(Disclaimer: This post is NOT meant to ignite or offend any particular political party or opinion. It is simply meant to shed light on and analogize the correlation between politics, business and women)

Pimp -noun
1. a person, esp. a man, who solicits customers for a prostitute or a brothel, usually in return for a share of the earnings; pander; procurer.

[Image Source: sxc.hu]

Whenever a woman allows herself to be exploited in any manner or for any reason, she is selling out, or rather “pimped out” and her pimp gets a huge chunk of the revenue, giving her a small token. The pimp sees multiple benefits in having this woman do his bidding, finding the highest bidder for his wares (her). He convinces her that she is valuable, but the only way she will excel is if she lets him control guide her towards success.

But is it ok if she likes it?

Pimps have nothing to lose in the pimp-nating(?), but everything to gain. The pimp always fares well, coming out on top, while the pimp-ed does not, come out on, well, not on top. (clearing throat).

I can remember a time during my aspiring professional career when I worked as a manager for a staffing firm. Well, before I became a manager, or rather when I was offered the manager’s position, I was told that they wanted to “shake things up a bit.” They felt like I could do some shaking. They felt like a change was necessary, with a fresh perspective and a fresh focus. You see since I was a woman and a person of color, the national staffing firm felt that the double-dagger-duo-description would look great for the corporation and wonderful in the local community. The change would (potentially) skyrocket sales and attract new clients. I was even asked specifically to go to with the sales manager to visit a client that they had been wooing for a while but couldn’t crack. I was asked to accompany her because I was “Black and could help them get a foot in the door.” What !! Well, I did take the job. I got a “promise” in getting a salary pay raise once the numbers were up (2-4 months), an expense account, my own office, an administrative assistant, flexible hours and a voice in decision-making. I loved it! Although the promise of ‘later money’ made me pause, I shrugged it off, knowing that I could increase sales with my marketing savvy – - or would it be because of my Blackness? Or my womanness?

In the political environment sparked in the last couple of weeks over McCain’s choice for Sarah Palin as his Vice-Presidential running mate, are we seeing a pimp in process? Are there multiple benefits to others besides Palin for her name and presence being on the Republican ticket? Has she been made promises that will materialize later if she just gives it up and says what her pimp party wants to hear? What happens if she doesn’t cooperate? Does she get replaced with another willing vessel? Or, will she stay on, baited with promises and a chance to win the (client) over with her physical description?

Going back for a moment to me being a manager: I took the job with all of the perks and promises, but was disappointed much later and saddened to make several discoveries, although not surprised:

1. Clients did not want to do business with me soley on the “because I’m Black” qualification. They wanted to know about my experience, my sales background, my marketing strategies, my conversion rates. You know, important business factors. Well, I had none significantly to speak of. The only experience that I had prior to taking the job was managing a small client base with about 15 employees.

2. Never wait for a later promise of compensation. If you can do the job without the money, then they can do the job themselves. This screams of pimp-dom because the pimp gets to enjoy benefits of your added-value (increased sales, more voters, etc.) without having to pay for it.

3. You get what you pay for and you pay for what you get. Bottom line. If you invest quality, you reap quality. As a staffing manager, I was only able to offer my charm and charisma. Apparently that was not enough as I failed to deliver everything that I had promised in my executive management plan. I reaaaallly wanted to show them what I could do, but it just wasn’t there. I simply was not ready.

4. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, why would you think it’s a cat? If it seems shady, it most likely is shady and there’s nothing you can say to justify it. It just is what it is. I felt like I was being used by my staffing firm. Had lots of suspicions, but chose to ignore them in lieu of their phenomenal promises. We shouldn’t be so naive.

So, if a woman knows she’s being expolited for what she has or who she is or what she represents, is it wrong if she likes it? I mean, if she doesn’t protest to it and actually helps herself along, is it wrong? If it’s not wrong, it’s not pimping then is it? Perhaps a business transaction maybe?

