“Girlboss”Culture was for White Women Anyway.

I’m fine with this trend no longer being popular. It wasn’t for me.

Lisa Martens

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Photo by Marten Bjork on Unsplash

I keep seeing the “Girlboss” culture being thrown under the bus.

Good. Shit was racist.

I couldn’t feel comfortable in my tech office as Latina cleaning ladies and their daughters cleaned up after the white women with blazers and dyed red hair and their “moxie.”

Cleaned up after me.

I remember, when I worked in tech, we all got a copy of Lean In.

It was garbage. It was basically how to white mean girl your way to the top.

I felt out of place. I remember trying to bring up issues with race only to be hushed or told to go to HR.

I wasn’t trying to be a problem. I was trying to start a conversation. But too often, anything regarding race just gets shoved into the “shut the fuck up” land of HR.

Girlboss culture was for white women. Those popular, business-casual clothes never fit me. Those chunky gross necklaces never matched my skin tone.

I can’t wear a pencil skirt with these hips and not be called into HR for looking inappropriate. I would look I was starring in an office-themed porno. I can’t wear that crap.

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Lisa Martens

A remote working Latina. Storytelling is a calling. Read, support, and more here: https://linktr.ee/lisathewriter