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There is at least a theoretical logic to banning words like this: if being called bossy is causing girls to lose leadership skills then maybe stopping this arti
by corin_ 13y ago
There is at least a theoretical logic to banning words like this: if being called bossy is causing girls to lose leadership skills then maybe stopping this artificially (even if people still think it without saying it) could lead to less girls being affected, and therefore in the next generation the stigma has disappeared. Obviously it's not that simple, and I have no idea to what extent, if any, this actually works, other than in theory.
- Crito 13y ago> "if being called bossy is causing girls to lose leadership skills..." I don't think that this particular word is the root cause. More important is the reason why people are using it. If you ban that particular word without addressing why people are using it, then those people will adopt a new word to mean the exact same thing. Creating euphemism treadmills doesn't fix anything.
- jkestner 13y agoYep. Some people are taking this too literally. (Nerds parsing? No!) The heightened awareness of how word choice subtly undermines behavior we presumably want to encourage, is the point. This article suggests that instead of banning, women embrace the word as a badge they're doing something right (a la 'nerd'), and undermining the undermining would work too.
- jk4930 13y ago"if being called bossy is causing girls to lose leadership skills" ... then they aren't leaders anyway.
- judk 13y agoThis is exactly the problem: Leadership roles going to those who fight hardest, not those who motivate and inspire.
- gametheoretic 13y agoIf the history of Preferred Medical Term(s) for Mentally/Physically-Challenged Individuals is any indicator, that theory is lame.