Media Portrayals of Women Are More Powerful Than the Word 'Bossy'
Posted in: UncategorizedThis week Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who famously advised women last year to “lean in,” has launched a campaign that’s become ubiquitous in social media. She wants people to stop applying the word “bossy” to little girls because it’s never applied to little boys.
I don’t know whether the “Ban Bossy” campaign, as it is called, will be effective in any way, but I do know that imagery, storytelling and portrayals of women in advertising and the popular culture are probably far more impactful on how society views women and girls.
In the 1970s, “The Mary Tyler Moore” show featured Mary Richards, a career woman over 30, unmarried and perfectly happy. In fact, her marital status had nothing to do with any theme or story line of the show, yet that aspect of the sitcom was considered revolutionary but only in retrospect.
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