Ten things that surfaced after watching this video recently released by Procter & Gamble.(The P&G survey found that out of 1,300 American females ages 16 to 24 years old, only 19 percent have a positive association toward the phrase, "like a girl.")
1. I have used the phrase "I throw like a girl" to criticize my inept arm when I played intramural sports in high school and college. I sadly saw my poor softball throw and volleyball serve as irreversible, and, apparently, my gender as the reason.
2. I recently used that phrase when talking with college friends about my athleticism and I wasn't bragging.
3. How thoughtless of me - right? Wrong. I used the gender crushing phrase with full thought to give myself a poor grade. It hurts to write that. It's not the phrase that's bad; it's the negative intent.
4. My husband recalled a female executive he worked for around 20 years ago whose harsh management 'skills' relied on figuratively stating (with hand gestures) her personal mantra, "I will squeeze balls until I get that person to do what I want." Apparently, her female power needed male parts for fuel.
5. What do you think when you hear/say someone is "a pussy?" That they are a kitten? Hardly. Female parts, regardless which raw descriptor chosen, are again used to mean weakness. As my friend Nicole, who posted the P&G video on her FB page, stated, "I've never understood it. There is nothing about a woman's anatomy that says weakness to me."
6. "Girly Man." Again, a put down made famous in an Saturday Night Live skit with buffoon body building characters Hans (Dana Carvey) and Franz (Kevin Nealon) describing a man's physique before their training: "That's right, and we have proof! We've taken the world's most pathetic girly-man, and turned him into the embodiment of perfect pumptitude!" ('Pumptitude' cracks me up)
7. The door swings both ways. I once heard a dad say to his pre-school son who was sobbing after being dropped off for his first library story time, "Stop crying - boys don't cry!" Maybe if boys could cry without criticism (especially from males) they could relax about expressing sadness. Tear ducts are universal. So is their use.
8. In the video, ten year old Dakota's response to being asked to "run like a girl" captures
her intact self-esteem. Offering an older female a second chance to "run like a girl" makes me tear up in gratitude because it reminds me we all have second chances.
9. I wonder what messages my two daughters have internalized when they hear the "like a girl" phrase and it makes me consider what role I've played in sending them.
10. The Hawaiian word "imua" (E-moo-ah) means "forward." Today and beyond, I use imua energy, like a girl.
Link to P&G's 'Social Awareness' experiment and the methodology used: http://news.pg.com/press-release/pg-corporate-announcements/new-social-experiment-always-reveals-harmful-impact-commonl
Link to the SNL skit transcript: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/88/88thansfranz.phtml
6. "Girly Man." Again, a put down made famous in an Saturday Night Live skit with buffoon body building characters Hans (Dana Carvey) and Franz (Kevin Nealon) describing a man's physique before their training: "That's right, and we have proof! We've taken the world's most pathetic girly-man, and turned him into the embodiment of perfect pumptitude!" ('Pumptitude' cracks me up)
7. The door swings both ways. I once heard a dad say to his pre-school son who was sobbing after being dropped off for his first library story time, "Stop crying - boys don't cry!" Maybe if boys could cry without criticism (especially from males) they could relax about expressing sadness. Tear ducts are universal. So is their use.
8. In the video, ten year old Dakota's response to being asked to "run like a girl" captures
her intact self-esteem. Offering an older female a second chance to "run like a girl" makes me tear up in gratitude because it reminds me we all have second chances.
9. I wonder what messages my two daughters have internalized when they hear the "like a girl" phrase and it makes me consider what role I've played in sending them.
10. The Hawaiian word "imua" (E-moo-ah) means "forward." Today and beyond, I use imua energy, like a girl.
Link to P&G's 'Social Awareness' experiment and the methodology used: http://news.pg.com/press-release/pg-corporate-announcements/new-social-experiment-always-reveals-harmful-impact-commonl
Link to the SNL skit transcript: http://snltranscripts.jt.org/88/88thansfranz.phtml
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