To ask why calling someone a bitch Is so awful

[TrickyD]

Whenever a poster describes someone as a bitch, a Mumsnet uproar ensues. I simply do not understand why bitch is deemed to be so much worse than calling someone a cow or a mare, as is frequently done with absolutely no protests.

I think ‘bitch’ is quite coded - bitchiness is stereotypically seen as a female vice.

I don’t personally see it as worse than a host of other insults (and sometimes someone really is being a bitch) but I expect that’s where the pushback comes from.

i guess everyone has different ideas on whats acceptable or not. i cannot stand the c word but some of my friends use it. doesnt mean i dont like them any less. guess it depends how you were raised ... bitch to me is a cutting word. i would have to be very mad or really not like someone to call them that.

Swear words with female connotations are often viewed as worse/dirty, it's why we can call people dicks and it's seen as mild but call someone a cunt and all hell breaks loose (IME not the case in parts of East and South London where it's a term of endearment). Because of course female genitalia is the most horrific thing you can describe someone as.

Bitchiness is stereotypically seen as a female vice.
Yes but mares and cows are female too. I appreciate that we all dislike certain words, but there seems to be no logic in the ferocious MN reaction to bitch .