In a few weeks time, the plan is to walk up Snowden. So I bought some walking boots which I’ll be doing a lotta walking in. So there’s some slight relevance to this blog’s title ^ and also justification for the random walking boots pics.

My senior position within the Shelby Company means I don’t often have to ask permission from anyone to do anything.

Polly Gray- PEAKY BLINDERS

As the summer began, ITV2’s Love Island once again dominated the TV. It was a pleasant surprise to watch the journey that Amber took, from being widely misunderstood as being rude to being congratulated on her straight-up attitude and becoming 2019 Love Island’s winner (with Greg!)

Love Island is by no means the only show featuring straight-talking women. Less than a year ago, Becky Sharp (one of my favourite literature characters- from Vanity Fair) was competing with Julia Montague in BBC’s Bodyguard for the Sunday evening audience.

Since then, we’ve also been graced with Sex Education, Russian Doll, another series of Stranger Things and OITNB on Netflix. On screen we’ve had more Peaky Blinders, Clique, Line of Duty, Derry Girls and new Gentleman Jack.

I once turned to someone at a party and said ‘did I miss the memo on the sh*t shirt theme?’ purely because all the guys were wearing patterned shirts (classic filter-dysfunction> i was joking)

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been KILLING IT writing Fleabag and Killing Eve. Spotting the assertive/ strong/ realistically-written woman has become a much easier game than the ‘Where’s Wally’ comparison you could have made years ago.

These boots are made for walkin’

And that’s just what they’ll do

One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you…

NANCY SINATRA

We’ve gone from telling women to go on ‘Assertiveness Training’ courses to succeed at work, to magazines, such as the latest Cosmopolitan, telling us to ‘be a badass’. The Bumble app, where women strike up the conversation, has over 50 million users, suggesting the popularity of ‘assertive women’ in the dating scene.

This recurring emphasis on the importance of ‘ladylike’ speech manifests not only class prejudice but also a more specifically sexist logic that puts women in a curious double-bind.

Verbal Hygiene DEBORAH CAMERON

However, adverts still come up on my LinkedIn suggesting female-specific courses on how to communicate in the workplace. Search ‘assertiveness courses’ or ‘how to communicate @ work’ and you may see a slight trend towards the ‘fairer sex’….

I’ve gone from studying the attitudes towards male and female language in business in one of my uni modules, to working out the approach I’d try and aim for in a workplace. In a world where there seems to be a huge amount of opinions on the way women speak, it’s hard to navigate a way of communicating without any judgement forced upon you.

The public’s summer fling with Amber’s SASS seems quite a positive step. And Maura is right, being open and honest about your sexuality doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a ‘slag’.

So this weekend, I got on the LNER aZOOMa back to London from P’town, breaking in my hiking boots on steps up from the tube, ready to attempt not to let people walk all over me. Feeling ‘good as hell’; I’m sure Lizzo would be proud, even though I do need to sort out my nails.

P.S. I don’t need to be wearing boots, or Miranda Priestly’s Jimmy Choos, to walk all over you if you’re getting in my way x

‘Details of your incompetence do not interest me’– Miranda Priestly