I remember when this commercial came out a couple years ago. I think this video reflected how our society views women. This commercial specifically brought out how our society devalues women in a way. Being a woman myself, I remember feeling more invincible when I was a younger girl. When I was growing up through the years, society’s social standards set in. Feminine phrases are often used negatively. One can even see in the commercial that younger girls think much more highly of themselves than an older women does. I can think of many instances in my life when I had been the target of a condescending remark from another boy about not being good enough because I was a girl. One specific example was when I was first trying out sports in elementary school. I joined a co-ed soccer team and I remember that the boys looked at the girls differently. They would make silly comments to others on the team about running or kicking like a girl. Those comments were used to frustrate both genders on our team to run or kick better and harder. Looking back, I remember not thinking much of it because it was a phrase that I had heard so many times in my life. I think we should not be using these feminine terms and phrases in a condescending way anymore. When I hear the phrase “boys will be boys,” I get very frustrated. A phrase like that tries to create excuses for inappropriate behaviors and actions. Our society needs to come together and say that it's not okay to look at women differently from men. That includes using stupid phrases that condescend women. Whenever I see videos like this that point out the differences of what it's like to be a man and a woman, it aggravates me. It frustrates me further when men say that this anger and want for change is just another “thing” that women do to be naggy. We all need to treat everyone equally. To do this, we all need to open up our minds and see each other in the same perspective. Check123
The video on the stigma behind feminizing actions was quite interesting. We assign negative undertones to word and phrases that we also assign as female. Our culture devalues women and ways women do things. It is so bad that women grow up feeling lesser even though we have the same basic human rights as men. Legally, we are the same, but culturally, women are looked down upon. We learn this as we grow up, and we do not start to identify with this cultural mentality until, as the video said, puberty, when physical and hormonal changes creep in and we begin to see ourselves as distinctly female. That age brings about a contrast between boys and girls, and that is when underlying negative tones kick in. In the video, the older girls identified with the negative tones in ‘...like a girl.’ Their actions when trying to display such phrases showed weakness and ineptitude. Reality has settled in, and as their bodies developed into distinctly more ‘female’ forms, their beliefs aligned with the cultural definitions of femininity, lesser. However, the younger girls’ definitions of ‘...like a girl’ were vastly different. Their ‘...like a girl’ means ‘like me,’ not ‘like society tells me.’ They ran like themselves, threw like themselves, and fought like themselves, the strongest, most confident they could be. At that younger age, society has not influenced you as much, and your basis for defining who you are is dictated by your family culture, not society. As you become more exposed to the cultural norms of society, you start to create your own definitions based off of what your culture says. Right now, we are trying to take away the stigma behind femininity, and that progress is, personally, so exciting. The changes we are trying to create now will open up the playing field for women in so many professional, educational, and social areas. aardvark123
I had never seen this commercial before. It is interesting how different the phrase “like a girl” could be interpreted by someone so differently just based on how old the person is. It is also interesting that it did not matter what sex the person was, but I did not see any real young boys answer the question. Would a real young boy answer like the other boys or like the real young girls? There was a discussion about this used in my sociology class this past week. We were talking about power and value. We used an example like when a man is talking about his car, the car is sometimes referred to as she. This is to show power, control, or ownership over the vehicle, as if the car is lesser in status, so a feminine term is used. We also discussed using feminine terms to be used for a negative meaning as opposed to masculine terms. This commercial is a prime example of this. Society has used the phrase “like a girl” to mean an action that is lesser than average. I do not understand how this came to be. As I watch my two young sons playing at school with other kids their age, the sex of the child seems to not make a difference with the child's ability. One of my sons is in track and even though the boys and girls run separately, my son looks at the times of the other competitors and not their sex. Also my other son is on a co-ed soccer team. When watching the players there is no difference in the child's ability if you are judging by their sex. There are good players and not so good players, but it is not all the boys are good players, and not all the girls are the not so good players. Diver123
