We all know that feeling when you get back from a long day of monotonous lectures and seminars and the last thing you want to do is get your Nikes on and brave the English weather. Often, the idea of watching Netflix to wind down is more appealing than getting hot and sweaty. Women of all ages and backgrounds experience this lack of motivation when everyday life gets in the way; according to Sport England, ‘two million fewer women aged 14-40, are taking part in sport or exercise than men – despite 75% saying they want to be more active.’ So, what’s stopping women from getting involved? In an attempt to conquer this, Sport England have developed a national campaign branded as ‘This Girl Can’. This new advert, backed by Sally Gunnell, Clare Balding and Dame Kelly Holmes, celebrates normal, everyday women of varying shapes exercising no matter how they look. It features regular women of all ages, nationalities and sizes instead of models or sports figures that are considered the ‘norm’ in sports promotion.
It was an eye opener when the advert flashed up on my TV over Christmas and the camera panned onto a woman preparing to swim, with her bum proudly jiggling as she approached the pool to the tune of Missy Elliot’s ‘Get Ur Freak On.’ The boldness of this visual statement took me aback, as I’m sure nearly all of us have experienced this swimming-costume phobia, making any excuse to miss that week’s lesson or cowering under a sarong at the beach. However, red faces, sweaty backs and jiggly bums are all natural accomplices to exercise! This Girl Can tells us that ‘fear of judgement is stopping many of us from taking part in exercise.’ They have voiced the unspoken embarrassments of many women who merely want to shed a few pounds – especially after the Christmas binge – inspiring many women not to worry about how they look when exercising.
This campaign rocketed almost instantly, becoming a social media inspiration with one million hits on YouTube in just four days. On other social media platforms it has been equally successful, #ThisGirlCan and #IjigglethereforeIam have both trended on Twitter, with many getting involved in all different types of sport and exercise as a result. On their website ‘http://www.thisgirlcan.co.uk/’ the campaign promotes and helps girls discover new and different sports such as boxing, football, climbing, dodgeball and other forms of exercise that they maybe wouldn’t have thought to try out such as orienteering, spinning, triathlon, weightlifting and Zumba. No matter how much we convince ourselves that going for our bi-weekly run excites us, trying something new may just spur us on to get sweaty in this miserable weather.
Despite it being a media sensation and actively grabbing the attention of many women, The Guardian have criticised the advert claiming it conforms to ‘the cult of body worship and display.’ They argue that it merely accentuates the difference between what is considered normal in terms of body shape and what is desirable and undesirable, rather than focusing on the benefits and possibilities of exercise, such as: reducing stress, strengthening friendships and building physical and emotional strength. They further criticised the campaign by stating that it is a proven fact that ‘physical activity in the pursuit of desirability is something women eagerly “work on” under the auspices of the male gaze’ belittling our attempts and goals for getting fit, suggesting it is purely for the pleasure of men. Unfortunately, nowadays anything that even slightly promotes women is naturally criticised for being feminist or sexual; whereas This Girl Can is purely a motivational campaign that proves to women that it is perfectly natural to get hot, sweaty and ‘unattractive’ when exercising. We should all just go for it!
Edited by Georgina Varley