Queen Bee
Syndrome
MADEXXX
Attract the Honey, Avoid the Sting
MADE BY N. C. MORRISSETTE
Have you ever been stung
by a bee? I have. I was young
– in elementary school. It
was a hot summer day and
I was asleep in the backseat
of my dad’s car after a long,
laborious school day of read-
ing, recess, and ‘rithmetic.
I remember being startled
out of my sleep after feeling
a violent flutter on my back
followed by an extremely
sharp piercing of my skin that
made me shiver all the way
down to my bones. I moved
frantically, shaking my shirt
to get rid of the culprit, as I
screamed and my eyes began
to water. My dad pulled over
to tend to my wound and
shaken state. The worst of it -
the actual act of being stung
- seemed to be over after a
few moments, but I felt the
residual effects of it for quite
some time. A swollen, red
bump on my back, a
nauseous feeling, cold
sweat, and a headache from
the shock and stress of my
devastating, albeit dramatic,
reaction. I still experience
a bit of apprehension every
time I hear the buzzing
sound of a bee.
jacket but a
much bigger force:
Enter the Queen Bee.
What is Queen Bee
Syndrome?
The Queen Bee Syndrome is
a thoroughly analyzed
phenomenon which
describes a woman in a
position of authority who
views or treats subordinates
more critically if they are
female. It could also be a
woman who has succeeded
in her career but refuses to
help other women do the
same. First coined by G.L.
Staines, T.E. Jayaratne, and
C. Travis in 1973, the Queen
Bee, not to be confused
with rapper Lil’ Kim (we’ll
I’ve experienced both that
sting and residual feeling
many times over in my
professional life, and
apparently so have many
other women in the corpo-
rate world. The culprit in this
scenario is not a yellow
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