Girly-Men? In Business?
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Women in business have always been accused of being a lot of things: fierce, controlling, harsh, etc., etc. Even some “choice” words. Being in business is not easy, nor is it fair play. Even this guest post got a lot of flack about the comparison’s between men and women and their business management styles. Yes, it’s true that men and women do business differently. That’s part of the beauty of game. No one is alike, nor do they do business the same, right?
But one thing that I found peculiarly interesting is how other women feel about men. After all, I’m married to one, so I’m not “against” them nor do I think anti-man. And athough I am a strong business woman, I also don’t feel the need to low-rate or belittle men, business men, to feel stronger or powerful. So why does Dariga Nazarbayeva feel that she needs to do that?
Dariga Nazarbayeva is the (outspoken) daughter of the president of Kazakh, and she has some pret-ty strong words about men in business:
“One cannot help but notice that the world of men has become increasingly effeminate.” Full Article
I don’t know about you all, but I just don’t have this overwhelming need to diss men. Is it really necessary to do or does she have a valid point? What do you think?
Tags: dariga nazarbayeva, girly men, women-in-businessRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Biz Chick News
15 opinions for Girly-Men? In Business?
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
Jun 27, 2008 at 9:35 am
My comment?
No. I’d just better not. Period.
Bridget Wright
Jun 27, 2008 at 10:25 am
Come on James. You know you want to.
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
Jun 27, 2008 at 10:27 am
Of course I WANT to! It’ll get me in trouble. :)
Bridget Wright
Jun 27, 2008 at 10:34 am
James, I PROMISE that I will stand in front of the firing squad and defend your honor. Come on…
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
Jun 27, 2008 at 10:49 am
Okay, look. this is just absolute shit. What is this? Some kind of attempt to vindicate feminism by knocking men? Some kind of petty snipe that women rule? For god’s sake, women don’t NEED to take these punches at men. This doesn’t show balls or strength or skill or intelligence or demand respect. Comments like these BEG for the gender gap and bias to widen.
Is that what you want? To divide men and women and choose sides? I don’t give a rat’s ass if I like romance novels or cry at sad movies. This doesn’t make me effeminate, and forgive me for considering that word a HUGE insult.
“Oh look. He’s effeminate. He can’t establish his manliness.”
And in the same breath, these people think, “Men should behave less manly and just be people. We’re all equals.”
Oh REALLY? Comments like that make me want to go out and grow tons of chest hair, bang my club and drag people around by the hair while I grunt.
Well done. Seriously. We’re penalized for being one gender and then we’re penalized for lowering the gender bias bar to treat everyone as equals.
That’s the stupidest comment I’ve heard in ages and I don’t give a crap who said it. It’s small-minded, prejudiced and biased.
*ducks and runs for cover*
Bridget Wright
Jun 27, 2008 at 10:59 am
OK, wow.
I can see that you feel pret-ty strong about this as well. I’d like to respond, but let me first gather my thoughts, organize them and rebut.
Hang on a second…
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
Jun 27, 2008 at 11:09 am
Told ya. I can’t be held responsible for my words… Peer pressure and all ;)
Kristen
Jun 27, 2008 at 7:56 pm
James, you are hands down my favorite commenter on every blog, period. Thanks for coming by. :) And for once, I actually agree with you. Who’d a thunk? ;)
kk
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
Jun 27, 2008 at 8:11 pm
@ Kristen - *grin* I like you too. You don’t come visit me enough. But if you keep posting stuff like this (two man-bashes in two days?), you can bet that I’ll be back.
I say nice stuff too, sometimes ;)
I think I blew Bridget away…
Bridget
Jun 28, 2008 at 5:40 am
James, you WISH you could blow me away. Ha!
Are you ready?
OK, here goes.
Women who make comments like that are not always doing so to diss men, I don’t think. Our guest poster made an interesting point the other day about how men will say and do anything around her because she’s “one of the boys.” Now while I do take issue with that (which I’ll get to later), I feel like business needs to be conducted as such and appropriate words, references, etc. are to be used in the presence of EVERYONE and not just the female gender. I don’t think I’d be so inclined to continue doing business with any professional who starts their sentences off with “This man walked into a bar…”
The diss-ing seems to come from women who want their way, all of the time. Sorry girls, but it’s true. When you’re doing business, making deals, being competitive, etc., YOU CANNOT CHANGE THE RULES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME!!! There is no fair in playing the “girl” card and all of sudden having everyone discover and acknowledge that you’re a woman. No! Not fair.
Business is a fierce thing and to win you’ve got to compete, play dirty, pull out all of the tricks you can and make things happen. No one is in the world of business ONLY because they’re like/likable. It’s all about the greenbacks and doing whatever it takes to get them. When you’re in it to win it, pansy-ing is not allowed. Remember Omarosa?
Sure, girly-men exist. Sure, **bad word** girls do to. But to lump all girly-men and all **bad word** girls together is not only unfair, it’s silly. We’ve got to learn as women to roll with the punches and play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. Hard.
So when James and I compete for that huge writing gig with the big-namers, forget that I’m soooo nice.
In it to win it, baby. In it to win it.
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
Jun 28, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Just a small note.
Critical thinkers would discredit the pulled quote, simply because it’s been removed from its framing and can only be taken at face value out of context.
Placed back into context, the whole message may be distinctly different than our particular interpretation of a single pulled sentence.
Which is why pulling quotes is never a good idea and why everything becomes subject to interpretation.
@ Bridget - Bring it on. Competition is my lifeblood ;)
Kristen King
Jun 29, 2008 at 4:36 pm
James, darling, I visit you often. I just don’t have much to say these days. Weird, I know. :)
Good point about pulling quotes. I think linking to the original and discussing them in context even if you don’t reproduce the context is just fine. Do you disagree?
James Chartrand - Men with Pens
Jun 29, 2008 at 6:06 pm
Meh, there’s a right way to do it and we typically all screw it up, simply because we generally don’t have the proper knowledge. The “right” way would basically make our posts look ugly as sin and be a hell of a lot of words and quotes and citing and all kinds of garbage like that…
So… Yes, I agree with you ;)
And if you keep putting up posts like this, I’ll have plenty to say LOL - you always did have a way of getting my goat in the best way possible!
Bridget Wright
Jun 30, 2008 at 1:08 am
I originally made the post with my interpretation in mind of comparing the quote to how business is conducted. So, no, I don’t/didn’t take it out of context, I read her quote and compared it to business men/women - - an analogy if you please. That’s why there should always be a link to the original so that the reader can see for themselves what was actually said.
Kristen
Jun 30, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Aww, James, you make me blush.
Bridget, I would have handled this the same way you did as far as quoting, linking, and making the comparison.
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