This video is very inspiring and eye-opening as to how girls are represented in today’s societies. The fact that there is a difference between what girls think it should look like to do something as a female and what the younger, less developed girls look like doing those things means that there is a serious label put on females. This label convinces people how girls are supposed to act, which is supposedly sensitive, self-conscious, weak in some cases, and graceful. This video proves that mature girls and boys who have experienced society and learned from those around them, witnessing standards and labels put on genders, have grown accustomed to how girls are supposed to act. They have almost left behind a personal part of themselves that believes they can act however they want and replaced it with how society tells them to act. They talked about how confidence decreases as they go through puberty because of becoming a girl. I think that the insults from society about females are the reason this happens because of the fear of becoming that way. This change doesn’t mean a female becomes less of who they were, it means they have the strength to become better. It is the same a male going through puberty. Society sees a boy’s transformation stage as a benefit to him, so why can’t it be the same for a girl? Anyone of any gender can always become better than anyone else of any gender if they keep on trying hard and being themselves. It is true that physically girls may be weaker than boys, although that doesn’t mean they can’t be better than other boys or girls at sports, or even careers. I really like the movement Always is creating, saying let’s make “Like a girl” mean amazing things. It is up to the people who make up a society to change their opinions of girls. I think that in time, this is possible if new generations continue to ignore the insults and beliefs that older people have practiced before them and change the perspective on females. -Kiwi123
I ended up watching this video twice, once with my mom and then once with my dad. Both of their reactions to it were completely different. My mom laughed and thought it was really funny when the older people were acting “like a girl” while performing an activity. Then she realized what she was doing when the younger girls came on and were giving it their all when asked to “act like a girl”. With my dad however, he immediately acted with disgust when the older kids were making fun/putting down how a gild would run. I would have expected their reactions to be completely flipped considering my mom is a female and she has experienced someone insulting her with “like a girl” comment. So while saying “like a girl” is an insult I feel like just as many girls say it to girls as boys say it to girls. The entire saying is ridiculous to begin with. Of course we run like a girl, hit like a girl, etc. we are girls, yet somehow in society that is a bad thing. If we were to say you run like a boy that would be considered high praise. I don’t think anyone should be insulted with a “like a girl” comment. There is no superior sex on this planet. We are people and we are all on equal standing. There might be some of us that excel at certain things and others who don’t, but there is no reason someone should ever point that out let alone pointing that out while insulting the female population by implying that we are inferior. I ran into a man today who was out shopping with his daughter. Long story short he said in front of her, “and this is why boys will forever be better than girls.” I was completely shocked. As a female I was insulted and angered that this girl would grow up hearing her father say these things and have her actually believe them. Now whether he was joking or not I don’t know. But regardless it’s not funny and that should never be said. sunflower123
This commercial demonstrates a how social norms are embedded into people’s minds. They use the phrase “like a girl” to show the power men have placed over women when they use the phrase “like a girl” as an insult.. To hit like a girl, or run like a girl, or fight like a girl means you are bad a hitting, or running, or fighting. This demonstrates how misogyny is carried out through language. They ask all of the participants what it looks like to do something “like a girl”. All of the older participants, men and women, alike put on a show of how weak and dramatic it is to do something “like a girl” Then they ask young girls what it looks like to do something “like a girl”. The young girls have concentrated looks on their face and they performed whatever activity to the best of their ability because these young girls have not yet been taught that “like a girl” is a bad thing.They asked one of the young girls if it was a good thing or a bad thing to run like a girl and she said “I don’t know but it kind of sounds like it’s a bad thing like you are trying to humiliate somebody.” she was just beginning to realize the context of the phrase which is so sad. When the older participants realize what they have just done they are filled with a sense of regret. They subscribed to misogyny without even realizing it. We been accustomed to saying things that have horrible ugly meanings behind because it becomes socially normal for us. All of the older women spoke about trying to fill the script and use “like a girl” as a good thing. One woman said “why can’t run like a girl also mean winning the race” -Glass123
