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 ]
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Flying taxis are coming. Here are 5 ways they’ll differ from air travel as we know it

This new form of mobility will be very different from our current reality, which provides some unique design opportunities. The future of urban air mobility is often represented in utopian images. A wealth of fanciful renderings show flying vehicles taking off and landing vertically from... Continue reading at Fast Company

[ Fast Company | 2021-02-24 08:00:33 UTC ]
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Publicists get inventive to boost debut authors during 'tough' lockdown

Resourceful publicists are having to be inventive to launch debuts as the lockdown rumbles on and shops remain closed. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-23 09:01:07 UTC ]
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Own a Complete Set of the Paperback Experiment That Paved the Way for Penguin

In the early 1930s, a bookshop window would have displayed the pretty, pictorial dust jackets of the latest bestsellers, say Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and Pearl S. Buck’s The Good Earth. A compact wooden bookshelf stuffed with colorful paperbacks might also have commanded space and... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-22 09:49:47 UTC ]
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Canadian libraries increasingly scrapping late fees to boost access to services

Long considered a tool to encourage patrons to return materials on time, in the past few years hundreds of public libraries have decided late fees do more harm than good by keeping away low-income and disadvantaged readers.  Continue reading at CBC

[ CBC | 2021-02-21 09:00:00 UTC ]
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Yellow Kite wins eight-way auction for Aldo Kane's story

Yellow Kite has acquired Aldo Kane's "inspirational" memoir Lessons From the Edge, following an eight-way auction.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-18 23:37:01 UTC ]
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HarperFiction plucks King's Bad Fruit in five-way auction

HarperFiction has snapped up debut author and Faber Academy graduate Ella King's "beautiful, shocking" Bad Fruit in a five-way auction. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-16 18:31:35 UTC ]
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Allen Lane wins four-way auction for Baker's group biography

Allen Lane has won a four-way auction for a “vivid and unexpected” group biography of four creative pioneers by Harriet Baker. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-14 19:57:05 UTC ]
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True Born Englishman: did the BBC ban this Buckingham Palace play?

Peter Barnes’ monologue about a royal footman was commissioned for radio but never broadcast until now. Director Philip Franks and others unravel its mysteryThe most celebrated set of dramatic monologues for broadcasting and theatre are Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, first performed in the 1980s.... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-02-12 13:00:44 UTC ]
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Lehrer's Golem Girl wins inaugural Barbellion Prize

The inaugural Barbellion Prize for ill and disabled voices in writing has been won by artists and author Riva Lehrer for Golem Girl: A Memoir (Virago). Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-12 02:31:35 UTC ]
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Agents Kingsford and Campbell part ways

The agency Kingsford Campbell is splitting up, after Julia Kingsford and Charlie Campbell decided to separate their activities after seven years of working together. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-11 10:54:12 UTC ]
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This North Carolina indie bookstore just got a Super Bowl-sized publicity boost.

Yesterday’s slate of Super Bowl commercials can be divided into two heavily-overlapping camps: cringey pop-culture nostalgia garbage fronted by stars you hoped were better than that, and expensive “unify the divided country through capitalism” garbage fronted by stars you hoped were better than... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2021-02-08 16:56:30 UTC ]
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Midwife's account of the womb to Virago in eight-way auction

Virago has acquired Womb: The Inside Story of Where We All Began by Leah Hazard, to publish as its lead publication in spring 2023, following an eight-way auction.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-02-08 09:01:35 UTC ]
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McCann, Safran Foer and Freeman make Wingate shortlist

Colum McCann, Jonathan Safran Foer and Hadley Freeman are among seven writers shortlisted for the Wingate Literary Prize Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-28 04:06:51 UTC ]
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A New Way to Trace the History of Sci-Fi’s Made-Up Words

The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction turns a century of neologisms (and neosemes!) into a redefintion of the genre. Continue reading at Wired

[ Wired | 2021-01-27 12:00:00 UTC ]
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Girl A: Abigail Dean on her shocking debut novel that's taking the book world by storm

Has this Google lawyer written the book of the year? The part-time author talks about the inspiration for her thriller about siblings who flee abusive parents and their ‘house of horror’Abigail Dean was about to turn 30 when she suddenly realised that her job as a lawyer was using up all the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-01-25 06:00:07 UTC ]
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One Boat wins nine-way auction for climate activist Nakate

Pan Macmillan's sustainability imprint One Boat has triumphed in a nine-publisher auction for A Bigger Picture, billed as “part rousing manifesto, part poignant memoir” from Ugandan climate activist Vanessa Nakate. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-24 15:12:29 UTC ]
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Puffin stuff: Herring rules could boost funny-looking bird

Commercial herring fishing has suffered in recent years due to new restrictions. Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2021-01-23 17:51:58 UTC ]
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Cannes Lions finalizes in-person jury presidents, and Facebook outsources Trump ban verdict: Friday Wake-Up Call

Welcome to Ad Age’s Wake-Up Call, our daily roundup of advertising, marketing, media and digital news. If you're reading this online or in a forwarded email, here's the link to sign up for our Wake-Up Call newsletters.Cannes, contingent Cannes Lions announced its 2021 jury presidents—57% of... Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2021-01-22 11:00:00 UTC ]
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First mainstream book on lymphatic health to Yellow Kite in six-way auction

Following a six-way auction, Yellow Kite has acquired the first trade book on the subject of lymphatic system, written by LA-based expert Lisa Levitt Gainsley whose clients have included the likes of Selma Blair and Freida Pinto.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2021-01-21 15:09:11 UTC ]
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