Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg recently stated in an interview with “All Things Considered” that she will launch a new campaign to get rid of the word “bossy.” Her campaign has received both positive and negative attention from the public. According to a recent headline from CNN, Sandberg has also teamed up with big names like Beyoncé and Condoleezza Rice to promote her message.
    Sandberg reveals in her interview that she was often criticized for displaying this characteristic as a child and explains the word bossy functions as a “second B-word” because it is often used in a negative way to describe young girls who display leadership qualities. Sandberg argues on her website that society should get rid of the word “bossy” and encourage girls to lead. When asked if this is really an important issue since girls outperform boys academically.
     “I actually think that we are conflating issues of academic performance and leadership. And in one area, girls are leading, and in one area, boys are leading. And a lot of people are confusing those,” she said in an interview with NPR.
      Sandberg’s reasoning behind her campaign is that she feels society encourages boys to take charge but labels girls as “bossy” when they try to lead. She points out that such discouragement could cause girls to lose interest in leadership. But should we be concerned with words like “bossy” when there are much more offensive terms out there? There is a campaign, for example, to encourage society to replace the word “retarded” with “intellectual disability.” Is the word “bossy” really so bad?
    While “Ban Bossy” received mixed responses from the public, a recent headline from CNN disagrees. Peggy Drexler, assistant professor of psychology at Weill Cornell Medical College of Cornell University and a former gender scholar at Stanford University, presents an interesting argument that the problem is not the actual word; it is the negative circumstances in which the word is used in association with women. Drexler points out that, if the word “bossy” was banned, harsher words would only take its place. She makes the valid point that “bossy” is not always bad. On the contrary, it is often associated with success.
     “Bosses are bossy. Plain and simple,” Sandberg is quoted as saying in a CNN article.
    As a society, we have the ability to control what characteristics are associated with certain words. As Drexler points out, perhaps the solution to “Ban ‘Bossy’” and other associated campaigns is to focus on the positive qualities associated with the word in question rather than dwelling on the negative labels that could result from the use of it. It is important to remember that women and girls are rarely overlooked in today’s culture, and that being called “bossy” seldom does harm to anyone’s reputation. In short, there is pride in being opinionated and determined, or “bossy.”