I have never seen this commercial, and I didn't even know it existed. I loved watching and listening to this video. It showed how people think that girls act, when in reality, it isn't even close. It showed how others feel when being said that they kick or run like a girl. The casting, the organization, and the topic and they way they filmed it, was phenomenal. Who are you to judge how girls throw or run or do anything? People not only say those phrases to girls, they say it to guys to make them feel like they are inferior and cannot do it right. That is so mean, judgmental, and insulting. It is even worse when those comments are said to young girls, because like they said in the commercial, that is when puberty starts and they will feel like they cannot do anything right. One of my favorite parts of the video was when they asked the girl in the blue dress what advice she would give to the girls that are being told that they hit, kick, or run like a girl. She basically said to keep doing what you are doing, and who cares what the others say. She said, "That is not something that I should be ashamed of so I'm gonna do it anyway." Be proud to be a girl and don't let the jealousy, and ignorance of others bring you down. panda123
So this clip is something that I’ve seen before. It is a commercial for the Always deodorant. It is showing girls, and a few boys standing in front of a tarp and asking them, what does it mean to do something like a girl? And they all answer pretty sexist responses, no surprise there. They were asked to do actions like, run like a girl, throw like a girl, ect. Then they did the same thing for young girls and they did genuine responses. They ran as hard as they could, they threw the ball as far as they could. Sexuality and gender are a huge topic in the world today. People are starting to discover themselves and be more public about it than the LGBTQ+ back twenty years ago. My thoughts on the matter are very open and accepting. I have a lot of friends and family members who fall into this category. They started coming out when I was in high school and more and more started to be confident and come out to me once we graduated. It makes me happy for them that they understand themselves. I don’t understand why it has to be a big deal. I think about this at least once a day honestly. I hate how as soon as people have the right to get married we have someone come into office trying to ruin it. But besides the political aspect, I hate how people find the term gay to just be enough to make them flinch. I hate how someone can be super cool, but as soon as someone finds out they’re gay it’s like, wow they’re not cool anymore, I need to keep my distance. I don’t mean to be going off on the matter but it means a lot to me. And gender too for that matter. I can’t tell my mom to accept my friend’s pronouns because she doesn’t understand and think it isn’t right. My family won’t call my cousin by his preferred name because “that’s not his birth name” I’m probably well over 300 words at this point but I can talk about this topic all day. In conclusion, people just need to learn to love, accept, and respect each other as equals. rosethorns123
This video exposes the negative stereotype our society holds against doing things “like a girl.” The older girls and guys in the video when told to run, throw, or fight like a girl all acted like they were too weak and powerless to complete the task. On the other hand, when the young girls came out and were told to do the same things, they did them will great strength, power, and determination. This shows how our society shapes girls’ minds into believing that they are truly less than men. I think it is really sad that people laugh about it and think it is funny. Many people take it as a joke, however like we learned in class if you are told you are something enough times you will internalize it and accept it as true. What started off as a silly joke has now become a woman's reality. We are not less than men and every girl should be reminded of this often. Our society is so centered on men being the most powerful that it takes a lot of reminding for the girls that this is not actually true. Personally, I grew up with two guys in my household my brother and my dad. I love them both, however they have unknowingly said things that implied I am less capable than them. For example, if I am strongly defending an opinion I hold they have told me to “calm down.” The most frustrating thing about this is that when guys get worked up about a topic they are taken seriously and their ideas are assumed to be true. Women on the other hand are told they are being emotional and their ideas are not often taken as seriously. While all of these things individually may seem quite minor, over time they are instilled in our minds and make girls feel like they are less than their male equivalents. -Chameleon123
Okay, I’m going to be real here. I’m already a cynical person in general, but when it comes to advertising, I can be overly-cynical. There is always this notion in the back of my mind that, no matter what emotions an advertisement or commercial may extract from me, at the end of the day it is still just a company trying to sell something. I hate feeling manipulated. Now, I realize that I cannot speak towards the intentions of these advertisements, but marketers are not stupid. They are able to see trends and predict how to best sell something to the public. This is happening everywhere from companies such as Always, Dove, Target, Kroger, and even fast food restaurants like Wendy’s: companies are beginning to attempt to become more personal to promote sales. And, after all, doesn’t that make sense? Wouldn’t you rather buy from a company that is attempting to try to understand you? All that being said, this commercial does still make a valid point. The fact that our culture has completely separate meanings for doing something “like a girl” as opposed to doing something “like a man” is ridiculous. Now, on average, men are biologically more adept at being faster and stronger than women; but of course there are always outliers which is definitely a good thing! Something I would like to see in the next few years is a campaign like this one put out by Always, except aimed at boys and men in general concerning the societal stigma that to be masculine means that you cannot show emotion. Instead, you must be stoic and strong, never wavering in your manliness. This is something that I have noticed is prevalent in our society today that still has not been ousted. I have only ever seen my father cry once, and that was at his sister’s funeral. It was extremely revealing for me to see this side of the man who I had always considered to be a rock. -ThreeTwo123
