Even Lean In haters can concede that Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg probably wouldn't want writers and public motivational speakers to co-opt her book's catchy title for the purposes of (at worst) shaming women and (at most ridiculous) making inane non sequiturs about ladythings. Too bad.
A Time article — "article" is really too kind — entitled "Women Need to 'Lean In' to Pregnancy Too" ("Expectant moms need to ask more questions and do more research") inspired me (one might say I LEANED IN) to search for other recent articles and press releases that render the already suspect phrase totally useless:
- Why Men Must 'Lean In' to Support Women's Leadership (by Craigslist founder Craig Newmark) [Huffington Post]
- New Standing Desk From Focal Upright is a Great Way to Lean In [PR Web]
- Do Women CPAs Just Need To Lean In ? [Forbes]
- Lean In? Opt Out? What Moms at Work Really Want [PR Web]
- Lean In: Are Intelligent Working Women Leaning Back? [Business2Community]
- Does Leaning In Really Benefit Women? [Refinery29]
- Lean In. Box Out. [Time]
- Architecture's Lean In Moment [Metropolis Mag]
- Is It Time for School Business Managers to Lean In? [EdExec]
- Lean In? Women Should Lean Sideways Instead [Mom.Me]
- How Far Can You “Lean In” if You’re Not Pretty? [The Broad Side]
- Professional Women : If you ‘lean in’ do men need to ‘lean out’? [Training Zone]
The leaning never ends.
Image via Steven Bostock/Shutterstock.