Bitch (swear word)

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According to Duden, Zicke is a derogatory animal metaphor in contemporary language , which is used as a swear word, especially against girls and women who, from the speaker's point of view, cause difficulties ("Zicken"), i. H. "Bitch". In this way, deviations from existing gender role stereotypes in conflict situations are negatively emphasized and thus “de-legitimized”, ie. This means that the conduct is denied legality . In this respect, it is about behaviors that deviate from the existing gender habitus and thus question existing power relations . If the behavior relates to several people, it is also pejoratively referred to as "cat war", "cat alarm" or mare bite .

backgrounds

According to Ley and Michalik, the background is the lack of societal legitimacy of open conflicts, competition and competition among or with women (girls). In contrast to the female habitus , the male habitus has been shaped over centuries by a growing legitimation and civilization of self-interest and competition. Today the “serious games of competition” and the associated rules of the game are a central component of male socialization (see also Hegemonic Masculinity ). In contrast, open conflicts, competition and competition are viewed as illegitimate and devalued if women (girls) are the actors. While for men (boys) the ideal of a "justice morality" applies, for women (girls) there is the ideal of a "welfare morality". Open conflicts with women (girls) are therefore a "taboo subject" that is difficult to overcome for both men (boys) and women (girls). Due to the lack of social acceptance of open conflicts with women (girls), the development of a constructive practice, i. H. a change in habitus among men (boys) and women (girls) is hindered. The contradicting requirements of idealization and tabooing of constructive conflict practice with women (girls) create a vicious circle or a paradoxical situation .

The taboo and lack of acceptance of women (girls) as legitimate actors in conflicts also hinders cooperation with women (girls) at the same level or at management level . This is because social networks of relationships are always based on the most functional balance possible between cooperation and competition (called coopetition in markets ). In everyday life, these balances are still very different for women and men despite all the ideals of equality. For both women (girls) and men (boys), this creates a difficult-to-resolve dichotomy in dealing with women (girls) as powerful actors both in competition and in cooperation.

"Most of the time, it is not the conflict itself that is discussed, but the way in which the conflict is resolved, and belonging to the female gender is defined as an explanatory variable."

etymology

The original association of the swear word used by the goat / goat is a stubbornness and stubbornness traditionally attributed to the goat. The sounds made by a goat are of particular importance in this perception; since these sounds are commonly called grumbling, they are associated with (tend to be inappropriate and / or frequent) complaining or talking badly about something and someone. Because of this context, “grumpy goat” is also one of the numerous variants of the swear word.

In the 1960s, on the other hand, the industrial sociologist Herbert Wiedemann traced the term back to the "drawing file". Among “banking and insurance specialists”, working with such drawing files would have been “particularly monotonous”: “Of the traditional employees, the girls and women who work in the drawing (central collection) department are called“ bitches ”and are accordingly they are also classified according to their status. "

Use of words

With the devaluation as "bitch" a woman is assigned the following behaviors: exaggerated, moody, stubborn, self-loving, pointed, jealous, jealous, arrogant and / or unjust.

Since the 1990s, the term has become very popular. Since then, some neologisms have arisen around the term bitch, for example the so-called "bitch alarm", which usually describes a violent conflict between several "bitches" with one another.

Since 2006 the colloquial and derogatory term "Zickenkrieg" has been in the Duden .

Word field goat and bitch

The expression goat , which is more common today for the animal, is also used as a swear word with a very similar meaning, but is used less often in this context than the expression bitch.

As a verb, someone (or something, for example a technical device) “twitches” when he or she causes inappropriate or unexpected difficulties. As an adjective, someone behaves “bitchy”. Another common noun-verb expression is "Zicken", it has the same meaning as the verb "Zicken". The last three expressions are also used for males. The term Zimtzicke has existed for much longer, and today it is primarily a step up from Zicke . According to its origin, the first part of the word does not refer to the spice cinnamon , but to the redwelsch expression for "gold, money", which was also used antonymically in the 19th century for "worthless stuff, junk". Zimtzicke thus means "a woman who twitches about every cinnamon, every nothingness".

