Alright ladies, I want you to be honest, has anyone ever called you bossy? How did it make you feel? I have definitely been called bossy! I remember a teacher telling me I was bossy. Inevitably, the other students picked up on that word and called me bossy as a way of making fun of me. But a new campaign created by Lean In founder Sheryl Sandberg aims to ban the word bossy. Ban Bossy aims to encourage girls to lead, instead of stifling that leadership at a young age by calling them bossy. As the campaign points out, when young boys are "bossy" they're called a leader, but when a young girl acts the same way she isn't labelled a leader, but instead called bossy. The word bossy has a negative connotation, it tells girls you're mean, you're overstepping your boundaries, you're too pushy. As a young girl I took bossy to mean I wouldn't have any friends. No one wants a bossy friend. And even today, I live in fear of being labelled bossy. So by calling girls and young women bossy we are encouraging them not to lead and to be afraid. According to Ban Bossy, between elementary school and high school, girls' self-esteem drops 3.5 times more than boys. Of course, it's not just being called bossy that plays into girls' self-esteem; their looks and whether they feel they fit in at school also have a role. But imagine if we empowered girls from a young age. We told those "bossy" girls that they were strong, that they were a leader, a force to be reckoned with. Or that like Beyonce, who does a video PSA for the campaign, that they're not bossy, they're the boss. I bet if we empowered young girls then they wouldn't care as much whether they fit in or if they were made fun of for having weird hair because they would be confident in themselves. In fact, I bet those girls would stand up to the bullies! It's amazing to think how one word can have such a negative psychological effect on girls. But it's even more amazing to think how changing that one word can empower young girls to be leaders. Where you ever called bossy? Photos courtesy of Ban Bossy