Cathy Young on ‘Ban Bossy’

The War on Bossy, led by Facebook boss Sheryl Sandberg, has been
roundly criticized and even lampooned from left, right and center.
Sandberg’s proposal to banish “the other B-word” because it’s a
common and damaging putdown for assertive girls has met with
various objections, from “Why not teach girls to be bossy?” to “Why
not teach both girls and boys not to be bossy?” to “Why not address
real sexist barriers instead of playing language cops?” But the
campaign has its supporters too, including famous ones such as
singer Beyoncé Knowles and pundit Arianna Huffington. And now there
is a backlash against the backlash, with some saying that “Ban
Bossy” is based on real evidence both of the word’s sexist use and
of a still-strong, pervasive negativity toward female
leadership.

Real evidence? Not so fast, Cathy Young writes. A closer look at
the research invoked by “Ban Bossy” defenders shows it to
be shaky and selective. The “facts” cited on the campaign’s
own website are such a collection of abused data that it
brings to mind another common B-word—the crude synonym for bovine
excrement.

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