Without delving too deeply (or deeper) into my obvious political undertone ranting, I will say this: Often in politics, candidates try different “things” in an effort to sway voters their way. Sometimes controversial, sometimes palatable, often obvious, political parties try whatever they think will work in their favor. It’s not necessarily “wrong” but it does call into question motives, sincerity and genuine intentions. So if a political candidate or a woman in business knows or suspects she’s being used, she has a couple of options:

1. Work it girl! Get into the game, play hard and find your rhythm. If you don’t do it, they’ll just find another female who will, right?

2. Pointedly, unequivocally and decidely object to the very idea of being used. And become (possibly) unemployable and unemployed.

What’s a girl to do?

____________________________
Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Pimped Out Politics: Is It OK If She Likes It?

[Image Source: Flickr]
“Whooo. Look at that!”

“I don’t know, but you can look but don’t touch!”

Now, perhaps I flatter myself and maybe, just maybe they were talking about the coffee cake at the nearby table, but in the case that they weren’t, I thought that their dialogue was innappropriate and distasteful for a business setting. At the same time, I was kind of flattered that I even garnered whispered or whistling attention. Wow me!

Anyway, I simply ignored the conversation as if I didn’t hear it and commenced back to mingling with the crowd and exchanging business cards. Should I have ignored them or should I have responded? While I don’t necessarily count this as harassment, what do you call it? Was it innocent enough? Do you think that they know that I heard them? Were they really talking about the coffee cake?

_________________________________________________________

Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

Sexy Coffee Cake

From Merriam-Webster:

Main Entry: bitch
Pronunciation: \ˈbich\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English bicche, from Old English bicce
Date: before 12th century

1: the female of the dog or some other carnivorous mammals
2 a: a lewd or immoral woman b: a malicious, spiteful, or overbearing woman —sometimes used as a generalized term of abuse
3: something that is extremely difficult, objectionable, or unpleasant
4: complaint

From Wikipedia:

Bitch is a term for the female of a canine species in general. It is also frequently used as a term for a malicious, spiteful, domineering, intrusive, or unpleasant person, especially a woman. This second meaning has been in use since around 1400. When used to describe a male, it may also confer the meaning of “subordinate”, especially to another male, as in prison. Generally, this term is used to indicate that the person is acting outside the confines of their gender roles, such as when women are assertive or aggressive, or when men are passive or servile. More recent variants of bitch are bitchy, ill-tempered (1925), and to bitch, to complain (1930).

The word “bitch” has long been in use to refer to a woman in contempt, as shown in an 1811 dictionary which describes bitch as “the most offensive appellation that can be given to an English woman, even more provoking than that of whore.”

Also worth checking out: the Urban Dictionary entry on “bitch.” The synonyms and related words at the top tell an interesting story, if you ask me.

So why would a woman call herself “bitch,” refer to her friends as “my bitches,” or ever let a man call her “his bitch”? Evidently it’s an effect of “third-wave feminism” and a movement toward reclaiming derogatory and pejorative terms:

Words such as spinster, bitch, whore, and cunt continue to be used in derogatory ways to demean women. Inga Muscio writes, “I posit that we’re free to seize a word that was kidnapped and co-opted in a pain-filled, distant, past, with a ransom that cost our grandmothers’ freedom, children, traditions, pride, and land.” Third-wave feminists believe it is better to change the meaning of a sexist word than to censor it from speech.

Many of these words did not originally have their modern connotations of power. For example, the English word cunt, which is commonly used as a pejorative, is a derivative of the Germanic word “kunton” meaning “female genitalia.” Over time the word has become both a pejorative and a marker of femininity. The words bitch and whore developed in a similar fashion.

