If she is such a ‘girlboss’, why is she so nasty? The term ‘girlboss’ has been around since the early 2010s. Coined by Sophia Amoruso, the founder of the fast-fashion retail site Nasty Gal, a girlboss is described as a woman ‘whose success is defined in opposition to the masculine business world in which she swims upstream’ in her book ‘#GIRLBOSS’. Girlboss has been used mainly by companies like clothing brands to advertise their progressiveness, preaching for women to be girl bosses themselves. However, if the term ‘girlboss’ has encouraged women to have higher ambitions and become their own boss, why has it recently been associated with a more toxic side of modern feminism?

In recent years, the term ‘girlboss’ could be plastered everywhere, from advertisements to clothing. But really, who is and who can be a ‘girlboss’? According to ‘The Take’, a YouTube channel that makes video essays on media tropes through a modern feminist lens, there is a ‘girlboss’ trope in entertainment and media. They are portrayed as highly ambitious, independent, savvy women who are driven by money. ‘Girlboss’ characters in film and television could include Siobhan "Shiv'' Roy from Succession, Amy Dunne from Gone Girl, and most notably, Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada. Girlboss feminism seems only to describe a certain type of woman in society - one who is able-bodied, white, and most definitely not a common laborer in the working class. Although the ‘girlboss’ was meant to symbolize change from former problems in the workplace, such as sexism, sexual harassment, and discrimination, its original intentions had turned into a guise to justify women in power’s problematic behaviors.

“Be a nice person at work. If you are a total terror to work with, no one will want to keep you around,” Sophia Amuroso wrote in her book, #GIRLBOSS, published in 2014. “And the worst kind of mean is selective mean—the people who are nice to their boss and superiors, but completely rude to their peers or subordinates.”

Amoruso herself has been one of the most prevalent figures when discussing the irony of the girlboss. In the beginning of her career, Amoruso’s story inspired many aspiring entrepreneurs and women. In an interview with ‘Observer,’ she explained how her intentions of starting Nasty Gal to make extra money blew up on eBay due to its distinct style, which had appealed to many women. According to the Los Angeles Times, the success of Nasty Gal reached its peak in 2012 when its annual sales were valued at over $100 million. However, things took a turn for Nasty Gal in 2016 when the company went bankrupt. The bankruptcy could be linked to many factors, from competitors such as H&M and Zara to internal financial management issues. Following the bankruptcy, Amuroso faced severe backlash for mistreating employees when they spoke out about the toxic workplace environment in Nasty Gal. In 2015, an employee sued Nasty Gal for firing her and two others just before taking maternity leave to avoid paying their maternity leave. Another employee also filed for court as she was allegedly laid off while suffering from a serious kidney disease. Additionally, the company promised insurance coverage and let it lapse, leading to a medical emergency. sued the company for emotional distress, negligence, and breach of contract. These and many other instances led Nasty Gal to come across as putting on performative ‘girlboss’ feminism while discriminating against their own female employees. Women who were not in positions of power, but the subordinates, working behind the scenes.

Infamously, Miranda Priestly, portrayed by Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, embodies the problems centered around the ‘girlboss.’ Despite the movie coming out years before the term was officially coined, Miranda Priestly remains a pop culture icon for her highly ambitious and hardworking traits, which gave her wealth and power in an industry where men still held more power over women. Although, The Devil Wears Prada did not glamourise Priestly’s character, but showed how she had to make sacrifices, such as her family and husband, which most men in her position would never have to make. Furthermore, Priestly also created a toxic workplace environment, as we see from the view of Anne Hathaway’s character, Andy Sachs. As a newcomer to the fashion industry, Sachs was not only intimidated by Priestley but even emotionally and mentally abused by her through her near-impossible demands and jabs at Sachs’ physical appearance, style and more. Other employees, such as Emily, portrayed by Emily Blunt, starved herself to meet the standard and feel deserving of going to Paris Fashion Week. The way Miranda Priestly could be viewed as a feminist icon as she paved her way through the fashion industry is ironic. Her problematic actions in the movie are sometimes justified by audiences simply because she is a woman in power who worked hard to get to that status. Although it is inspiring, it does not mean that her behavior should face no criticism.

If anything, ‘girlboss’ is more patronizing than flattering because it suggests that men are natural ‘bosses’ who do not have to make the sacrifices women make daily. On the other hand, women being bosses are so rare that she could make no mistakes. This dehumanizes women as symbols who represent female empowerment. In reality, ‘girl bosses’ are still corporate leaders who dominate others and still make mistakes, just like men in positions of power.

Girlboss is simply a way to guise toxicity under feminism. The girlboss phenomenon glosses over unresolved issues for the sake of performative feminism to reel consumers in through female empowerment. Yet, there is an estimate that more than 75% of the production of garments in the USA could be considered sweatshop-produced, according to the National Museum of American History. Laborers are still slaving away in sweatshops, designing shirts that have ‘Go Girlboss!’ written over it all for less than the living wage. Workers are still being mistreated and discriminated against at work, whether due to race, sexual orientation, or physical disabilities. Feminism should not be used to hide toxicity under its mask but to lift others up and break toxic cycles in the workplace.

The Irony of Girlbossification

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