“I love my grudges,” Reese Witherspoon’s Madeline Mackenzie declared in Big Little Lies. “I tend to them like little pets.” The quip is played for comedy, but Madeline is onto something. Grudge-holding, pettiness, unadulterated honesty, and — let’s get on with it — bitchiness fuels our ambition and fights the tedium of responsible adulthood. It’s the secret ingredient that keeps us all on our toes.
In recent years, the cultural figure of the bitch has been forced into hiding, having fallen out of style in favor of goodwill and girl-girl solidarity. We’re even looking back on our past through a gentler, therapized, lens, rehabbing all the tyrannical Queen Bees we were once taught to hate. Maybe the bitch had trauma?
But in this rush to perform solidarity and dissect lesser-known forms of interpersonal harm, we may have thrown the baby out with the bathwater. Could the world actually be a better place — more honest, more just, more unpredictable, more fun — if we were just a little bit bitchier?
There are signs the tide’s already turning. Points to Jennifer Lopez, who after a lengthy marriage purgatory in the tabloids filed for divorce from Ben Affleck on their wedding anniversary. Props to Blake Lively, who spun the entire press cycle for It Ends With Us into a deft takedown of her director/costar/nemesis. And a round of applause for Charli XCX, who dedicated an entire song on brat to her “mean girls.” The bitch is back, and she’s having a ball.
So let’s join the party, shall we? That’s right, we’re going on a bitch hunt, and we hope you’ll come. Sharpen up those axes that you’ve been longing to grind, prepare a list of hard truths that are aching to be told, and say it with us: Get in, bitches.
I Hate That Bitch. I Owe Her Everything.
There’s nothing like a nemesis to fuel your ambition. By Chloe Joe
Everyone is rushing to prove they support women unconditionally — and accuse others of falling short. By Magdalene Taylor
