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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Boss Lady

  It might not be the best example, but back in the 70's, when cigarettes were still advertised, the tag line for Virginia Slims, billed as a "woman's" cigarette was, "You've come a long way Baby!" We have indeed, come a long way Baby. When your humble Blogger came along in 1965, I wonder if my Mom in her wildest dreams, ever imagined the opportunities that would be available to me as a young woman twenty years later. In those days, even with a college degree, teaching, nursing, or something out of the secretary pool was a girl's dream job. More than likely, she only kept that job until she got married.
  Look at us now. We still are teachers, nurses and secretaries, still promising career paths. But we are also doctors, lawyers, stay at home moms, CEO's, and even astronauts. We have to thank all of the women who made those trailblazing moves back in the days when a male boss could call his female employees "honey", and all anyone would do about it was laugh. As women, we have met and surpassed the dreams of those early Suffragettes. We have gained basic dignity and human rights, and yes, we have become the Boss. So now why, all of a sudden is the word "bossy" bad?
  Recently, a group of the usual suspects of Liberal women have started a move to have the word "bossy" banned. They claim that this is a word of negative connotations, and double standards. Is it just another word for bitchy or controlling?
  One of the definitions of bossy is "inclined to domineer". Being domineering is not a great quality to have, but the definition of the root of the word, boss, means " a person who exercises control and authority". Those can be very desirable qualities.
  Girls and women since the beginning of time have been taught to be demure, quiet and gentle. Being assertive, strong, and in control were not things that were going to score a girl a husband. As women entered the workforce, and in fact did become the Boss, they discovered that they they could be strong and in control without the negative implications. Just maybe, a word like bossy was coined to make women be forced to make a choice. A choice between being liked or being the Boss.
  So is there a way to take back the word bossy without the word police breaking down the door to the library and just arbitrarily banning words that are offensive to them? There is. We must teach our daughters that being strong, confident, in control, and asserting themselves is a good thing, one that will empower them and take them far in life. Granted, it is close to impossible to convince teen age girls that there are more important things than being liked, but strong confident women tend to find each other and usually, those are the friendships that last a lifetime.
 Banning words is a dangerous thing, and just because we ban a word does not make the attitude and the idea behind the word just go away. If we ban a rather small word like bossy, what next? And what about this roving band of Liberal P.C. police women? Do they think they are advancing the cause of feminism?
  If we have done our job, the word feminism has many meanings for strong confident women in 2014. We have worked very hard to become "The Boss". Being called bossy is not negative, it is a reward for a job well done.   
 

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