Sheryl Sandberg Launches 'Ban Bossy' Campaign to Empower Girls to Lead

hope this is the right forum for this please move if needed.

Can banning one school-yard word really change the world? Sheryl Sandberg says yes. 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.

i find this just to be another crazy PC ploy to do away with a descriptive word, that she doesn't like. that both men and women can be.

Webster Definition of BOSSY under adjective,

Definition of BOSSY : inclined to domineer : dictatorial

from Dictionary.com

boss·y 1 [baw-see, bos-ee] adjective, boss·i·er, boss·i·est. given to ordering people about; overly authoritative; domineering.

no where does it say women.

now don't get mad, there is another definition that i wont post due to T&C and i don't want to be flamed. i just wonder if this maybe the real reason why she started it. maybe she has been called that, you can see it at this link it's under noun.
bossy

sad thing is there are lot of celebrity type people jumping on the band wagon. some of them might surprise you.

Singer Victoria Beckham, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Girl Scouts USA CEO Anna Maria Chavez and CNN foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour are also involved in the campaign urging the word be silenced. The website BanBossy.com says the 'B-word' sends the message to girls that they shouldn’t raise their hands or speak up, and that “by middle school, girls are less interested in leading than boys – a trend that continues into adulthood.”
Celebs sign on to campaign to ban the word 'bossy'

B eyonce, Victoria Beckham front campaign to ban the word ‘Bossy’ for female empowerment

to be honest , i'm surprised or won't be, to see a few more political names sign on.
like, clinton , pelosi, feinstein all of these fit the definition.

I saw this on the news. It's the stupidest thing ever. You can be a girl leader without being bossy. I've done it quite often. People use the word bossy for a reason, and I've heard it applied to boys, too.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


Soooooooooooooo the Progressive PC police strike yet again!!!

I see! It is much more important to ban a word than teach young females to have self esteem, respect for themselves and their bodies? Teaching and leading by examples would go a hell of a lot farther than "banning a word"!

ketsuko
I saw this on the news. It's the stupidest thing ever. You can be a girl leader without being bossy. I've done it quite often. People use the word bossy for a reason, and I've heard it applied to boys, too.

it is pretty stupid, i've never had to work directly under a woman, i have done work for women and saw how their treated their people,
and have seen both. in men and women. i have left job sites, because of bossy people. well i guess you could call them micro mangers. got a title and gonna show everybody whose boss. took it to their bosses, and never heard another peep.

seeker1963
reply to post by hounddoghowlie

 

I see! It is much more important to ban a word than teach young females to have self esteem, respect for themselves and their bodies? Teaching and leading by examples would go a hell of a lot farther than "banning a word"!

well said, that would be the very best thing to do.

While banning a word is silly...the social implications of the word are very real.

Maybe, if you are not a woman, you don't get it but bossy/bitchy are used interchangeably to marginalize confident, assertive girls and woman. If a woman is determined or resolute and exhibits or expresses that in a peer group - she is often labeled bossy. If she acts on it despite the lack of approval or social consequences of the peer group, she is then called bitchy.

It's a real thing and, sadly, women do it to each other as much as men do it to us. Watch any group of little girls...

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


I'm sure there's more to this than I understand but... why ban the word when it won't stop people from actually being bossy?

I think we should ban the word "intimidating", too. Men won't have to act differently; we just won't be called it anymore.

The thought police strikes again!

So much for free speech in this country.

Guess it is just better to act like Nazi's and ban 'stuff' they don't like.

For the record people who try to ban 'words' and things are being BOSSY!.

Defeats the 'purpose' dontcha think ?

Another Nut on lean burn !

reply to post by hounddoghowlie


This is so stupid. I'm saying this as a father to a young girl.

There's a big difference from being a leader and being a bossy person. Boys can be bossy too, and no one likes a bossy boy.

I saw a nice definition of this online:

Bossy - Someone who tells you what to do.
Leader - Someone who shows you what to do.

As I've mentioned in past posts, I've had female LEADERS who I respected very much. I wouldn't respect them if they were bossy. I've also had male leaders who I also respected, some were bossy and truth be told they weren't leaders. Just bossy people put in charge.

Ban bossy girls and boys. I teach my kid that the best way to lead is by setting an example. Never ask someone to do something you yourself wouldn't do and never, ever let anyone tell you that you "can't do it" because you can.

