Let's Ban Bossy!

Hola y’all! As you probably know by now, there is a movement in this country to ban the word “bossy.”  Over the years various groups of people have called for the banning of racial slurs because they have very negative, ugly, hateful or otherwise hurtful meanings. Of all the words that someone would want banned “bossy” is one I would have never thought of.

Sheryl Sandberg is the person who has decided that the word “bossy” is just too much for sweet, innocent little girls to handle. She should know too because she was called “bossy” all the time when she was a kid and it really hurt her. Hell, it practically destroyed her self-confidence and relegated her to a sad life of never accomplishing anything other than being the COO of Facebook. What a loser! Can we still use the word “loser?” Was that hurtful?

Well, it didn’t take long before other women who were also called “bossy” and suffered from the negative effects of that word to jump on the “Ban Bossy” Bandwagon. Beyonce and FLOTUS Michelle Obama have also been held back and not fulfilled their potential because of that horribly demeaning word.

Okay, so we’re gonna BAN BOSSY! What will we replace it with? Here are some options:

Overbearing
Pushy
Authoritarian
Controlling
Bitchy
Dictatorial
Rude
Snooty
Elitist
Overbearing
Cunty
Arrogant
High-Handed
Assholish
Oppressive
Tyrannical
Domineering
Condescending
Conceited
Pompous
Pretentious
Vain
Uppity
Egotistic
Contemptuous
Control Freak
Power Hungry
Snippy
Superiority Complex
Full of Herself
Aloof
Lording
Oppressive
And a lot more that I can’t think of right now cause I’m on a deadline.

As you can see, just like in Crimea there are no good options here. What’s that? Oh, you want people to stop calling girls “bossy” and NOT replace it with another word? Yeah, good luck with that. Kids call each other names. That’s what they do. We can tell them not to, but they’re going to.

One of the interesting things about this is that the push to ban the word “bossy” ONLY applies to calling girls that. The argument is that calling a boy “bossy” is seen as a compliment. Uh, no it’s not. Take it from someone who has been called “bossy.” It wasn’t meant in a “damn, I admire him cause he’s so bossy” way.

Another great moment yesterday was when I saw someone say that words like “pussy” or “sissy” or “throws like a girl” should also be banned. Not because they are hurtful to the boy who is being called that, but because it was an insult to say that a boy was a “girl” and that hurts girls. We all already know what an insult it is to say that a woman has “manly” qualities.

I always thought we wanted our girls to be strong and independent and assertive and well, bossy. We just don’t want them called “bossy” anymore? Ohhhhhhhhhh I see! You want to replace “bossy” with one of those more positive sounding words like “strong” or “independent.” Right, okay. Sure we could do that. I’m sure that nobody would ever say “Let me warn you about Hillary, she’s really ‘strong’ and ‘independent’ ifyouknowwhatImean.”

Then we’ll have to ban those words too! Or we could actually just be parents and teachers and teach our boys AND girls that words have power and meaning and to choose them carefully. Who would be opposed to that? Nobody! Right? 

What? That's what you mean by "ban bossy?" Well, okay. Why didn't you just say that? Carry on then. 

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