This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Illinois chapter.
Growing up is never easy- especially as a girl. Braces, acne, periods and growth spurts seem to be an inevitable part of becoming an adolescent. While young boys experience their own set of changes, almost every young woman could argue that going through puberty is one of the most challenging times of their life. Why is this? Surely writing term papers and paying rent are unavoidable challenges, but nothing compares to the amount of personal insecurity that afflicts the mind of a young girl as she hits puberty. Unlike young boys, the changes that girls experience as they grow are much more physically obvious-leaving them vulnerable to bullying. But are these changes really a reason for degrading stereotypes?
By now, you’ve probably seen Proctor and Gamble’s Always “Like a Girl” advertisement. Much like Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaigns, Always aims to accomplish a similar goal: raise awareness of the universal self-esteem issue that plagues many young girls and help promote healthy self-image as girls become women.
The video begins by asking teen girls and boys what it means to do an action, “like a girl.” The participants responded by weakly or foolishly performing these actions. When the same questions were asked to pre-pubescent girls, they responded by performing the action with the most strength and talent they could muster. When the director asked the young girls to “run like a girl,” the girls sprinted across the set as fast as they could.
At some point in the lives of growing young men and women, women succumb to the belief that they are less strong, talented or intelligent than men. The problem is the overuse of this phrase which has been turned into an insult. Females clearly start out with the belief that there is nothing wrong with being a girl, and as they lose confidence, believe that there is something wrong with being a girl.
“I heard this phrase a lot growing up, mostly from coaches during sports,” said sophomore Annemarie Cress. “I guess I didn’t think about it at the time, but whenever we were told not to ‘throw like girls,’ it was insulting. I was a girl!”
Culturally, the 21st century has been a great millennium for women: living in one of the most opportunistic time periods, and for American girls, having all of the rights and the ability to receive the same education as any American boy. Yet American culture is still stuck in the pretense that being a girl is about being an attractive, sexually appealing being whose primary obligation is to obtain the attention of boys and young men.
By redefining the meaning of acting “like a girl,” society will not only be encouraging girls to perform tasks to their best ability, but will also be setting a new standard of confidence that is retained all the way into adulthood.
“It’s upsetting to realize the reality of this, how so many girls lose the confidence they once had,” said sophomore Emily Daly. “I really think that if enough people realize how insulting and degrading saying ‘don’t fight like a girl’ can be, we will be changing the way a lot of girls see themselves and all that they can do.”
This issue has been a part of our culture for longer than we can remember, and Always is making an effort to change this stigma after decades of repressing young girls. There is finally some progress in making this timeless issue come to an end.
Always encourages people to tweet about their “like a girl” moments when they are proud of something they have done, and to use the hashtag #likeagirl to set the trend on social media.
You can watch the Always #LikeAGirl commercial here.