You can talk to me about reclaiming words until you’re blue in the face and I still don’t buy it. The swastika used to be a good luck symbol and a religious image until Hitler used it to represent the Nazi party. Should I wear clothes with swastikas on them and just assure horrified passersby that I’m reclaiming it? Should I start calling black people “niggas” because I’m reclaiming “nigger”? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

How about teaching people respect instead? How about not demeaning your fellow women by using offensive terms “to empower them”? Elisa commented on my mean girls post about internalizing labels, a topic she expanded on in her own post, and internalization is exactly what I’m talking about here. I do not find it empowering to be called or to call someone else “bitch” or “cunt.” I find it offensive. In fact, I think that calling ourselves and other women “bitch” and other offensive terms is a form of self-loathing, and I think we need to stop it. I don’t think I should have to call myself “bitch” before someone else does so I can say, “I reclaimed it.” Embracing the label reinforces its use and makes it acceptable and that’s not okay. I don’t think there should be anything pejorative about speaking your mind, asserting yourself, or having an opinion.

To that end, I took a romp through the internet to see how women are using “bitch” to describe themselves. If you pay a visit to Heartless Bitches International, you’ll find that they’re not exactly doing anything to ameliorate the term. The Bitch Girls Blog seems to preach imply say that having an opinion of any sort makes a woman a bitch, and the author dubbed herself “Bitter.” Gee, that’s appealing. I’ve met The Daily Bitch and Angry Black Bitch and found them both to be articulate, interesting, atractive, and clever, and am baffled as to why they would give themselves such an unkind label. Then I found Bitch PhD and again found smart women with a lot to say. And then we have Bitch magazine, whose title and tagline, “Feminist Response to Pop Culture,” together seem to imply that opinions of any sort other than “I like baking and raising babies, I do declare” are equal to bitchiness.

Why do we need to hide behind the label of “bitch” to feel okay with expressing opinions — or to slap it on others to make them feel like they shouldn’t express theirs? When are we going to stop being “bitches” and just be women?

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens business blog, womens business, women and business, women in business, women, woman, business, bitch, feminism, third-wave feminism, reclaiming cunt, reclaiming bitch, reclaiming nigger, slurs, demeaning, pejorative, offensive, insulting, womens issues, mean girls, internalization, self-loathing, biz chicks rule, kristen king

Post from: EveryJoe

Calling Yourself “Bitch” Is NOT Empowerment

Soap Box for a moment, please.

We take things for granted like having hot meals, toiletries, entertainment and the basic necessities of life. Having grown up in a military family and having been married to a military man for over twenty years, I can tell you the easy life it ain’t.

Our military men and women endure a lot for the sake of our country and the freedoms we enjoy. I’ve witnessed it and been involved in it firsthand, so I know from whence I speak. Although we all don’t agree and perhaps will never agree on the war(s), we can and should agree to support our fellow human beings.

To that end, I am asking you to take a moment and see if you can help a fellow human, a fellow soldier via this website at Any Soldier. I’m certain that it will be most appreciative and a welcoming sense of compassion for the soldiers.

Thank you for your indulgence. I am now dismounting my soap box.

Have a great day!

_____________________________________

Copyright 2008 – Bridget Wright

Post from: EveryJoe

You Can Help a Soldier Out

I’m going to steal from a comment I just left on Ry’s post "Why I Fear Women and Love Mythical Hobbits":

Whether Heather [Armstrong] is in actuality a mean girl is in my opinion immaterial to this discussion because she’s not the one talking smack on the blogs and making herself look like a vitriolic shrew — and THAT is what I was talking about. When people complain with substance … when they express a concern and make an argument, that’s saying, "enough is enough." I respect that. I’m down with it. When they do what I see happening now, that’s doing the mean girls playground wars thing, and that I have no respect for whatsoever.

If you think someone’s a butthead, you can tell that person or not. But you have to accept that no matter what they did that made you think they sucked in the first place, you will look a WHOLE lot worse if you go public with your unkind thoughts and rip them to shreds and call them names and say mean and nasty things about them and their friends and their family. And especially if it’s just because you don’t like their dog or their writing style or their hair or WHATEVER, or because they did something vague to someone else, or possibly someone else several people removed from you that you saw / heard about / think might have happened / bet would be something they would do, you look like a moron. You do. And you deserve it.

