You know Sharon...my wife and you are two women I know of who don't like THAT term. She's a classically trained soprano singer and she will concur that she's never met a "sissie" that became a good soprano.
Amen. Every successful person I know always had a strong core confidence in what they were doing and in their vision. They would charge ahead in spite of all the nay sayers. Indeed art isn't for sissies