This is the first time I have ever seen this commercial from start to finish. I had seen parts of it but had never really seen it enough to put meaning to the point they are trying to get across. This commercial really makes you step back and see what people are actually saying and how it may influence half of the worlds population. Every time we say this or something similar to it we are insulting all women and we may do it without even knowing we are. We just do it without realizing it and because we are used to using terms such as these as insults. These can be examples of hardwired emotions that we have put insulting meaning to. Feminine terms have been linked to negative meaning more than masculine terms because in our society men are considered superior to women, when everyone should be treated as equals. We would like to believe everyone is treated equally but in reality women are not treated equally to men. I love the part in this commercial when the young girls come out and are told to do the same things as the adults and do it to the best of their ability. In the adults, a stereotype has already been implanted in their mind and behaviors so they do what society has made true for them. The young girls are told to run like a girl and they run like themselves. They run to the best of their ability. This just makes me smile because they are so pure and haven't given into the norms of the society. It is truly sad some of the negative norms our society have given to all different groups of people that differ from the majority of the population. Scuba123
This is the first time i have seen this commercial and it just brought back memories of my childhood. We lived in a small house with 7 different families and when the boys would go outside and play the girls were told they couldn't because they were playing too rough and that's what boys would do. My grandma was old fashioned and said girls were supposed to be clean and be lady like. It never dawned to me that she was excluding me and my girl cousins from activities because of our gender. I feel like we have learned a lot of this from watching tv or how we were raised. Like in the commercial the little girls showed how they ran as girls and how they did things as girl and they did it normally. When it came to the adult that ran silly and threw with little to no effort. Kids don't care what they look like when they are playing they just want to have fun so when we tell little girls they act throwing like girls and running like girls they don't take that as an insult they take it as they are doing there job right and no one can tell them otherwise. Adults have been more exposed to how people use the saying “ you hit like a girl” and they take it as an insult because boys are usually the ones saying it to undermine women. As new generations are born I feel as if though this term won't be used in they way it is used now. I feel like it might be used as a saying to describe what a girl does. People come up with new things all the time to undermine something so this is something little and will be left in the past until they find something new to say. Dancer 123
I remember when this commercial came out. This video clearly shows the social norms of what people believe about women. "Like a girl" throughout the video is used as an insult to women. It is clear that in today's society that men empower women. In the video, random people, both men and women, were asked to "run like a girl", "fight like a girl", "throw like a girl", and so forth. They acted weak and displayed poor skills to all of the things they were asked to do. It is said that "like a girl" is used in such a negative manner. I liked that the younger girls performed the actions to the best of their abilities, trying their hardest. The only reason they tried their hardest though is because they have not yet conformed to our society's norms. I am glad that the older people that participated in the video began to realize how bad that phrase sounds. They even seemed like they regretted their actions. I hope that everyone can watch this video so that this phrase can stop being used in a negative manner and be used more positively. It is crazy to me that women and men can be sexist without even realizing it. Everyone needs to watch what they say. A lot of women are accustomed to this phrase and it does not even phase them. I have used the phrase "like a girl" in a negative way before, definitely not often, but I am still ashamed of using it. It destroys girls self esteem and confidence. Women can be good fighters, strong, throw hard, and do anything they set their minds too. That is what our society's social norm should be, not the opposite. This video was eye-opening to me, because it shows that the words people say truly do matter and that we need to think before we speak. -softball_savvy123