My point is that you get to choose how you respond to something. Calling names and taking low blows is a choice. Stating your case plainly is a choice. Saying nothing is a choice. These bloggers are choosing to be mean girls, and there are other ways to share an opinion. My opinion is that being a mean girl sucks, and this tendency of women to get all catty on each other is holding us back and it’s time to knock it off and be grown-ups already. Just because someone does something you think is stupid / mean / whatever does not mean that you have to respond in kind. That’s what children do. "He hit me!" "She hit me first!" You should know better.

***

In response to specific comments that I didn’t address already in the original post…

lildb said in part

this should have been nothing, but it became something when conflated unnecessarily by the speaker. shame on her.

I contend that it should have remained nothing. The only person who knows the speaker’s intentions in bringing it up at the keynote is the speaker, so let’s leave that alone. For all we know, it was meant to be a charming anecdote. What has turned it into a BIG TO-DO is the attacks after the fact, the mean-girl-ness. If no one said anything, who would give a hoot?

Allena said in part, in response to an earlier exchange

sometimes you HAVE to assoc w/hags! It’s not pleasant but it’s life. Being a soccer mom taught me to create a drama filter ;-}

To some extent I agree. Unless you live in a bubble, it happens. But you don’t have to seek out people you don’t care for. Wear headphones in the office. Bring a book to soccer practice. Skip the party hosted by the people you don’t like. Again, you get to choose. If it means sitting alone, so be it. Personally, I’d rather be content and alone than uncomfortable and surrounded by jerks.

Ruby said in part

I feel like Blogher should be called Doocher, because somehow it’s always about her and her friends. If you’re not in with her friends well then you’re just nobody.

Ruby, I think it sucks that you’ve had bad BlogHer experiences. I hope you will give your feedback to the organizers. I know they are open to it. But I have to point out here that I had never even heard of Dooce until about an hour before the keynote and even now if you put a gun to my head I couldn’t name a single one of her friends. And I don’t care. She is just a blogger, just like you and me. Do I think she’s a great writer? Yes I do. I read her blog for the first time at the airport on my way home from San Francisco and I loved it. But I managed to get through pretty much my entire life to date including all of BlogHer without that knowledge, and I still had a great time. And I found a lot of other awesome blogs there, too. That was part of the payoff.

If you don’t like the club (or if, like me, you don’t know it exists), start your own.

***

In closing (for now), YOU ARE NOT A VICTIM OF YOUR OWN LIFE. If you have a problem, do something about it. It all comes back to choices. You can choose to do something or you can choose to do nothing. But both are choices, and there are times when each of them is right. You can choose to let something go, or you can chose to tell the world about it. Just make your choice a conscious choice — because you will have to live with the consequences, positive or negative.

And as far as I’m concerned, there is never anything positive about being a mean girl.

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: women in business, women and business, women, woman, business, womens business blog, blogher08, blogher, keynote, mean girls, queen bees, gossip, catty, catfight, dooce, bloggess, hobbit, immature, clique, cool kids, biz chicks rule, kristen king

Post from: EveryJoe

In Response to the Comments on My Mean Girls Post…

This weekend at BlogHer, there was some drama during the closing keynote. I don’t know any of the people involved personally and I couldn’t tell you anyone’s intentions and I’m not going to try. But here’s what happened in super simple terms, from the viewpoint of an objective observer who had never heard of these people — before that day, anyway. One of the keynote speakers, made reference to something that had been said about her by another blogger in the context of a discussion of how readers often don’t see bloggers as real people and how surreal that is. During the audience Q&A, that blogger responded to the speaker. It should have been the end of the discussion.

But tension ensued, and I’m not entirely sure why because I thought it was pretty innocuous all around. It was an amusing post referenced in what I thought was a good-natured comment, along with a funny, though perhaps inappropriately timed, response. Who knows, maybe there’s some history I don’t know about — but what actually happened in that room at that moment, in my opinion, was not that big a deal. Yet the tension level went from 0 to 60 in .02 seconds, Twitter lit up like crazy, and shortly thereafter the blogosphere exploded, so of course, I wanted to figure out exactly why the heck everyone got their panties in a bunch.

