{"id":141574,"date":"2019-12-30T09:00:58","date_gmt":"2019-12-30T14:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=141574"},"modified":"2019-12-16T16:33:06","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T21:33:06","slug":"one-word-bitch-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/12\/30\/one-word-bitch-2\/","title":{"rendered":"One Word: Bitch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>We\u2019re away until January 6, but we\u2019re reposting some of our favorite pieces from 2019. Enjoy your holiday!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/1-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-136199\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/1-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"852\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/1-1.jpg 852w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/1-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/1-1-768x433.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I can tell who\u2019s calling me from across the room by the pitch of their <em>bitch<\/em>. Fati goes up on the <em>i<\/em>\u00a0so that it\u2019s almost a shriek. Hieu gets a little gravelly, dark and full, <em>bitch<\/em> as precursor to some good gossip. Blaire says it flat, matter-of-fact, like a name. Franny says it like a bell, a sweet call to fellowship. I love my bitches. I love being bitched by them. It\u2019s an insult we\u2019ve spun into coin.<\/p>\n<p>The femmes and queers I have known have saved my life. The deep wells of care from femmes; the ingenuity of queer love. <em>Bitch<\/em> is the passport to that nation. Or maybe it\u2019s the national anthem, how we sing our love to each other. Maybe it\u2019s our language.<\/p>\n<p>When I am bitched by the homies, there is no threat on my life. There is no car following me as I hightail it home, <em>bitch<\/em> flung out the window, <em>faggot<\/em> close behind. There is no accusation like back in high school when bitch was a charge made by a fellow boy who could smell the girl in you, or a boy who loved\/hated your girl-body or a boy whose only tongue was violence. I used to be scared of coming off bitch-made. You know: scary, sissy, punk, femme. All those words that I now wear as crowns lurked in the corners of boys\u2019 mouths. I was terrified, trying to exact my walk and perfect a boy-tongue, scared someone would see through my act and spot the bitch in me.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2019\/05\/09\/one-word-bitch\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read more &gt;&gt;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bitch, in another man\u2019s mouth, a knife. In mine, sugar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1761,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60329],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-best-of-2019"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>One Word: Bitch by Danez Smith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bitch, in another man\u2019s mouth, a knife. 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