and got rich,

I didn’t think hard about using the word B—-

I rapped, I flipped it, I sold it, I lived it

now with my daughter in this world

I curse those that give it.

I never realized while on the fast track

that I’d give riddance to the word Itchbay, to leave her innocence in tact.

No man will degrade her, or call her out her name

the women won’t despise her and call her the same.

I know it’s gonna miss me

cuz we been together like Nike Airs and crisp tees

when we all used to hang out front

singing 99 problems but a lady ain’t one.

Excuse me miss, can I be your mister

cuz I can tell the difference from a little girl and a sister,

She never grew up, her father left her alone

I promise not to talk like we used to

until Kingdom Come.

I’m so focused on your future,

The degradation has passed

I wish you wealth, health, and insight

forever young you may pass.

Blue Ivy Carter, my angel.

If this letter is in fact true, great! Someone of Jay Z’s rap caliber standing up against the use of a derogatory term to describe women is monumental, but the question is why now? I mean, we know why now—obviously, Blue Ivy—but why now after you just referred to your wife of nearly four years as a B— on your last album (and countless others), plus you have a mama and sisters. It’s kind of messed up none of these  women in his life were important enough to make him hang up the word.

Hopefully this letter is the real deal, and just like Jay ushered in button-ups back in 2008, his lyrical examples will encourage more men to put down the B word and pick up their parenting skills. But so far, the jury is still out on whether this is a commitment he really vowed to make. And I already know what you’re thinking, hopefully the N word will be next.

Do you think it’s likely Jay Z would really give up the B word in his lyrics? If it’s true, what do you think about the fact that his daughter is the only reason he decided to?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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It’s not uncommon to hear a lot of inappropriate conversations on public transportation, but when Jim Hardie, a white, eight-year Marine and Iraq war veteran, heard black men throwing around the n-word and the b-word on a bus in Seattle last week, he said he couldn’t tolerate it.

He told King 5 that he said to the young men:

“Given the nature of what we’ve gone through with the word n***** it’s not appropriate to loosely throw that word around or refer to white women as white b***** and I’d appreciate if they stopped that.”

But that confrontation didn’t go over so well. Camera footage shows the three guys first began arguing with Hardie, then hitting him before jumping off of the bus. Although the altercation was three against one, Hardie came out uninjured.

It’s interesting that Hardie said he stood up to the men to protect the other passengers on the bus. Despite the tussle, he said he would do it all over again to stand up for what he believed in. I wonder if his words had any effect on the young men. Judging by their reaction it would seem the answer is no.

What do you think about Jim Hardie confronting the men? Was it the right thing to do?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Explaining racism to people who’ve never had to deal with it must be like explaining the birthing process to a man. They’ll just never get it.

Eva Hoeke’s resignation from Jackie magazine following the Rihannagate situation earlier this week appeared to be an admission of wrongdoing on their part—but just to make sure no one would think such a ridiculous thing, the magazine’s publisher, Yves Gijrath,  has issued a statement of his own, saying quite the opposite. According to an interpretation, he said:

[T]here is nothing wrong in the magazine. [Hoeke] presented it as a joke, but it most certainly was not a joke. It was an interpretation [of a fashion style]. [...] She should have said: “we did not realize this interpretation is such a touchy subject. We never meant any harm and offer our sincere and upright apologies.” But because of all the fuss, Eva started to wiggle in all directions, and therefore we have come to the conclusion her credibility has been undermined.”

And while that seems like a step in the right apologetic direction, Gijrath followed the statement up by emphasizing that although the magazine had invited Rihanna to respond, it would not be printing a retraction.”We will not be silenced. People are totally off limits when calling both the magazine Jackie and Eva Hoeke racist. Jackie is even produced by an editorial staff that is of mixed origins.”

Is that sort of like saying, “I have black friends?” Would people be off limits if they called Jackie, Eva Hoeke, and Yves Gijrath ignorant?

I need for Gijrath to recognize that with his words he basically undid the sorry apology that Hoeke issued in the first place by saying it wasn’t her editorial judgment that got her fired, it was her refusal to stand by the magazine’s decision to publish racist and sexist terms. Perhaps he isn’t so concerned with how he’s skewed the image of black women in America by printing this article; and it’s evident he doesn’t care whether or not we feel disrespected by those words, but how have we come to the point that we’re not even deserving of an adequate apology?

In so many instances we hear apologies that we know were forced and don’t hold much weight, but the fact that the publisher doesn’t see fit to issue his own speaks to how unimportant he sees this issue. It’s not enough to say Hoeke should have offered her utmost sincere apologies, where are his?

Anyone with a tenth of a brain knows the history of the N-word, and even if you chose to ignore that for your own racist enjoyment, is it cool to refer to a woman as a B in a female magazine? I guess as long as she’s black, right?

