a princess is someone who ultimately triumphs over adversity and goes on to live a bigger, better life. Call me princess all you want. I’ll take it as a badge of honor.

Absolutely correct! Thank you for this perspective.

And the part you write about some using these titles to “put you in your place”. Made me recall a conversation that I was having awhile ago with a male coworker. I was enjoying the discussion since we both had expertise on the subject matter and the dynamic seemed to confirm mutual respect. Until the end of the chat and he said, Well sweetheart, it’s was fun talking with you and it’s so cute to see how passionate you are about your work”

Really.