Certainly not DEMURE!

If you haven't come across the word “demure at least 500 times over the past week, congratulations, you won the battle against social media addiction that so many of us have lost. That, or your feed is full of wholesome, empowering, educational stuff while the rest of us consume literal nonsense.

If you've seen the trend, I'm pretty sure you ran to look up the word, because, unless you are 600 years old, I doubt you've used it before.

“Demure” ...such a fun word to say. It's almost impossible not to sound posh saying it, unless, of course, your mother tongue won't stop chasing you, in which case, I'm sorry, It's not your fault.

Let's define the word, shall we? Demure means reserved, modest, shy (typically used of a woman)

A demure woman is quiet, well-behaved, polite, sweet.

According to the Collins Dictionary(which I'm pretty sure you've never heard of), if you describe a young woman as demure, you mean they are quiet and rather shy, usually in a way that you like and find appealing, and behave correctly.

A demure girl is a good girl, the kind that doesn't get the corner office according to my personal hero, Millie Odhiambo.

I don't know about you, but to me, it sounds like the main character in every traditional rom-com. A shy, well-behaved girl from a small town who meets a crude businessman from the big city. He immediately notices her, basically starts taunting her till she falls in love. Then he breaks her heart, quickly realizes his mistake, and changes his ways because “men will change for the right woman” and they live happily ever after.

So demure.

I couldn't find the origin of the word demure but it dates to the late 17th century. I'm assuming it was coined by a man to describe a woman who in those times was believed to be “wife-material” 

I don't know why, but as fun as the word is to say, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

You know who's not demure…?

A woman who speaks her mind, a woman who occupies space, a woman who leads in a man's world.

I am not demure. Certainly not demure!

And while there's nothing wrong with being shy, and reserved…those are actually remarkable qualities to have... The question remains, who is this fixation on women being demure serving?