Are you a woman who is often unpleasant, easily annoyed, easily angered or do you like to argue with men? If any of these things are descriptive of your normal behavior, then you might just be a bitch.

Most women while not liking the term “bitch”, will label other women as a bitch when they are talking just as women.  Men sometimes tell other men to “Stop acting like bitch” – meaning that they should stop acting moody or emotional like a woman.

But most women, outside the black community, utterly hate being called a bitch by men.  It is considered one of the most disrespectful things a man can say about a woman.

Why It’s Not Wrong to Call Some Women a Bitch

Our modern term “bitch” is a replacement for a much older term “shrew“.  A shrew, like our modern word bitch which refers to female dogs, also referred to an animal.  A shrew was a small rodent that would infest homes and sometimes bite people. 

 A shrew is defined by Cambridge dictionary as a “a woman who is considered to be unpleasant and easily annoyed, and who argues a lot” and this is also the definition of a bitch in modern times.

Most Christians today object to men ever calling a woman a bitch. But Christians of the past had no issue with labeling women who acted in these ways as shrews.

The modern aversion to calling out and confronting bitchy behavior in women is a result of the “women are wonderful” effect on society.

The phrase was coined by Alice Eagly and Antonio Mladinic in 1994 after finding that both male and female participants tend to believe women have better characters and are less flawed than men.

The “women are wonderful” ideology holds that women should never be spoken of in a negative manner.

The Bible does not take this approach to women at all.

In Proverbs 21:9 says:

“It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.”

Proverbs 21:19 says:

“It is better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and an angry woman.”

Proverbs 27:15 says:

“A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.”

Proverbs 11:22 says:

“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.”

Jesus said some people act like swine and dogs in Matthew 7:6:

“Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.”

Job told his wife she was speaking as a fool in Job 2:10:

“But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.”

In 1 Timothy 5:13-14, the Apostle Paul says the following about flaws common to young women:

“And withal they learn to be idle, wandering about from house to house; and not only idle, but tattlers also and busybodies, speaking things which they ought not. I will therefore that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”

And 2 Timothy 3:6 the Apostle Paul writes about “silly” women:

“For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts…”

So, the Bible says that women can be contentious, brawling, foolish, silly, angry, nagging, lazy, busybodies and tattlers (aka – gossips).  It also calls women who lack discretion to pigs.

In other words, the Bible acknowledges the reality of the bitchy woman.

So, the question is not whether bitchy women exist, because they do.  Nor is it wrong to call out and label such women bitchy as the Bible labels these kinds of women in the same manner.

The question for you as a woman is – will you change your behavior so that no man, not your father, not your brother and not you husband could label you as a bitch?

Are you a bitch?

Let’s remember what people mean when they call a woman a bitch – they are saying she is a woman who is “unpleasant and easily annoyed, and who argues a lot”.   

As a woman reading this you might think “I am sometimes unpleasant, sometimes I get annoyed and occasionally I argue with my husband about something – does that mean I am a bitch?”   The answer to that question is no.  There is a difference between a woman being “bitchy” occasionally and a woman being a “bitch”.

All women, especially when they are experiencing PMS, may very temporarily act in these bitchy ways.  But this is not characteristic or normal behavior for them.  A bitch is a woman who is normally and not just occasionally unpleasant, easily annoyed and argumentative.

Ladies, would those who know you best say that it is characteristic of you to be unpleasant, easily annoyed or argumentative?  If the answer is yes – then you are a bitch.

The question is – do you want to do anything about it? Do you want to go from being unpleasant to being pleasant? Do you want to go from being easily annoyed to not being easily annoyed? Do you want to stop being argumentative?

If you want to change, if you to stop being a bitch – the Bible has answers for you as to how to do it. In my podcast series below, I take women through a step by step biblical backed approach to ridding themselves of their bitchy and unfeminine behaviors.

How To Stop Being A Bitch