I do recall seeing this commercial spread across social media upon its arrival to the world. I remember a very strong response, both emotional and supportive from both men and women. So the question then arises, why does the stigma of the saying doing something "like a girl" still have such a strong resonance within the psyche of our society? We as humans are exposed to so much media throughout our lives time, and kids nowadays are practically born with a bright LED phone screen right in front of their faces. This sort of media, including music, television, and movies may display women as very vulnerable, cowards, and generally weak women who have no good place in society. This could not be any further from the truth however. Women most definitely lead more difficult lives than men due to their detailed biological infrastructure as well as the constant harassment of the stigma "like a girl". These are both challenges that have pushed them further and further into society as the centuries have passed creating stronger, intelligent, and hard working women. Women now more than ever are really pushing the envelope of society to make themselves known, as well as to display what they are truly capable of: equal rights and fairness in the workplace. Although not all may see this commercial the way I do, I applaud "Always" for making great use of their power in the marketplace to put on display a very important lesson of what it truly means to be a girl and/or woman in today's modern world. There is something to be said for companies who use their time on television and in advertisements to put on display a message of hope or educational importance for the societies and individuals that are viewing their correspondences every single day on international media.-MrG123
This isn't the first time I've seen this video. When I was in high school, I was a freshman peer advisor and we actually showed this video to classes of girls and discussed it as a group. There is so much negative stigma attached to feminine words, and this isn't surprising with the patriarchal society we live in. It's so much a part of our culture that women, not just men, use these feminine expressions in their everyday life. There are certain standards that are associated with women in American culture, and you can see this very clearly in the commercial. Women are meant to be soft, pretty, and feminine. When they ask the older participants to "run like a girl", they ran kind of silly looking with their arms flailing, and one even said, "Uh, my hair!" When they asked the young girl to "run like a girl", they ran as they normally would. To them, doing things "like a girl" has no negative stigma attached to it because they think being a girl is still something to be proud of, and why shouldn't it be. Somewhere along the way, these girls get exposed to the media and society, and her vision of who she needs to be changes. We are all guilty of using feminine words in a negative way, but this commercial opens our eyes and allows you to take a sociological approach to the saying "like a girl". Daisy123
What does it mean to do something “Like a girl”? In my eyesight, it means to be very feminist. Acting like a girl is someone who acts silly. Some girls find things to be just so funny at times. They can’t stop laughing. Some girls are prissy. They are always worried about staying clean and keeping up their image. In society, I think that people view acting like a girl as a characteristic of being weak. The video showed this by the gestures that were made through the video when asked to perform something like a girl. The video asked another question, when did doing something “like a girl” become an insult? I personally think that doing something “like a girl” has always been in insult to people in society. Most people take offense to it especially if a man is being called doing something “like a girl”. The girls take offense to it, because they feel people are calling them weak. The video showed how one girl feels it’s a terrible thing it sounds like someone is insulting them when being called out as doing something “like a girl”. A girl’s confidence plummets during puberty. This is the worst time for someone to be insulted as a girl. As society, we have many different outlooks on things in life. I feel that it is based off the individual cultural, morals, and values on whether they would take offense in the meaning of doing something “like a girl”. Like the girl stated in the video, the girls should not care what people say or thing they should continue to be them, because they are girls. There is no wrong way of being a girl is what I got out of this video. The video showed various aspects of how girls portray to be girls. Rendezvous123
