Wordslut - A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language
                                
                                
                             
                            
                         
                            
                            
                        Even before its usage to mean "a female canine," bitch didn't refer to women at all-it originated as a gender-neutral word for "genitalia." A perfectly innocuous word devolving into an insult directed at females is the case for tons more terms, including hussy, which simply meant "housewife";