... but I'd guess a poll might find that more than 75% just unconsciously assume it applies only to males. It's pretty much the connotation even if it's not the denotation. It's my impression that it's a sociological/cultural balancing vis-a-vis "bitch" in an attempt to gain symmetry. (Linguistically, "dog" would be the appropriate symmetry' but it just doesn't have the impact desired.) It's strange that anyone would choose to impugn someone's parents instead of the person, but I guess that's a kind of collateral damage in the war between the sexes.
I'm pretty much as feminist as a guy can reasonably get and have never regarded "bitch" (or even "slut"
as demeaning to all women, any more than I've regarded "prick" or "putz" as demeaning to all men, even though those latter terms would, at least analytically, be arguably more demeaning to the whole gender. I tend to overthink such things, I guess.
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