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Monday night I made my WGN network debut (well, if you don't count catching glimpses of me at Cubs games) on the WGN News discussing the B word - BITCH.
I taped the segment a few weeks ago and it was pretty nerve wracking because the crew was coming to my house (clean up!), on a "vacation" day I had scheduled to watch my daughter & her BFF on one of many CPS teacher service days, I didn't know how the doxie would react with two strange men coming over, AND of course, it was my first on camera in a long time. But thanks to my peeps at the Women's Media Center, I had my talking points all written out.
I never got to meet the producer, Pam, but we chatted on the phone quite a bit before and over the past few days. She seems like an awesome woman and I hope we can work together again in the future. Antwan is amazing. He was super nice and seemed genuinely interested in the conversation. The gold star goes to the camera man who had to make sure I looked good, Antwan & I sounded good, AND kept the doxie & her collar with all her tags from ruining a shot. Yup, Annie was all up in the camera man's arms at some points of the interview. It was pretty cute.
I want to be clear on one thing - I do not condone calling a woman a bitch in anger. I do believe that women, yes it's a woman thing, can call each other one in jest or in a congenial way. I haven't used bitch with my friends in a long time thou. When I was in my 20s, I did say beatch a lot. The first time I can recall being called a bitch, not in the good way, had to had been on the playground by a boy. The first clear time by another girl was in high school when someone I thought was a friend took an effort to stroll over and tell me in my ear. Um, thanks. I think that's when I started to try to reclaim it...that and a few other words that girls get called in high school.
The motherly advise I give is from one my partners-in-parenting, Cinnamon, who loves to tell the kid stories of disarming bullies without lifting a finger.
While I haven't heard any direct negative comments about the segment, I did hear some indirect questions about why this segment mattered, aren't there other things we should be talking about, and so forth. I address this issue over at WIMN's Voices.
The best part of the segment for me was getting the word out about Bitch magazine. Maybe a few more feminists saw the piece and thought, "Even if I don't agree with Veronica, I need to check out that magazine!" Because the magazine really embodies how we can reclaim the word and use it in a positive manner.
Thanks for all the congrats from all the friends, coworkers and family.