The popular doll Barbie is taking to the internet to empower young women, and her latest vlog has created a lot of buzz because of what she’s challenging girls to do-- to stop saying sorry when you’re not sorry.
Saying "sorry" is often a verbal hiccup for most women. When someone bumps into you, you may say "sorry." If a restaurant messes up your order you may say "sorry" for asking them to fix it. But, is it a bad habit, or do we actually mean what we say?
"I think a lot of people say it when they don't actually mean it," says Barbie.
The famous doll has been empowering women on her YouTube channel. In a recent vlog, Barbie says young girls are saying sorry too much.
"There is a bigger issue around sorry, especially with girls," expresses the doll.
Someone else who agrees with Barbie is Karen Sugar, the founder and director of The Women’s Global Empowerment Fund.
“It's an issue around inequality and that women are not comfortable in their power," says Sugar.
Sugar says women strip away their own power when they apologize for doing nothing wrong.
"You want people to respect and listen to you, but when your apologizing, it takes away what you're trying to say."
Barbie agrees with Sugar saying, “we're afraid of being too big, or we even say we're sorry when we're sad because we're worried about making other people sad; I think we're worried about offending people."
Both Sugar and Barbie believe saying sorry when you’re not can affect your self-confidence.
"This kind of minimizing of our assertiveness and our confidence really can get in the way of us communicating what we want, what we mean," says Sugar.
At the end of the YouTube video, Barbie challenges all her strong females in the world to stop saying sorry, when you’re not sorry.
"If you feel sad, instead of saying you’re sorry, say "'thank you for understanding my feelings.' When the restaurant serves you cold food say, 'thank you for heating up my food.' When someone bumps into us, we say 'that's all right' and give them a smile."
Will you accept the challenge?