I did what every other Internet-addicted woman does when she wants to learn about something: I Googled the original post and searched for comments about the keynote "incident" after the fact. And I was SHOCKED to find that some of the people who I thought were pretty nice when I met them at BlogHer were just ripping these poor women to shreds — about something that really, truly, is not all the drama. Talk about blowing something out of proportion! Are we not adults here? Are we not past the mind set that the only way to feel good about ourselves is to tear other down and mock them in front of all of the other kids on the playground? And after all of that, I still don’t understand what the big flipping deal is.

It got me thinking about stuff I saw in high school, middle school, elementary school, and stuff I saw when I was working, too. Everywhere you go, there are the "cool kids" and the not-so-cool kids. Even if you choose not to participate in that dynamic (and I really, really hope you choose not to participate in that dynamic), you know what I’m talking about. For some reason, those cool kids seem determined to maintain their status — by making sure no one else feels cool anywhere, ever. That is like the least cool thing I can think of. It’s a coolness dictatorship. And the response is for the less-cool kids to find ways to sabotage the cool kids and rob them of their alpha status. (I guess that would be the anti-cool revolt.) It’s like something you see on Animal Planet crossed with the Bolshevik Revolution.

I digress. What I see happening now is that these two women, the speaker and the blogger, are being torn down on blogs for SOMETHING that is NOTHING. And it’s just petty. And it looks stupid. And I’m indignant, because I feel like every time someone complains about how "the man" is holding women back and societal pressures are keeping women from moving forward and it’s about time we had a serious woman presidential candidate, blah blah blah, a bunch of women jump on a bunch of other women and have a catfight and it just makes everyone look bad and we’re back where we started from and we deserve it because this is not the playground and that’s how we are behaving. And I say WE because the rest of us who do nothing about it are just as responsible as the people who are actively propogating it.

We are grown-ups now and this is like so 15 years ago. Fellow BlogHers, we just got back from a conference dedicated toward supporting women in the blogosphere, and here you are talking smack about stuff that’s not any of your business, stirring the pot, and frankly embarrassing the rest of us. You’re old enough to know better. You’re old enough to stop being mean girls.

So, blogging aside, what’s my point? Well, I want to know how YOU deal with the mean girls in your life. Whether you’re a target of mean girls or are around them or, let’s be honest here, if you have mean girl tendencies of your own, how does it affect your life? And are you okay with that?

Some questions to prompt your thinking:

• What do you do when you hear a rumor at work, or anywhere else for that matter? Do you listen to it? Do you ignore it? Do you repeat it?
• How do you react when others are gossiping in your presence? Do you participate? Do you sit by silently? Do you leave?
• Do you ever start or spread gossip and rumors about another woman at work or elsewhere in your life?
• Do you talk about other women when they’re not in the room?
• How do you handle it when you have a problem with another woman in your life? Do you talk to her about it, or do you talk to others about it?
• Do you discuss others’ failures at length, either in a closed group or in public forums?
• Do you mock other women who dress differently, speak differently, make different life choices? Do you participate or enable when others do?
• Do you make a point of bringing other people down?

Those things aren’t funny, and they’re certainly not flattering. Yeah, we all have our moments and NONE of us is perfect. But this is worth making an effort for. And it’s not just about you, or about me, or about this speaker and this blogger. This is about how we as women are cutting one another down and it is unacceptable. Now, what are we going to do about it?

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: women in business, women and business, women, woman, business, womens business blog, blogher08, blogher, keynote, mean girls, queen bees, gossip, catty, catfight, dooce, bloggess, hobbit, immature, clique, cool kids, biz chicks rule, kristen king

Post from: EveryJoe

Apparently Mean Girls Just Don’t Grow Out of It

My parents raised me to believe that there was nothing I couldn’t do if I really wanted to. My father believed that women were smarter than men and I was the smartest. With his encouragement I started a boutique publicity agency. Today I own Miriam Silverberg Associates, a small publicity firm specializing in restaurants, fashion and anything that appeals to a woman’s comfort, vanity and convenience. I’ve been in business for well over 20 years.

