Hey Ladies — Let’s Stop with “Girl Boss” Already

By Erin Quinn-Kong

Just like all trends, slang terms come and go; “YOLO” is out and “squad” and “goals” are in. But there’s one term in particular that we wish would go the way of chunky heels and shoulder pads: girl boss. Originated in 2014 when Nasty Gal founder Sophia Amoruso’s book #Girlboss became a New York Times best seller, it’s now constantly used in hashtag form. On Instagram alone, you’ll find 1.3 million posts tagged #girlboss. And a standard tweet using the term is something like this: “Getting up at 5:30 a.m. to attend the hot hells of Bikram yoga before starting my 10-hour workday. #girlbossmoment” We’d simply call that fitting it all in.

Amoruso has an exceptional story — she founded Nasty Gal in 2006 and grew it into a $250 million fashion retailer with more than 400 employees before stepping down last year. She was founder and CEO, so why the term girl boss? No doubt she hustled and worked hard to succeed, so calling herself a girl boss undermines her achievements.

The term bothers us for three reasons:

• The word girl makes us think of adorable 5-year-olds wearing pink dresses and bows — they’re not exactly power figures. So applying the word “girl” to a grown woman is soft peddling. By calling yourself a girl boss, you’re saying, “I’m cute, silly and endearing — and in no way threatening — but also don’t forget that I’m powerful.”
• Being a boss is not a title you can actually strive for. While you may say “She is my boss,” or “I am her boss,” we should be striving for a title like CEO, executive, manager, or whatever is the top of your particular field. And if we did say “girl CEO” or “girl manager,” it would imply a woman is not a real CEO and at the end of the day she drives off in her pink corvette with Ken. (Insert Tina Fey­–sized eye roll here.)
• On that note, why bring gender into it all? You would never say “boy boss” or “man boss,” he is simply the CEO or SVP because he just is. His gender doesn’t bolster or take away; he is because he is. End of discussion.

While we appreciate that the term has become a motivational anthem, we guarantee that PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi, Facebook’s Sheryl Sanberg and Hewlett Packard’s Meg Whitman don’t call themselves girl boss. (They’re too busy shattering glass ceilings to think about anything besides kicking ass on a regular basis.) But, if you do need a little something to pump yourself up to nail that early morning presentation or ask for that promotion, we suggest #boss, #likeaboss or one of our favorites, #badass. Because that’s what you are.

This article originally appeared on Modernae.com, a pop culture-free lifestyle website for 21st century women.