We read:
"Black activists in America recently held a mock funeral, complete with wooden coffin, to mark the demise of the hated racist slur known as the "N-word". Now they have begun campaigning to purge the much-used "B-word" from the language.
New York City Council, which declared a moratorium on the word "nigger" in March, is now debating a similar symbolic ban on the word "bitch". "Some young ladies have no self-esteem. If you call some of them that, that means a lifetime of hurt - the same way as if you say the `N-word' to someone," said Darlene Mealy, the Brooklyn councilwoman behind the proposal.
The battle over insults is part of a wider culture war sparked by the spread of hip-hop music, with its obscenity laced lyrics. Black rappers such as Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliott have long referred to women in their songs as "bitches" and "'ho's" - a corruption of "whore".
But the epithet has been embraced by white artists such as the singer-songwriter Meredith Brooks, who proclaimed in a 1997 hit: "I'm a bitch." Black celebrities from the TV talkshow host Oprah Winfrey to hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons have criticised the now-commonplace use of such sexist terms.
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