# Pretty Bitches: On Being Called Crazy, Angry, Bossy, Frumpy, Feisty, and All the Other Words That Are Used to Undermine Women - Hardcover

by **Lizzie Skurnick** (Author), **Rebecca Traister** (Introduction by)

**These empowering essays from leading women writers examine the power of the gendered language that is used to diminish women -- and imagine a more liberated world.**

Words matter. They wound, they inflate, they define, they demean. They have nuance and power. "Effortless," "Sassy," "Ambitious," "Aggressive" What subtle digs and sneaky implications are conveyed when women are described with words like these? Words are made into weapons, warnings, praise, and blame, bearing an outsized influence on women's lives -- to say nothing of our moods.

No one knows this better than Lizzie Skurnick, writer of the _New York Times'_ column _"_That Should be A Word"and a veritable queen of cultural coinage. And in _Pretty Bitches_, Skurnick has rounded up a group of powerhouse women writers to take on the hidden meanings of these words, and how they can limit our worlds -- or liberate them.

From Laura Lipmann and Meg Wolizer to Jennifer Weiner and Rebecca Traister, each writer uses her word as a vehicle for memoir, cultural commentary, critique, or all three. Spanning the street, the bedroom, the voting booth, and the workplace, these simple words have huge stories behind them -- stories it's time to examine, re-imagine, and change.

### Author Biography

**Lizzie Skurnick** is the creator of the long-running _New York Times Magazine_ word-coinage column "That Should Be a Word." Her coinages have been featured in _Entertainment Weekly_, _Slate_, _The Atlantic Monthly_, _Entertainment Weekly_, on NPR's Weekend Edition, and more. She served a term as Vice President of the National Book Critics Circle, and has been a judge for the LA Times book prize and the PEN Book awards. A frequent contributor to _The New York Times_, NPR, _Elle_, _Jezebel_, and many other publications, she teaches at NYU. She lives in New York City.

**Number of Pages:** 320

**Dimensions:** 1.1 x 8.3 x 5.8 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** March 03, 2020

## Details

- **Price:** 28.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
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| Default Title | 28.00 USD | In stock |

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- Pretty Bitches: On Being Called Crazy, Angry, Bossy, Frumpy, Feisty, and All the Other Words That Are Used to Undermine Women - Hardcover

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