Courtesy of the Telegraphs Allison Pearson:- I applaud the well-meaning but doomed campaign to ban the word “bossy” as applied to little girls. Powerful women like Beyoncé and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice point out that calling girls bossy can have a debilitating effect on their ambitions and discourage them from becoming leaders. Bossy, however, is just one among scores of dismissive words that are used to put down a female from her earliest years. The male equivalent tends to have different connotations. Here’s a quick translation guide to this enduring double standard: Male: A real character / Female: Right little madam Male: Bit of a lad / Female: Slag Male: Authoritative / Female: Shrill Male: Mature, distinguished / Female: Old bag, batty Male: Sporty / Female: Lesbian Male: Memorable / Female: Clingy Male: Sociable / Female: Drunk Male: Raconteur / Female: Won’t Shut Up Male: Gravitas / Female: WeightWatchers Male: In touch with his feelings / Female: Ruled by her feelings Male: Good father and role model / Female: Bad mother, lacking in professional commitment Male: Finger on the pulse of contemporary culture / Female: Frivolous soap-watcher Male: Mercurial / Female: PMT Male: Powerful / Female: Nightmare. Run a mile. Im sure you can all add a few more . . .
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 11:37:52 +0000
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