Posted on 03/14/2014 4:48:57 AM PDT by Kaslin
A bunch of aggrieved women led by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg launched a high-profile "public service campaign" this week to "ban" the word "bossy." Sandberg, Beyonce, Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham and first lady Michelle Obama have joined femme forces to combat this phantom menace. In their rarefied world, it's a "very negative experience" and a crippling act of gender discrimination to be called bossy. "This isn't a word we should use," Sandberg complained on National Public Radio.
To which I say: Oh, buck up.
The key to female empowerment doesn't lie with wheedling word police. It lies with girls and women finding the courage to speak and act on their beliefs and principles without regard to their detractors' opinions.
My message to girls, including my own 13-year-old daughter, is not: "Ban Bossy." My message is: Be Bossy. And that means first being the boss of you.
Here is my own little story. Over the past 20 years, I have gained a reputation as mouthy, aggressive, overbearing and, yes, bossy. I've barreled my way through interviews on "The View" and the "Today" show, arguing over Joy Behar and Matt Lauer. I've battled with some of the biggest blowhards in politics, media and Hollywood.
But I wasn't always this way. In grade school, I was shy to the point of verbal paralysis. I failed a speech class because I was terrified to stand up in class with 30 sets of eyes staring at me. I was a doormat and a wallflower, not because I was afraid of being labeled "pushy" or "bossy," but because I was afraid of owning my own thoughts, beliefs and work.
What changed? In college, I got sick of other people -- especially, ahem, of bossy liberal white women -- pretending to speak for me. I learned to say "no" when everyone around me expected and demanded "yes." I learned to cut my own path and not give a damn whether anyone followed. I wasn't held back by how others perceived me. I was held back by how I perceived myself.
Sandberg and her friends think "bossy" (which she calls "the other b-word") is worth ginning up an entire media campaign over -- even enlisting White House officials and cabinet members. But women with unpopular ideas and opinions face a daily barrage of unprintable c-words, f-words, s-words and w-words that are far worse. If we launched media campaigns to ban every ugly word that comes our way, we wouldn't have time to get anything else done.
It is a blessing to be able to make a living exercising the First Amendment. It would be an absolute waste of those precious free speech rights for any woman to pull her punches for fear of, gasp, an adjective.
Girls, here's the truth about the Ban Bossy campaign: It's being spearheaded by a privileged group of elite feminists who have a very vested interest in stoking victim politics and exacerbating the gender divide. They actually encourage dependency and groupthink while paying lip service to empowerment and self-determination. They traffic in bogus wage disparity statistics, whitewashing the fact that what's actually left of that dwindling pay gap is due to the deliberate, voluntary choices women in the workforce make. This includes which industries women enter, how long they stay, what levels they attain, and when and how they decide to start a family.
The supposedly abhorrent unequal outcomes that "progressive" women want to eradicate don't always come down to sexism. It's not just a gender thing. It's a freedom thing.
I want young girls and young ladies to know that whatever adversity you might face, there has never been a better time to be an American woman. You have more educational, economic and entrepreneurial opportunities than generations of women before you. You have more flexibility, more choices and more ways to spread your messages and make yourself heard than ever before.
Don't just be bossy. Be your own boss. When I started two Internet companies, I didn't ask for anyone's permission. I didn't let anyone stop me. I didn't wallow in self-pity about the odds stacked against me or the derision that greeted me. And when times were tough, I didn't blame The Man. I woman-ed up.
Gals, you don't need the sensitivity brigade to protect you from criticism or attacks. You need to learn from them and rise above them, not censor them. And if anyone tells you to tone it down, do the opposite: Crank it up and don't look back. That's an order!
Strong women on the right would be happy if the left only called the bossy, instead of all the other vile names they use.
To further destroy the 1st amendment by adding an ‘illegal’ word is a slippery slope that must be stopped.
If we follow the lefts newspeak. We are no better than these Marxist destroyers if America.
Feminism is a self-selected group mental illness. It asserts that women are strong and capable, yet weak and vulnerable all at once. They’re survivors/victims.
It’s nuts and it sends the wrong message to girls and young women. At its heart are a group of wealthy women who wish they were the men they hate.
Plus, Hillary is Bossy. She’s not a leader, but a brat with power. That’s bossy.
A woman is no better than or worse than a man. Judge people by their actions, behavior and style.
Women are over empowered as it is...and men/boys are the victims of their “empowerment” as they seek to feel strong by belittlement and misandry of an order they sure as hell never experienced. Even the “girls can’t do that” was based on a paternalist protection, chivalrous sort of thing.
Ok that’s over. Men get it.
But damn....were women portrayed as complete idiots? Yeah, some... I can think of some Burns and Allen sketches where Gracie was pretty ditsy clueless...
But what I am seeing now is mean hateful male bashing for the sake of bashing. Its almost sadistic.
So no, I am not interested in my girls being taught to be “bossy” or being “empowered”, not if it means any of the above.
I think most men are happy to walk with any woman. But damned if they want to walk behind.
Toilet seats up!
Ban Bossy campaign started by Clinton donor ahead of 2016 run
Ban ‘bully’ instead.
This ‘ban bossy’ crap is nothing more than public softening up for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
They mean “don’t be bossy to other women”. It’s OK to be bossy to men
Anyone talk to Brandi Chastain about this? She encourages the support of the Bay Area Women’s Sports Initiative (BAWSI).
Oh, wait, Brandi has children through normal childbirth. That makes Brandi an evil “BREEDER”. Her views are worthless.
As the father of three grown daughters (all married to conservative men and not a bed wetting liberal in the bunch), I can attest that bossiness comes as naturally to girls (especially the oldest daughter) as attraction to beautiful young women comes to young men.
A great article. Thanks !
Yep, I have a first born daughter...
A fourth generation first born daughter.
“Bossy”? Understatement.
My experience in the private sector is that women managers are managers because they are women.
They never had to develop leadership skills and, finding themselves in a leadership position, revert to the “Because I said so!” approach.
Some people call this Bossy. Others use the other b-word.
I once had a very good woman manager in the private sector. Just once. I suspect it was because she built the company.
I married my wife because she was “bossy”. She wasn’t the shrinking violet, dependent-on-the-man, afraid to say what she thought kind of woman. She’s independent, self-thinking, and aggressive in getting what she wants. My kind of gal.
Our only daughter was a bossy little thing. Wouldn’t let her older brother push her around. Asserted herself. Great self-confidence and self-esteem. She’s grown up into a super adult female. Where did she get that from? Her mom, my wife.
Our granddaughter is also a bossy nine year old. She doesn’t cower in the corner or into the wallpaper, afraid to be her smart, sassy self. Thumps on her bother when necessary too. She’s a very smart and confident young girl. She adores her Aunt (our daughter) and loves her “Granny”, and looks up to both of them as her role models.
So, I agree with Michelle Maulkin. Bossy is good. I like bossy gals. They know what they want and aren’t afraid to go after it. Enough of this PC speech crap from the liberal left where they want to ban words in our free speech America. Let’s no ban bossy. Let’s promote bossy. The females in our society will be better women for it.
And as for this “Ban Bossy” campaign ahead of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 run? The other “B” word is the one that comes to mind when I think of Hillary.
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