{"id":2987,"date":"2014-03-18T06:22:19","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T10:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=2987"},"modified":"2014-03-18T07:34:37","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T11:34:37","slug":"bossy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=2987","title":{"rendered":"bossy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"little-miss-bossy\"<\/a>So have you seen the latest extent of so-called political correctness?\u00a0 Allow me to quote the current campaign, initiated by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and supported by Anna Maria Ch\u00e1vez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, who wrote the following last week in a special to CNN:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAssertive and bold, strong and courageous.<\/i><\/p>\n

These are the words we use when we think of our leaders \u2014 the characteristics we look for when we elect politicians, vet CEOs or select captains of sports teams.<\/i><\/p>\n

Yet throughout history, these terms have been primarily applied when men have occupied leadership roles.\u00a0 We expect men to lead and assert themselves, and we encourage and reward these behaviors when young boys exhibit them.<\/i><\/p>\n

So why is it when a young girl exhibits these exact same characteristics, we often resort to a different word to describe her behavior?\u00a0 A word that says to young girls:\u00a0 These are not the behaviors we expect from you.\u00a0 Why do we call her \u2018bossy\u2019?…<\/i><\/p>\n

When we refer to a girl who demonstrates leadership qualities as \u2018bossy,\u2019 she receives a message she is doing something wrong, that somehow, the same behaviors we praise and reward in boys are inappropriate for her, and we are limiting the scope of her potential as a result.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Banbossy.com (yes, an actual web site)<\/i> makes the assumption that \u201cbossy\u201d is tied to effective leadership… that \u201cbossy\u201d is the trait others are identifying that is similar to a positive strength in a man… that \u201cbossy\u201d is synonymous with assertive and bold, strong and courageous.<\/p>\n

I have tremendous respect for Ch\u00e1vez and Sandberg and those such as Beyonce and Condoleezza Rice, who have jumped aboard the rhetorical bandwagon.\u00a0 It\u2019s true, as they eloquently assert, that words can be limiting \u2014 that they can shape our perceptions and either encourage ambition or limit our awareness of potential. \u00a0No one likes to be called \u201cbossy.\u201d\u00a0 No one likes to be called anything seemingly derogatory.<\/p>\n

Yet there\u2019s a bit of a glaring challenge:\u00a0 some people actually are<\/i> \u201cbossy.\u201d\u00a0 Some people actually are fond of giving others orders; some are domineering, overbearing, authoritarian, choleric, controlling, dictatorial, imperious, and at least one other \u201cB\u201d word that I\u2019d prefer not to post.\u00a0 There are \u201cbossy\u201d men, and there are \u201cbossy\u201d women.\u00a0 And the primary challenge that potentially bursts the bubble of the current campaign is that being \u201cbossy\u201d is not synonymous with positive, effective leadership; being \u201cbossy\u201d is not an accurate measure of strength or effectiveness.\u00a0 To this frequent female boss, being \u201cbossy\u201d means something else (something more synonymous with that other \u201cB\u201d word),<\/i> and it is not a necessary nor effective trait for anyone\u2019s<\/i> leadership, especially if there exists any authentic attempt to actually win friends and influence people.<\/p>\n

While I believe the motive of Sheryl Sandberg\u2019s initial campaign was rooted in positive encouragement, the challenge is that it misses the mark.\u00a0 Once again in our seemingly, constantly watered-down society, we seek to ban something in order to avoid dealing with the reality.\u00a0 Instead of acknowledging that there are good female leaders and poor female leaders \u2014 just as there are good male leaders and poor male leaders \u2014 and that there are \u201cbossy\u201d and non-bossy professionals, the focus is aimed at the use of the word.\u00a0 That seems off to me.\u00a0 Not all men nor women are good at what they do.\u00a0 Being \u201cbossy\u201d is often a part of that.<\/p>\n

Ch\u00e1vez states that the \u201cBan Bossy\u201d campaign promotes \u201cequality.\u201d\u00a0 My sense is that it instead promotes an ignorance to the fact that \u201cbossy-ness\u201d exists… and yes, among both men and women.<\/p>\n

Respectfully,<\/p>\n

AR<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So have you seen the latest extent of so-called political correctness?\u00a0 Allow me to quote the current campaign, initiated by Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and supported by Anna Maria Ch\u00e1vez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, who wrote the following last week in a special to CNN:   \u201cAssertive and bold, strong and courageous. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “bossy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[404],"class_list":["post-2987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event","tag-ban-bossy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2987"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2995,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2987\/revisions\/2995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}