The Origins Of The Name Bookish Bitch

When I was initially writing the About page, I struggled to decide whether to address the proverbial elephant in the room. I ultimately decided against it in that initial version of the About page, but who knows – a future version may address it. 

Get on with it – where did the name Bookish Bitch come from?

Well, for starters, I realize that there are a lot of book blogs, BookTube accounts, and other bookish social media content out there. A lot of names are already taken. I’m under no illusions about the fact that I’m in a saturated niche. 

So I knew that coming up with a unique name would be difficult. And I’m not that great at coming up with unique names even under the best of circumstances. 

Some factors I was considering names for Bookish Bitch:

1️⃣ I wanted a name that was two words.

2️⃣ I wanted both words to start with the same letter.

3️⃣ I wanted one of the words to reference either books or reading.

When I was considering names, I was also thinking about how much I miss Bitch Magazine. I don’t claim that anything I write here of the same quality as Bitch Magazine, but I’m still sad that Bitch Magazine shut down. I guess you can say I wanted to honor it in some way.

In my mind at the time, it felt appropriate to pair “book” and “bitch.” 

What is some of the history of reclaiming the word bitch?

Bitch Magazine got its name out of a desire to reclaim the word “bitch.” There’s this short video in which Bitch co-founder Andi Zeisler discusses why the name was chosen.

There’s a pretty comprehensive piece on Vox about the history of the use of the word “bitch”. I think it’s worth a read if you’re interested.

Do we really need to reclaim the word “bitch,” though?

I’ll acknowledge that reclaiming bitch can be a tricky matter and not everyone wants the word reclaimed. And that’s fine – everyone is entitled to their opinion. 

To me, a bitch is a woman who is unapologetically herself, who had opinions and isn’t afraid to share them.

Truth be told, I’m still trying to understand my own opinion on the matter. You could say it’s a work in progress. 

What I can say is that how I feel about the word bitch depends on who’s using it and how it’s being used. I think it’s one thing for me to use the word in reference to myself. I think that I need to tread lightly when calling other people bitches, especially if I don’t know how they feel about being the word. 

I would never call someone I care about a bitch if I knew they weren’t comfortable with it. 

So the short answer is maybe some of us want to reclaim the word bitch.

One of the things I didn’t consider

Did you know that some social media platforms won’t let you use the word bitch in your username? This shouldn’t have surprised me, but it’s not something I really consider was. That’s why my social media handles are what they are. 

Another confession

I didn’t think as hard about the name of my book blog as maybe I should have. If I were starting over, I may have chosen differently. But for now, I’m sticking with the name.

So that’s the story.

I hope the name Bookish Bitch doesn’t turn you off from reading what I have to say.