Here’s what I’ve discovered Most men don’t think women are as smart as men. They won’t treat a woman the same as they treat a man. They’ll take advantage of a woman and do things they wouldn’t have the nerve to do to a man. Let me explain.

• I had a male client who was a plastic surgeon. He was in trouble and I tried to give him advice. He told me he didn’t like taking advice from a woman. I asked him whether he realized I was a woman when he hired me and he said yes, but he didn’t think I would tell him what to do.
• Another male client propositioned me with his wife standing a few feet away! At times this man would yell at both of us in fury when things didn’t go his way.
• Another male client refuses to pay me on time. He’s very sweet and very nice but I have to plead for my money. Do you think he’d treat a man this way? I don’t think so.
• Men hire me to advise them on publicity and presenting their best face to the public and then won’t take my advice because I’m "just a woman." Men just don’t take a woman seriously. Even if she’s single as I am, they seem to think she’s just working for spending money. She’s not really earning a living. 

I’ve had men regularly use four-letter words speaking to me, either because they deliberately wanted to get a rise out of me and offend me, or more benignly, they considered me one of the boys. Either way, I never used the same language, either asking them not to use it or, if I thought they were just expressing themselves, I let it go.

I’m convinced one of the big reasons I have difficulty being taken seriously is I weigh 88 lbs and am a hair under 5′. I know I am very chic
in my appearance and make no attempt to look or act like a man Neither do I flirt in a business atmosphere. I don’t act like Hillary Clinton but neither do I act or dress like a Playboy bunny. I’ve spoken to other women in business and they all agree that they also have trouble being taken seriously.

I’m successful and I’ve accomplished a lot and I’m very proud of myself but it hasn’t been easy. I’ve had to be a typical "pushy dame" (or so I’ve been told) to get what I’m entitled to. I’ve had to raise my voice and stand my ground not to let people push me around. I’m a baby boomer and my mother taught me to be ladylike. When I went into business after she died, my father had to teach me not to be so ladylike.
He said in businesss you can’t be too much of a lady or people will walk all over you. Sad to say, he was right.

Do you agree with Miriam? Why or why not? Tell your story in the comments.

***

Miriam Silverberg is founder and president of Miriam Silverberg Associates, a boutique public relations firm in Manhattan. She has worked with restaurants, doctors, fashion and beauty fields, authors and New York City Ballet. She is a contributor to Restaurant Report. com and writes a regular column on fashion for the Epoch Times. She is an annual panelist at Marymount Manhattan College’s seminar on writing and publicity. She may be reached at silverbergm at mindspring dot com.

Tags: women and business, women in business, women, woman, business, womens business blog, miriam silverberg, men versus women, sex discrimination, gender discrimination, battle of the sexes, inequality, equal, men, biz chicks rule, kristen king

Post from: EveryJoe

Guest Post: Men and Women Are NOT Equal

But the best part, the thing that really made me swoon, is that I heard a news report secondhand saying, “Don’t be surprised if gas hits $12/gallon this summer.” I have never been more glad to work from home in my life.

LISTEN UP, EMPLOYERS. It’s time to start aggressively promoting telecommuting in your organization, because your people won’t be able to afford to come to work if prices keep trending the way they have been. Get with the program, corporate America. The days of 9-5 in the office are over, and it’s time for you to get on board. Stop forcing people to drive back and forth every day when they can be just as productive, if not more so, in the non-gas-guzzling comfort of their own homes.

EMPLOYEES: If you’re commuting even a short distance, it’s time to talk to your employer about working from home at least part time. In my opinion, 90% of white-collar jobs require little to no actual time in the office, and with no end in sight for astronomical fuel costs, IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE TO FORCE PEOPLE TO COME TO AN ARBITRARY LOCATION JUST TO MAKE THEIR BOSSES FEEL BETTER. Don’t let them tell you it’s the only way. They’re wrong.

