Even if 'bossy' could be banned, there are far better ways to boost girls' self-esteem | Hadley Freeman

Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and Beyoncé want to ban the word 'bossy' as disparaging to women. It's a good start, but there's so much more to be done. Here are my top tipsThat growing numbers of girls suffer from issues of self-esteem during adolescence – ones that can be carried over into adulthood – is not up for debate. What is debatable is what should be done about this. Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook and author of the bestselling feminist-ish book Lean In, has come up with her own typically high-powered and certainly well-intentioned solution: to ban the word "bossy". "When a little boy asserts himself, he's called a 'leader'. Yet when a little girl does the same, she risks being branded 'bossy'," she writes.It will come as a massive surprise to no one to learn that I was called bossy quite a lot as a kid, and still am (although I wouldn't have to be bossy if people would just bloody well do as I say). Yet it's never bothered me, mainly because I grew up idolising Miss Piggy and Lucy van Pelt from Peanuts, and never saw bossiness as anything other than a wholly commendable quality. But for those unacquainted with the mighty pig, Sandberg has made a video featuring herself, Condoleezza Rice, Beyoncé and others, arguing that the word "bossy" should be "banned" (in the self-censoring sense, one suspects, as opposed to the, you know, legal one) because it's a way of telling confident girls to shut up.Insults are often gendered – in adulthood at... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with: #curtis sittenfeld #elizabeth gilbert

Other Publishing stories related to: 'Even if 'bossy' could be banned, there are far better ways to boost girls' self-esteem | Hadley Freeman'


Even if 'bossy' could be banned, there are far better ways to boost girls' self-esteem | Hadley Freeman

Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and Beyoncé want to ban the word 'bossy' as disparaging to women. It's a good start, but there's so much more to be done. Here are my top tipsThat growing numbers of girls suffer from issues of self-esteem during adolescence – ones that can be carried over into... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #curtis sittenfeld #elizabeth gilbert


Book Banning County Commissioners Censor Honor for Girl Scout’s Banned Book Library

What begins as a story about a Girl Scout Honor being censored for being about a teen's banned books project is a story of commissioners complicit in book banning county-wide. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-04-24 12:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #banned book


Penguin Random House’s All Ways Black Collective Battles Book Bans

A community of Black writers and readers, the group is partnering with Little Free Library to bring more free libraries to Black communities across the country. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2023-02-02 05:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #black writers #free library #free libraries #black communities #libraries


It’s official: Book-banning attempts aimed at libraries are way up this year.

The American Library Association has released its preliminary data on attempts to censor books or limit library resources, and the numbers are bad. From Jan. 1 to Aug. 31, there were 681 “attempts to ban or restrict library resources,” targeting 1,651 titles in total. This number already exceeds... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2022-09-16 16:06:45 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #total number #preliminary data #censor books #censorship efforts #library association #libraries


I could not believe how bravely Salman Rushdie faced the threats to his life. That’s true courage | Hadley Freeman

In our conversations and emails, his determination to not let the fatwa define him has been evidentThat Salman Rushdie was nearly murdered at an event in New York while talking about whether the United States was a safe haven for exiled writers is an irony he’d have rejected as too far-fetched... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-08-14 12:39:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #fantastical novels #hadley freeman #guardian columnist #issues raised #memoir


Fourth Estate wins four-way auction for Brown Girls debut

Fourth Estate has triumphed in a four-way publisher auction for Daphne Palasi Andreades’ “evocative and original” debut novel Brown Girls in a two-book deal. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-12-08 17:18:36 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publisher auction #fourth estate


Personal Space: Hadley Freeman on Finding Out the Tall Family Tales Were All True

This is Personal Space: The Memoir Show, with Sari Botton. On this episode, Botton talks to Hadley Freeman about her fourth book, House of Glass: The Story and Secrets of a Twentieth-Century Jewish Family, a memoir and family Holocaust history published by Simon & Schuster. Botton and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2020-04-09 17:00:34 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #memoir show #sari botton #personal space #hadley freeman #fourth book #simon schuster #memoir


