Elizabeth Wurtzel’s ‘Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women’ celebrates strong and defiant women, from the biblical femme fatale Delilah to the beloved Princess Diana and the notorious Courtney Love. Deriving evidence from literary scholars and theologians to empowered women portrayed in music, literature, and film, Wurtzel argues that society tends to devalue rule-breaking women, diminishing their power and strength to sexual wiles and manipulative destruction. of men as a means of keeping them below, below men, below power. This book narrates and defends strong and virile women who have lived outside and beyond the prescribed rules that society inscribes on their bodies and individuality, and who have been punished for it, in one way or another.
A Harvard graduate and social commentator, Elizabeth Wurtzel’s prose is like poetry—not the whimsical, romantic kind expected of women, but a force to be reckoned with. He is neither romantic nor suave, but fine and intelligent, sometimes harsh and biting, but continually informed and well researched. Wurtzel points out that, historically, biblically, socially, and politically, women continue to be blamed for the destruction of men. Like Eve, she continues the belief, women use beauty and sex to seduce and destroy men in power, men with strong determination. She argues that men should be responsible for their own demise. If women are weak and inferior and men are strong and superior, how can petite women have so much power over tough men? If men can fight wars and rule nations, then how come they cannot overcome the seduction of a lesser character, a lesser being. She argues that “this notion of women dragging men down with sex…is the basis of too much nonsense, it’s the reason rape victims aren’t named but alleged rapists are, which implies the former, not the latter, he should be ashamed because she must have made him do it, she led him to commit a criminal act… Women don’t bring men down, for whatever reason men bring themselves down , and then suddenly “(64) ).
This is a powerful book with an even more powerful message that articulates how feminine strength and power have been appropriated and misinterpreted by male writers, theologians, and scholars. From the time of Eve and Delilah to the present, strong women have been viewed with negativity and derision, their power over men diminished to the manipulative use of their beauty and sexual prowess, even if they weren’t beautiful or sexy to begin with; but the blame had to go somewhere for man’s fall, and of course man could not blame himself. It’s a great book with an empowering message to redefine the way we view female sexuality and female strength, and I highly recommend it to all women and girls who want to find their power and agency outside of the wiles of their femininity.