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What's Up, Bitch? University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 8-2006 What's up, Bitch? Mary Elizabeth Asbury University of Tennessee, Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Communication Commons Recommended Citation Asbury, Mary Elizabeth, "What's up, Bitch?. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2006. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/4478 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Mary Elizabeth Asbury entitled "What's up, Bitch?." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Communication. John W. Haas, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Kenneth J. Levine, Michelle T. Violanti Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I amsubmitting herewith a thesis written by Mary Elizabeth Asbury entitled "What's up, Bitch?: The Judgment of Hate Speech towards Women by College Students." I have examined the finalpaper copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partialfulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Communication. �s, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Michelle T. Violanti Accepted forthe Council: Vice Chancello nd Dean of Graduate Studies What's up, Bitch?: The Judgment of Hate Speech towardsWomen by College Students A Thesis Presented for the Master of Science Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville MaryElizabeth Asbury August 2006 Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my father, the late Harold Franklin Asbury, who never doubted my abilities and who informedme at the age of seven that girls could be scientists too. 11 Acknowledgements I would like to thank all of thosewho helped me attain my Master of Science degree in Communication. I would like to thankDr. John Haas forchairing my committee, forintroducing me to the topic of hate speech, and forencouraging me to "go forthand do great things." I would also like to thank Dr. Ken Levine and Dr. Michelle Violantifor serving on my committee and forall of their advice about school and life in general. In addition, I would like to thank Andrew Craig Tollison for helping me with data entry, and I would like to thankDr. Bob Muenchen forhelping me with data analysis. Finally, I would like to thankmy family and friendsfor all of their love, prayers, support and encouragement during thisprocess. 111 Abstract This study examinedthe judgments rendered by college students about the term "bitch." While the term was once considered to be hate speech towards women, popular culture has made the term relatively common, oftengiving it a comical meaning (Lee, 1998). Because much of our popular culture is aimed at the 18-24 age groups, it follows that the term "bitch" is often not considered to be hate speechby this generation. In addition, women are now gaining status in Western cultures, and are entering fieldsonce dominated by men. Women who were once considered to be outcasts and "uppity" for entering the workforceare now the norm, causing a change in the term from being considered an insult (Herbst, 2001; Joreen, 1969; Sutton, 1995). This study investigated if there has been a shiftin acceptability with the term "bitch" with college students ages 18- 24. This study consisted of a mixed-methods design that included both free-response andLikert scale survey items and was conducted in two phases during two separate semesters at a large southeasternuniversity. Results revealed that participants could distinguish between conceptualizations of hate speech and offensive speech. In addition, the term "bitch" was considered to be both hate speech and offensive speech, forits meaning was dependent upon context. However, overall, femalesconsidered the term "bitch" to be more offensive thanmen. IV Table of Contents Chapter I. Introduction ..........................................................................................1 II. Rationale ............................................................................................... 4 Social JudgmentTheory ........................................................................4 Attitude and Ego ...............................................................................4 Context and Meaning ............................................................................. 9 Context .................................................. :.. ......................................... 9 Meaning ..........................................................................................10 Hate Speech ......................................................................................... 12 Conceptualizations of Hate Speech ................................................ 12 Harmsof Hate Speech .................................................................... 13 Crunpus Hate Speech ...................................................................... 15 Hate Speech towards Women ......................................................... 17 Offensive Speech ................................................................................. 18 Differencesin Perceptions of Offensiveness.. ................................20 Women's use of OffensiveLanguage .............................................22 Bitch ..................................................................................................... 24 History of the Word Bitch ........................ � ...................................... 24 Meanings of the Word Bitch ...........................................................25 III. Methodolog}'....... ................................................................................29 Overall Method and Design .................................................................29 Participants.......... .................................................................................29 Instruments ........................................................................................... 30 Phase One ........................................................................................30 Phase Two ....................................................................................... 30 Procedures ............................................................................................32 Analysis.. .............................................................................................. 33 Hypothesis 1 ....................................................................................3 3 ResearchQuestions 1 and 2 ............................................................36 Hypothesis 2 ....................................................................................3 7 Hypothesis 3 ....................................................................................37 IV. Results .................................................................................................3 8 Hypothesis l .........................................................................................38 ResearchQuestion 1 ............................................................................40 ResearchQuestion 2 ............................................................................40 Hypothesis 2 ......................................................................................... 41 Hypothesis 3 ......................................................................................... 42 V V. Discussion ............................................................................................44 Hypothesis 1 .........................................................................................44 Research Question 1 ............................................................................48 Research Question 2 ............................................................................49 Hypothesis 2 ......................................................................................... 50 Hypothesis3 ......................................................................................... 51 VI. Limitations ........................................................................................... 53 VII. Future Research ................................................................................. 58 VIII. Conclusion ...........................................................................................60 References .......................................................................................................62 Appendices ......................................................................................................73 Appendix A ......................................................................................................74 Appendix B ...................................................................................................... 7 5 Appendix C .....................................................................................................
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