Context matters

Overlawyered:

“Second Circuit: Repeated Use of ‘Bitch’ May Be Enough to Create Hostile Work Environment”

But what if you work in a veterinarian's office? Or a radio station that decides to have a 24 hour marathon of Elton John's "The Bitch is Back"?

Comments

[Matt]

Or a radio station that decides to have a 24 hour marathon of Elton John's "The Bitch is Back"

I'd like to think it would go without saying that this would constitute a hostile work environment. Certainly it would be a hostile auditory and aesthetic one.

[David Welker]

And repeated use of the word "bitch" may not create a hostile work environment. Sounds like a good decision for a jury.

[beamish]

The court didn't rule that it was always enough, just that it was sometimes enough:

"It surely is the case that use of that word in many contexts reflects such hostility. However, we cannot say that use of the word "bitch" always and in every context has that meaning or that its usage need not be viewed in context."