Empowerment ≠ Bossy
Leaderships ≠ Bossy

List of most commonly challenged books in the United States (Alphabetical order)[1][2]


Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain ALA [11]
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain ALA
Alice series Phyllis Reynolds Naylor ALA [2]
All the King's Men Robert Penn Warren Rad
Always Running Luis J. Rodriguez ALA [66]
American Psycho Bret Easton Ellis ALA
An American Tragedy Theodore Dreiser Rad
The Anarchist Cookbook William Powell ALA
Anastasia Again! Lois Lowry ALA [81]
And Tango Makes Three Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell ALA [9]
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging Louise Rennison ALA [32]
Annie on My Mind Nancy Garden ALA
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret Judy Blume ALA [82]
Arming America Michael Bellasiles ALA [34]
Arizona Kid Ron Koertge ALA
As I Lay Dying William Faulkner Rad

en.wikipedia.org...


What's next? "Burning" books we don't like?

Banning anything only leads to more banning.


*shakes head*

People never learn.

kosmicjack
While banning a word is silly...the social implications of the word are very real.

Maybe, if you are not a woman, you don't get it but bossy/bitchy are used interchangeably to marginalize confident, assertive girls and woman. If a woman is determined or resolute and exhibits or expresses that in a peer group - she is often labeled bossy. If she acts on it despite the lack of approval or social consequences of the peer group, she is then called bitchy.

It's a real thing and, sadly, women do it to each other as much as men do it to us. Watch any group of little girls...

Except you can be a confident and assertive girl and not be called bossy or bitchy. Did you not read my post?

I think this is an excuse for people who are not very nice or don't have good management/leadership skills to blame everyone else for their failings.

reply to post by Auricom


And trust people to do something after you've shown them what to do. Don't hang over their shoulder and badger them unless they've proven that you need to.

kosmicjack
While banning a word is silly...the social implications of the word are very real.

Maybe, if you are not a woman, you don't get it but bossy/bitchy are used interchangeably to marginalize confident, assertive girls and woman. If a woman is determined or resolute and exhibits or expresses that in a peer group - she is often labeled bossy. If she acts on it despite the lack of approval or social consequences of the peer group, she is then called bitchy.

It's a real thing and, sadly, women do it to each other as much as men do it to us. Watch any group of little girls...

But what do you do when women or men really are bitchy, complain constantly or nag incessantly? Banning the word does not stop the bad behavior. You can ban the word idiot, same effect, it will not change idiots into normal people and it will not stop idiotic behavior. If it would I would promote having the words "political correctness" and "feminist" plus a few other words, banned.

Cheers - Dave

So they don't just want to ban a word.

They want to change behavior.
Change perception.

Social engineering at it's finest!!!

beezzer
So they don't just want to ban a word.

They want to change behavior.
Change perception.

Social engineering at it's finest!!!

Oh yeah can't call them 'bossy' but the rest of us sure have to pay for that birth control ! ! ! ! ! ! !!

Funny but this word never had gender implications to me. I agree that this is a pretty stupid idea. If you absolutely have to go with a word for some strange reason, go with bitchy or something. Better yet, just teach them to kick ass without listening to what ignorant people have to say about it. That's real empowerment. Needing to "ban" a word? Not empowerment.

reply to post by ~Lucidity


I agree. The idea that you need to be protected from a word implies that you really aren't the confident, self-assured person you want the world to think you are. Not to mention, it was dealing with the adversity of negativity that once taught us important things like ... character.

reply to post by ketsuko



We just have different takes on it.

I've worked with mostly men, mostly women and a mix of both...I've seen it happen every time. Not necessarily to me, just in general.

I would hope that this silly campaign isn't so much about ACTUALLY banning a word but just raising awareness that words do have an impact on outcome.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie

Pretty funny. I'd never thought about it before and now I have, I kind of agree with her point. Not about banning 'bossy,' but she's not far wrong about it being attributed to women more than men.

For example, I can imagine using the word to describe kids and women and can't recall thinking 'bossy' about men.

Seems like you've just uncovered an inner prejudice I have.

Dictionary definitions are all good and 'bossy' is what it is. Then again, a lot of words have an added value that exceeds the definition in cultural terms. Bossy has a negative value and *if* it's applied to women more than men, we've got ourselves a loaded signifier.