~~Bitterness or Girl Power!?~~

Watch the video and Pay attention to the lyrics…

What do you think of the song?

Bitterness is an emotion which encompasses feelings of anger and hatred. It is often a feeling of resentment directed towards others for reasons of neglect, jealousy, or trauma.

Bitterness is loss frozen in resentment. Bitterness grows out of our refusal to let go when someone or something is taken from us.

Perhaps it grows from the literal loss of a loved one or of a job, or income, or relationship. Sometimes it might be more subtle and grow from the loss of a reputation, or social position in a group, or control. Whatever the cause, bitterness grows out of unreleased loss.

Whenever we lose something or someone significant we often feel the following thoughts and emotions over a period of time as we grieve over that loss:

• There is often denial. 'This can't be happening to me. I will wake up and it will go away!'
• There may be shock and numbness.
• There is often guilt. 'I did something wrong. I'm being punished. This is my fault!'
• Perhaps there is depression, especially when a death or loss of career is involved. 'This is so awful. Life is now meaningless. I can't cope!'
• There is almost certainly anger. 'My world is changing. How dare anybody come and change my world? Why should it happen to me?'
• There is almost certainly bargaining. 'If only I hadn't said that … made that journey … If only he/she hadn't moved got promoted … moved away … bought that … This loss would not have happened. If I could change the circumstances I could lessen the loss. I could have prevented it!'

The final stage of grieving is to be able to let go.

The phrase "Girl Power," as a term of empowerment, expressed a cultural phenomenon of the mid-late 1990s to the early 2000s and is also linked to third-wave feminism.

There is great debate as to both the origins and meaning of the phrase "Girl Power." While "Grrrl Power" was a term frequently associated with the Riot Grrrl movement during the early 1990s (it is written on the cover of Bikini Kill fanzine #2, which helped start the riot grrl movement), this term was also associated with the Plumstead pop-punk duo Shampoo. They released both an album and single titled Girl Power in early 1995 (despite the fact that they were quoted—tongue planted firmly in cheek—as saying, ""Girl Power is a load of rubbish, who the hell thought that one up anyway?"^[1]

However, it was Welsh indie band Helen Love who first recorded the words, on their debut single Formula One Racing Girls, released on the Damaged Goods label in 1993.^[2] The song itself is a nod to Riot Grrrl and embraces the concept of Girl Power and Female Emancipation:

I bought these jeans to make you love me

I cut a hole so your hand would fit

Now I don't care about you

So I'm going to sew up all the rips

Girl power.

I bought these boots to make you happy

I strapped them up to turn you on

now I don't care about you

I've got my Huggy Bear t-shirt on

I'm not going to dress up for you

I'm not going to pay your rent

outside the sun is shining

I'm hanging out with my girlfriends

Girl power.

In 2001, the Oxford English Dictionary added the term Girl Power!, defining this phrase as "a self-reliant attitude among girls and young women manifested in ambition, assertiveness and individualism."^[3]

The OED also gives an example of this term by quoting from "Angel Delight", an article in the March 24, 2001 issue of Dreamwatch about the television series Dark Angel:

After the Sarah Connors and Ellen Ripleys of the eighties, the nineties weren't so kind to the superwoman format—Xena Warrior Princess excepted. But it's a new millennium now, and while Charlie's Angels and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon are kicking up a storm on movie screens, it's been down to James Cameron to bring empowered female warriors back to television screens. And tellingly, Cameron has done it by mixing the sober feminism of his Terminator and Aliens characters with the sexed-up Girl Power of a Britney Spears concert. The result is Dark Angel.

Going back to the song, I actually caught myself arguing about it with some friends(male and female). Some say its bitterness and some would say its just a girl thing called “Girl power”.

Is it Bitterness or Girl Power!?