Fifty Shades: Submission and Strength

Chapter 22

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The character of Melissa is actually a good guy. I do have one of those evil, conniving women later in this chapter, but I wanted to include a pro-woman character like Melissa to sort of balance out the cliché that all women are after Christian and plotting against Ana :) Let me know what you think! Btw, the White House reference is a real thing. Washington Post had an Interesting article on how female staffers worked together to have a stronger voice.

After an hour, Melissa and Ana had struck up a comfortable rapport. Melissa was a self-made investment banker who grew up on a small farm in Texas. She put herself through college by bartending and was now one of the few female hedge fund managers in Blackstone's firm. Melissa wasn't shy about the fact that she, like most of the women in the room, found Christian to be drop-dead gorgeous. Ana found her candor refreshing. At least she doesn't hide her drooling.

"Is it hard being the only woman executive in your company?" Ana asked, nibbling on her sea bass and filet mignon. This is like two entrées in one. Oh wait, it's a fancy version of surf and turf. Duh!

"The job itself is hard. But like most woman, I have to work twice as hard to be viewed as an equal. It bites but it's a fact of life in male-dominated professions like finance. You'll see. I suspect international law is similar — a bunch of men who think they know how to rule the world, even though they're usually the ones messing it up and then quietly leaving us with the clean-up," Melissa said, erupting in deep-throated laughter.

Ana giggled, attracting Christian's attention. She discretely shook her head, trying to signal for him to leave them alone. Christian was glad that Ana was finally warming up to someone, though he was irrationally envious that another person was monopolizing her time. Christian grunted and resumed his conversation, though he continued to eavesdrop on Ana and Melissa's chattering.

"It's funny," Ana mused. "Whenever we have a roundtable discussion in class, the men are never scared to speak up, even if they're spouting nonsense. The few women, however — myself included — only speak up when we're 110 percent comfortable with a topic and have done exhaustive research on it."

"Studies have shown that women tend to be far more prepared than men on many subjects, but they are much more risk-averse when it comes to talking about them. Part of it, perhaps, may be that men are natural-born risk-takers, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that women get pilloried when they're wrong, whereas men are let off the hook more easily — or even congratulated for taking a chance."

"So men are less afraid to fail, because society gives them a softer cushion to land on?"

"Good way to put it. Let's face it, women are held to a higher standard. I have to be nice but tough, approachable but not a pushover. I can't tell you how many times I've been complimented on my suit or my smile after a meeting. People mean well, but what the hell does that have to do with my presentation? Can you imagine if Grey gave me a business presentation on acquiring a company and at the end, when he asked for my opinion, I told him I liked his outfit and his pearly whites?"

Ana put her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"Exactly. You're a smart girl. I'm sure you've experienced this in college. What's your philosophy when you have to dress up for a nice event? How do you pick out your clothes?"

Ana scrunched her nose. "I try to pick out something flattering, but demure. Conservative but not dowdy."

"Precisely. Professional women have to be feminine but not frumpy. They have to be restrained, but not too restrained, alluring, but not slutty. It's an impossible line we have to straddle. Men, they pick out a tie."