Legal position

The insults " Zicke " or " Zickig " are regularly punished with fines in German courts and the injured person is often awarded compensation for pain and suffering.

See also

literature

  • Mechtild Erpenbeck : "Mare-snappy" ?! - women and competition. Causes and consequences of a disregarded incident . In: Wirtschaftspsychologie aktuell , ISSN  1611-9207 , 2004 (1), pp. 20-25.
  • Ulrike Ley; Regina Michalik: Career strategies for naughty women: New rules of the game for competitive and conflict situations. Munich 2014.
  • Doris Steffens: From “aqua jogging” to “Zickenalarm”. New vocabulary in German since the 1990s reflected in the first larger neologism dictionary. In: Der Sprachdienst 51, H. 4/2007, pp. 146–159.

Web links

Wiktionary: Zicke  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Remarks

  1. zicken http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/zicken
  2. Steffani Engler; Barbara Friebertshäuser (1992): The power of the dominant, in: Angelika Wetterer (Ed.): Profession and gender. About the marginality of women in highly qualified professions. Frankfurt. Pp. 101-120.
  3. Michael Meuser (2010): Gender and Masculinity. Sociological theory and cultural patterns of interpretation. 3rd edition Opladen. P. 116.
  4. Stefan Kühl: Coaching and Supervision: For person-oriented advice in organizations. Wiesbaden 2008. p. 42.
  5. Mechtild Erpenbeck : "Stutenbissig" ?! - women and competition. Causes and consequences of a disregarded incident . In: Wirtschaftspsychologie aktuell , ISSN  1611-9207 , 2004 (1), pp. 20-25.
  6. Ulrike Ley; Regina Michalik: Career strategies for naughty women: New rules of the game for competitive and conflict situations. Munich 2014.
  7. Clemens Wischermann; Anne Nieberding (2004): The Institutional Revolution: An Introduction to German Economic History of the 19th and Early 20th Century. Stuttgart 2004. p. 45.
  8. Pierre Bourdieu (1997): The male rule, in: Dölling, Irene / Krais, Beate (ed.), A everyday game. Gender construction in social practice. Frankfurt / M., S, 203.
  9. ^ Michael Meuser : Serious games. On the construction of masculinity in the competition of men, in: Baur, Nina / Luedtke, Jens (eds.), The social construction of masculinity. Hegemonic and marginalized masculinity in Germany. Opladen 2008, pp. 33-44.
  10. Oliver König: Power in groups. Munich 1996.
  11. Mechtild Erpenbeck : "Stutenbissig" ?! - women and competition. Causes and consequences of a disregarded incident . In: Wirtschaftspsychologie aktuell , ISSN  1611-9207 , 2004 (1), p. 20.
  12. Ulrike Ley; Regina Michalik: Career strategies for naughty women: New rules of the game for competitive and conflict situations. Munich 2014.
  13. ^ Désirée Waterstradt: Process-Sociology of Parenthood. Nation-building, figurative ideals and generative power architecture in Germany, Münster 2015.
  14. Cordula Dittmer: Gender Trouble in the Bundeswehr: A Study on Identity Constructions and Gender Orders with Special Consideration of Foreign Deployments. Bielefeld 2015. p. 195.
  15. ^ Wiedemann: The new employees , Social World 1:13, 1962, p. 35; Jaeggi / Wiedemann: The employee in the automated office, Kohlhammer, 1963, p. 195
  16. Duden online, cat war
  17. Lutz Röhrich: Lexicon of the proverbial sayings . Herder Publishing House, 1977.
  18. Michael Krumm, "Where does the term 'Zimtzicke' come from?" In: Hamburger Abendblatt of November 10, 2011 ( online text ).
  19. - "You idiot" . In: Deutschlandradio Kultur . ( deutschlandradiokultur.de [accessed December 10, 2016]).
  20. Michael Terhaag: Internet lawyer warning forum: Erection.de. In: Erection.de. Retrieved December 10, 2016 .
  21. Barbara Kirchner: 3000 euros fine for “bitch”: Judge issues penal order against Düsseldorf pensioners . In: Express.de . ( express.de [accessed December 10, 2016]).