MANAGERS: If you don’t trust an employee to get her work done without the threat of you walking into her office or cubicle at any given moment to catch her in the act of slacking, you should fire her anyway. And if you want to keep the good employees, let them work from home, where they will be able to get more done in less time without sucking their bank accounts dry to keep the gas tank full. Say it with me, people: Telephones. E-mail. Video conferencing.

We talk endlessly about reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and then we sit in traffic for hours to make just enough money to drive to and from work. Carpooling is NOT ENOUGH. Taking public transportation is NOT ENOUGH. Driving a hybrid is NOT ENOUGH. We need to drive less, and we need to do it NOW.

We’re spinning our wheels here, people, both literally and figuratively, but THIS makes SENSE. So what are you waiting for?

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

(hat tip to Gabe Goldberg for getting me riled up about this at FBB last month; photo from Newscom)

Tags: women and business, women in business, women, woman, business, gas prices, fuel prices, cost of gas, cost of fuel, commute, commuting, commuter, telecommuting, telecommute, work from home, remote work, remote employee, work remotely, reduce dependence on foreign oil, solve the gas crisis, reduce gas costs, biz chicks rule, kristen king

Post from: EveryJoe

Fun Friday (a little early): Gas Prices Are Still Rising, and It’s Time for Commuters to Revolt

Parents are in an uproar about the scandalous photo of the underage Disney star, but VF says everything was on the up and up:

Me, well I hate to say, "I told you so!" but I stand by what I said in February in my Lively Women post "Does Miley Cyrus Have Histrionic Personality Disorder, or Is She Just Plain Annoying?": This kid is out of control, and her parents need to get their act together. Need I remind you that one of the criteria for histrionic personality disorder from Psychology Today is "striking self-centeredness or sexual seductiveness in inappropriate situations, including social, occupational and professional relationships beyond what is appropriate for the social context"? Hmm…

Whether the wrapped-in-a-bedsheet Annie Leibovitz photo accompanying the VF article "Miley Knows Best" was an attention grab or artistic expression gone horribly wrong, it sure has gotten the kid a lot of press.

So was it a mistake or a calculated move to get more attention? What do you think?

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: women and business, women in business, women, woman, business, miley cyrus, vanity fair, annie leibovitz, annie liebovitz, kristen king, biz chicks rule

Post from: EveryJoe

Brilliant Business Move or Biggest Mistake of Her Life? Miley Cyrus and Her Semi-Nude Vanity Fair Photo

According to the 2008 State of Black America report, published by the National Urban League, black women are now wearing many hats and are often carrying the weight of the entire African-American community on their shoulders.

Full story here

Black women have also had to learn to be creative and resourceful when it has been expected of them to carry the family. Cleaning houses, caring for other people’s children and cooking for schools or nursing homes have long been hailed as jobs that were held by predominantly African-American women. That was the age of yesteryear, the 50s and 60s. Today, you are apt to find Black women still as resourcesful, but perhaps a little more creative than their foremothers.

Black women professional stylists and fashion designers are now teaming up with major brand distributors to develop hair care lines and major clothing lines.

You can find the presence of entrepreneurial Black women in food distributors like Aunt Kizzy’s back porch, which routinely get excellent reviews.

There’s no other harder-working woman in politics (excepting Hillary Clinton!) than Condoleezza Rice.

FORE! Move over. Elaine Joyce, professional golfer, is about to hit the ball.

When I was a young girl growing up, I saw my mom, grandmother and even great grandmother work tirelessly at odd jobs, making a living for their families. Now my dad was present in the home and even worked two jobs himself. My grandfather was disabled and my great grandfather was deceased. I saw these women work all day long just to provide the basics for their large families. That helped to instill in me a work ethic that I have even til today. When you see hard working people around you, you can’t help but work hard yourself, right?

When the news reports that a certain ethnic group works hard and is the foundation of the single-parent family, I’m not so surprised. When they report that economic conditions are favorable for a certain class of people, I don’t get alarmed. Hard work just pays off.

I’ve been knowing that for years.

Post from: EveryJoe

Hard-Working Black Women: No New News Here