Jackie continues to dig itself into an even deeper hole with this situation and unfortunately there is little we can do here in America as consumers. Hopefully those who receive the Dutch magazine and who initially expressed outrage at its poor word choice will vote with their feet and cancel their subscriptions, and maybe even advertisers will take a second look at how the magazine upheld its “integrity” among this scandal. This entire situation serves as a reminder of how far we still need to go—-not that we really needed one.

What do you think about the publisher’s words?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Well that didn’t take long. Eva Hoeke, editor-in-chief of Jackie, the controversial magazine that’s having a PR nightmare over the racist terms used in an article to describe Rihanna, has resigned. According to Necole Bitchie, the editor and the publisher felt her credibility were compromised by the incident, and in a statement on the publication’s Facebook page, she announced she is laying down her editorial responsibilities. Here’s what the statement says:

I realize that my first reaction on Twitter, where I indicated that it was a joke, was an incomplete description of what I, and also the author of the article referred. The term ‘n—a b—h’ h” has come over from America and we have only this to describe this particular style of clothes that we can try to interpret. Due to the enormous pressure from social media, I promised to do better regarding the language in future issues of Jackie and I have offered to rectify the situation.

I have now come to the conclusion that rectification is not the right solution. I regret that I have taken too quickly positions on an item in Jackie – which incidentally had no underlying racial motive. In the course of events I went with, the publisher came to the conclusion that, now that my credibility is affected, it’s better for all parties if I immediately lay down my duties as editor. After my eight years giving my heart and soul for Jackie, I realize that these errors – although not malicious intent – are a reason for leaving. “

What do you think about the editor resigning? Is it the right thing to do?

In a twitter lashing that only Rihanna is fit to dish out, the pop star nicely laid into Jackie editor-in-chief Eva Hoeke for dismissing the n****b**** term used to describe her as a “stupid joke.” Here’s what she tweeted:

@evajackie I hope u can read english, because your magazine is a poor representation of the evolution of human rights! I find you disrespectful, and rather desperate!! You ran out of legit, civilized information to print! There are 1000′s of Dutch girls who would love to be recognized for their contributions to your country, you could have given them an article. Instead, u paid to print one degrading an entire race! That’s your contribution to this world! To encourage segregation, to mislead the future leaders to act in the past! You put two words together,with the intent of abasement, that made no sense…”N**** B****”?!….

Well with all respect, on behalf of my race, here are my two words for you…F*** YOU!!!

Rihanna is known to check someone quickly on twitter so we all should have seen this one coming. What do you think of her response?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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The words Dutch magazine Jackie used to describe Rihanna in their latest issue make the pop star’s racist altercation in Portugal this weekend almost seem harmless.

In a very crass description of the singer’s image, the author of the article writes:

She has street cred, she has a ghetto a** and she has a golden throat. Rihanna, the good girl gone bad, is the ultimate n****b**** and displays that gladly, and for her that means: what’s on can come off. If that means she’ll be on stage half naked, then so be it. But Dutch winters aren’t like Jamaican ones, so pick a clothing style in which your daughter can resist minus ten. No to the big sunglasses and the pornheels, and yes to the tiger print, pink shizzle and everything that glitters. Now let’s hope she won’t beat anybody up at daycare.

Thankfully, readers were not shy about their disapproval of the article’s racial slur, and their reactions prompted the magazine’s editor-in-chief to issue an apology, writing on Facebook:

Dear readers,

First: thanks for all your responses. We are of course very fed up over this and especially very shocked. However I’m glad that we’re engaging in a dialogue on this page — not everybody does that. Thanks for this. Other than that I can be brief about this: this should have never happened.Period. While the author meant no harm — the title of the article was intended as a joke — it was a bad joke, to say the least. And that slipped through my, the editor-in-chief’s, fingers. Stupid, painful and sucks for all concerned. The author has been addressed on it, and now I can only ensure that these terms will no longer end up in the magazine. Furthermore I hope that you all believe there was absolutely no racist motive behind the choice of words. It was stupid, it was naive to think that this was an acceptable form of slang — you hear it all the time on tv and radio, then your idea of what is normal apparently shifts — but it was especially misguided: there was no malice behind it. We make our magazine with love, energy and enthusiasm, and it can sometimes happen that someone is out of line. And then you can only do one thing: apologize. And hope that others wish to accept it.

From the bottom of my heart I say it again: we never intended to offend anyone. And I mean that.

Regards,

Eva Hoeke

What a convenient slip. Regardless of what you think about Rihanna and her wild-child image, this article is beyond her. It speaks volumes to people’s attitudes about black women and their obliviousness to the inappropriateness of offensive language directed at us. The slang most likely slipped through the editor-in-chief’s fingers because it’s a term she has no problem applying to black women herself.

The article also exemplifies the reason black women police one another’s women’s images so much. Rihanna is not at fault for the racial slurs directed at her, but it’s a reminder of how black women are not allowed to be overly sexual or have a “bad girl” image without being racially and sexually targeted.

What do you think about the magazine publishing these words and backtracking? Do you think the editor-in-chief’s apology is sincere? Do you think this term is specific to Rihanna or perceptions of black women in general?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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