I'm a little late to the parade, but I'll weigh in:
Sandberg -- the chief operating officer of Facebook and author of the best-selling book "Lean In" -- is spearheading the launch of a campaign today to ban the word "bossy," arguing the negative put-down stops girls from pursuing leadership roles.
"We know that by middle school, more boys than girls want to lead," Sandberg said, "and if you ask girls why they don't want to lead, whether it's the school project all the way on to running for office, they don't want to be called bossy, and they don't want to be disliked."
Sandberg said these attitudes begin early and continue into adulthood.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/sheryl-sandberg-launches-ban-bossy-campaign-empower-girls/story?id=22819181
What's funny about this is how feminists like Sandberg unwittingly demean women. She's actually stereotyping girls as weak. Girls need to be protected from boys. Girls need to be protected from put-downs.
Notice she doesn't thinks boys need special protection. She doesn't think boys need to be protected from girls. She doesn't think boys need to be protected from put-downs.
Then there's her nonsensical definition of leadership. A mark of a natural leader is to take the initiative. To overcome obstacles. To persevere in the face of opposition.
Imagine George Patton saying "It was my boyhood ambition to be a field commander, but I gave up after girls called me 'bossy' in school."
Imagine Troy Aikman saying "It was my boyhood ambition to be an NFL quarterback, but I gave up after girls called me 'bossy' in school."
Imagine Vince Lombardi saying "It was my boyhood ambition to be a college football coach, but I gave up after girls called me 'bossy' in school."
Imagine William Clark saying "It was my boyhood ambition to explore America, but I gave up after girls called by 'bossy' in school."
I expect Maggie Thatcher was called "bossy" (and worse). Did that stop her?
Political correctness strikes me as being the McCartheyism of the Left. It fosters paranoia, since the worst thing that could happen is for someone to call you a racist/sexist/homophobe. Instead, people have to come up with creative new ways to accuse everyone else of being a racist/sexist/homophobe.
ReplyDeleteIn my experience as a kid the word "bossy" was reserved for INEFFECTIVE leaders or leader wannabes. An effective leaders just kept on leading and everyone followed along. True leaders naturally rise to the top. They not only can lead but can get people to want to follow them.
ReplyDeleteAlso, banning a word will just make the use of the word that much more hurtful if ever the person accidentally or openly hears the word used against him or her. For example, most women ABSOLUTELY HATE the four letter "c" word. But that's partly because it has been raised to that status by consensus that it's the worst word ever to use to describe a woman.
I don't often use the word bossy, but the times I remember using it have all been to describe men. This seems to be another feminist fiction.
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