In ‘House of Glass,’ Hadley Freeman unearth’s the World War II-era secrets of her family’s past

The four siblings central to Freeman’s book, a history of a 20th-century Jewish family as much as a memoir, were outsized characters. Continue reading at The Washington Post

[ The Washington Post | 2020-03-30 21:52:58 UTC ]
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HarperCollins triumphs in 9-way auction for slushpile debut Girl A

HarperCollins has triumphed in a nine-way auction to publish Girl A by slushpile debut author Abigail Dean, with international rights sold in seven territories as well as an ongoing auction in Brazil and offers in Portugal and Israel.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-15 18:13:43 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #publish girl #debut author #harpercollins


Turkey bans sale of Rebel Girls to children

Rebel Girls has said they are "saddened" by the Turkish government’s decision to ban the sale of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls to under 18s. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-06 20:39:58 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #rebel girls #turkish government


The ‘scarlet woman’ cliche wheeled out for Carrie Symonds makes me vomit | Hadley Freeman

There are many more objectionable things about Boris Johnson than his alleged affair. But the media focus on this ‘feisty’, ‘party-loving’ woman is relentlessThere is a well-established and strictly obeyed format for writing about a women who is alleged to have had an affair with a powerful man,... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2018-09-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ebury wins Final Girls debut after seven-way auction

A debut psychological suspense novel by Riley Sager has been snapped up by Ebury Fiction after a "heated" seven-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2016-07-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Reading for pleasure boosts self-esteem

People who read regularly for pleasure have greater levels of self-esteem, are less stressed, and can cope better with difficult situations than lapsed or non-readers, new research for Galaxy Quick Reads has found. While the research, carried out by Dr Josie Billington at the University of... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2015-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #rarely read


Let’s not assume Harper Lee is being exploited. Atticus Finch wouldn’t | Hadley Freeman

We should resist the easy cynicism that has greeted the sudden emergence of Go Set a WatchmanFew 88-year-old one-hit wonders could expect more than a shrug if they announced they were producing their second piece of work in 55 years. But news that Harper Lee is publishing what is essentially a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2015-02-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #harper lee #hadley freeman #ernest hemingway


The latest message for female writers dont think, just spill | Hadley Freeman

Not That Kind of Girl is a reminder of the publishing obsession with women divulging their private livesA week or so ago, I went to LA to interview a ridiculously talented young woman. Despite being only in her 20s, she has achieved the kind of success that most people multiple times her age... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2014-09-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book publishers


The Elan Gale internet hoax sums up all that is rotten about our online lives | Hadley Freeman

When I was a teenager, I thought it would be great to be an adult and be surrounded by people who weren't mean to each other all day. Enter stage left: the world wide webBack in the early 90s, when I was still at school and words such as "friend" and "message" were nouns as opposed to verbs, a... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2013-12-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Double The Book Bans In Half The Time: PEN America’s Latest Book Ban Report

PEN's new report shows that book bans continue to rise and continue to target books by or about queer people and people of color. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-04-16 12:05:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #pen america #book bans #report shows #latest book


Utah’s Draconian Book Banning Bill Close to Passage; An Anti-Book Ban Bill Proposed In Response

Although a major book ban bill is close to passage in Utah, another bill meant to end book bans by the state has hit the legislature. Here's what is in both bills–and what you can do. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2024-02-27 16:05:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #major book


California Has Banned Book Bans, Bucking GOP Censorship Trend

Book bans are on the rise nationally, with nearly half those prohibitions happening in Florida school districts. Continue reading at HuffPost

[ HuffPost | 2023-09-26 19:43:13 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #book bans #banned book


Illinois Has Officially Banned Book Bans

Illinois is the first state to officially ban book bans through new legislation that takes effect January 1, 2024. Continue reading at Book Riot

[ Book Riot | 2023-06-12 20:34:10 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with: #banned book