On Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In and Critics (In GIFs)

When I heard Sheryl Sandberg was writing a book all about her "lean in" manifesto I was all:

I thought, hey, this will start an intelligent conversation about women and men and their lives at work and at home! Apparently that was a lofty idea...

Because it didn't take very long for people to start criticizing not only Sandberg's book, but her education, career path, decisions and well, everything about her. They were basically like,

Including high profile women like Maureen Dowd, Melissa Gira Grant and Deanna Zandt. Some claiming she's too self-serving, simply out of touch, doesn't get to the real problem, is blaming women or just a plain 'ol bad feminist. Which at first made me like,

But then I tried to talk to people about it, which just made me all,

Cause funny enough...a lot of folks HAVEN'T EVEN READ THE BOOK (um, it's not even out yet) and are jumping to conclusions about what it says. Which made me wonder,

And then Gloria Steinem posted this on her Facebook page:

Having read "Lean In" by Sheryl Sandberg, I can testify that it addresses internalized oppression, opposes the external barriers that create it, and urges women to support each other to fight both. It argues not only for women's equality in the workplace, but men's equality in home-care and child-rearing. Even its critics are making a deep if inadvertent point: Only in women is success viewed as a barrier to giving advice.

and I was all:

Seriously ladies, lets not be so defensive and ridiculously critical. Wait for the book to come out and react to it then. In the meantime, have intelligent discussions about what we know and what we believe.

Unless you'd like to purchase a jump to conclusions mat, and then we can talk.