20 words that women would like to see banned
British women want to banish ‘bird’ from the social dictionary with nearly 60 percent branding it their most hated pet name.
Taking to task phrases they deem derogatory, a survey of more than 2000 British women placed ‘mumsy’, ‘hormonal’ and ‘ball breaker’ among the top 10 words they would like to see banned from day to day vocabulary.
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Hide AdThe findings released as part of a new campaign from Special K inspiring inner strength in women, revealed women are tired of being labelled ‘hysterical’ and ‘high maintenance’, and according to open responses, also aimed to silence words such as 'Feminazi' and 'baren’ from daily lingo.
Where it was once believed to be an endearing term for your male co-worker to call you ‘honey’ or ‘gorgeous’, 40 per cent of women said they felt ‘patronised’ when subjected to a pet name especially in the workplace.
TOP FIVE PET NAMES WOMEN WANT BANNED
1. Bird - 56 percent
2. Doll - 45 percent
3. Chick - 42 percent
4. Babe - 38 percent
5. Queen Bee - 33 percent
But it isn’t just men handing out the sexist slurs in the office, more than a quarter of women described the use of pet names such as ‘babe’ or ‘doll’ by their female peers as ‘patronising’ or ‘belittling’ (13 per cent).
According to the Special K research, on average women claimed to hear men use these undermining terms seven times a month- interestingly the same amount as other women.
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Hide AdBritish women claimed they felt their strength as a female is undermined four times a day.
Infuriated by the gender balance, a whopping on third of young women (16-24 years old) confessed they had been told to ‘man up’ in the workplace.
Keen to strike a balance, 72 per cent of women said they would like to see more often women described ‘confident’, or ‘resilient’ (46 per cent) and ‘courageous’ (35 per cent).
TOP 20 WORDS WOMEN WOULD BAN
1 .Hormonal - 68 percent
2. Drama Queen - 56 percent
3. Bitchy - 53 percent
4. High Maintenance - 51 percent
5. Hysterical - 50 percent
6. Ball Breaker - 49 percent
7. Diva - 48 percent
8. Highly Strung - 46 percent
9. Mumsy - 42 percent
10. Princess - 40 percent
11. Attention Seeking - 35 percent
12. Emotional - 31 percent
13. Manipulative - 28 percent
14. Bossy - 27 percent
15. Controlling - 25 percent
16. Difficult - 21 percent
17. Sexy - 20 percent
18. Aggressive - 19 percent
19. Sassy - 16 percent
20. Feisty – 14 percent