In 2014, Sophia Amoruso, the CEO of a multi-million-dollar femme fashion empire, thought it would be a brilliant idea to put a spin on the concept of feminism. Her version of feminism aimed to inspire others to be like her: a successful woman.

Amoruso published a book called #Girlboss, which glorified her hard work and persistence. In the book, she argued that the pursuit of professional success was the bigger, better form of feminist activism. Female CEOs and executives, according to her, were in.

She thus created a 21st century super-woman archetype, and young women around the world started worshipping the hustle. So rife was the girl boss culture that many were more than willing to commit themselves to a damaging lifestyle not unlike the following:

• Wake up at 4 am.
• Do Pilates or run around the block.
• Eat a very healthy (yet Instagrammable) breakfast
• Work.
• Do more work, and then more work.
• Try to always be camera-ready while you’re at it. 

But for all the glamor of the hustle culture and the luxurious lifestyle it affords some women, it is just another sham.

In Jia Tolentino’s book Trick Mirror, Tolentino called girl boss culture a project for “getting better at being a woman.” This almost sounds like toxic masculinity to me. The notion that women, to get better at being a woman, should market themselves as girl bosses also suggests that their self-worth has a price tag. 

If you could package hard labor in a pretty pink box and then post it on Instagram, that’s what girl boss culture is all about. It empowers capitalism, not ourselves. Yes, a glamorous lifestyle could seem more appealing than the more traditional face of activism, which is all about suffrage, policies, and equal rights. However, a movement is a collective effort to achieving a particular end, and girl boss culture is all about achieving an individualistic utopia. 

With their glossy hair, plump lips, and custom couture, it is hard not to be dazzled by girl bosses. However, this image they portray rejects all the non-dazzling parts of being a woman, and repudiates all the struggles women have gone through for so long. That is not feminism.

Feminism is all about exposing women’s struggles, and daring society to do something about these struggles. Girl boss culture, on the contrary, screams, “Leave me alone! I can be successful on my own!”

So I’m sorry to break it to you, but girl boss culture is a marketing strategy. It sells a lifestyle, an image. Please don’t buy into it. 

The authentic faces of feminism are timeless. We see them every day: our loving moms, our dedicated teachers, our steadfast service workers. It is about time that we start to humanize women, and not subject them to impossible standards. 

Feminism has many faces for sure, but the girl boss is not one of them. Girl boss culture is a shrug. Feminism is a nudge. – Rappler.com

Kim Czaccei Dacanay, 19, is a History major from the University of Santo Tomas, and works as a freelance writer. She is a Rappler volunteer for the Digital Communications team.