I had seen a lot of conflict in the last three years over the issue of sex versus gender. Many people make the mistake of grouping these two words together, when they ultimately have different meanings. Sex is about the physical anatomy of someone. One is either born with the anatomy of a female or of a male, with the exception of hermaphrodites. A lot of people make the mistake of defining someone’s gender with his or her sex. This is incorrect because gender is what someone identifies herself as. One of my favorite debates that I have seen about this was on one of my social media newsfeeds. Someone had posted that gender and sex mean the same thing. I opened up the comments and I saw the most brilliant response: “Okay, wanna have gender with me later?” This is a serious issue that many people are dealing with today. There are already so many issues with self-esteem that are out there. Why would not allowing someone to live the life that he is comfortable with if it is not hurting others. There are a lot of stereotypes as well. I’m sure that every person identifies himself as something that is stereotyped. Always does an incredible job at making the negative stereotype toward women known, and an even better job at empowering women to defy these stereotypes. One of the last lines, “why can’t running like a girl mean winning the race?” was so empowering to me. Men and women should be comfortable with who they are whether they are a male woman, a female man, a male man, or a female woman. As more and more people shift towards these attitudes, hopefully the people who are enforcing these negative stereotypes are the ones who become deviant. I would love for my generation to be the generation that stands for equality and empowerment. Always is doing a great job at helping us do so. - M&M123
I think this is a very real problem in our society. I think men are constantly putting down women and making them seem not as superior or as strong willed as them. However I do think that even girls use these terms quite often as well. I think that generations are slowly getting away from this problem and becoming more accepting and less hurtful with their words, but the problem is still very relevant. One main example when I think of women and equality is the fact that I can have the same job as a man and he will still get paid a larger amount that me. That entire concept is insane to me. Being a woman does not make us any different then men. I think many young girls can be affected by these comments and they can mess with the confidence of young girls growing up. However I think we have become so used to these terms that no boys really see the true problem behind their words. I don't think a lot of people really see the power behind their words. I think that if someone would ask me to act out those acts I would probably respond the same way. It has become such a relevant saying and action that is performed that I think most people in my generation would respond that way. I do believe in equality yet because of the things I have heard and been told that is how I would act out those different questions that were asked in that video. I think our entire society as a whole needs to rethink about the way we use words and the meanings that we give to them. That is not fair to put those meanings behind those actions just because a girl is performing them. We need to change what we are saying and how we are saying it. Girls are powerful and they should be treated like that. I would hope that one day the sentence throwing like a girl is an act of being strong and powerful. Litv123
I remember when this commercial came out a couple years ago. I think this video reflected how our society views women. This commercial specifically brought out how our society devalues women in a way. Being a woman myself, I remember feeling more invincible when I was a younger girl. When I was growing up through the years, society’s social standards set in. Feminine phrases are often used negatively. One can even see in the commercial that younger girls think much more highly of themselves than an older women does. I can think of many instances in my life when I had been the target of a condescending remark from another boy about not being good enough because I was a girl. One specific example was when I was first trying out sports in elementary school. I joined a co-ed soccer team and I remember that the boys looked at the girls differently. They would make silly comments to others on the team about running or kicking like a girl. Those comments were used to frustrate both genders on our team to run or kick better and harder. Looking back, I remember not thinking much of it because it was a phrase that I had heard so many times in my life. I think we should not be using these feminine terms and phrases in a condescending way anymore. When I hear the phrase “boys will be boys,” I get very frustrated. A phrase like that tries to create excuses for inappropriate behaviors and actions. Our society needs to come together and say that it's not okay to look at women differently from men. That includes using stupid phrases that condescend women. Whenever I see videos like this that point out the differences of what it's like to be a man and a woman, it aggravates me. It frustrates me further when men say that this anger and want for change is just another “thing” that women do to be naggy. We all need to treat everyone equally. To do this, we all need to open up our minds and see each other in the same perspective. Check123
ReplyDeleteThe video on the stigma behind feminizing actions was quite interesting. We assign negative undertones to word and phrases that we also assign as female. Our culture devalues women and ways women do things. It is so bad that women grow up feeling lesser even though we have the same basic human rights as men. Legally, we are the same, but culturally, women are looked down upon. We learn this as we grow up, and we do not start to identify with this cultural mentality until, as the video said, puberty, when physical and hormonal changes creep in and we begin to see ourselves as distinctly female. That age brings about a contrast between boys and girls, and that is when underlying negative tones kick in. In the video, the older girls identified with the negative tones in ‘...like a girl.’ Their actions when trying to display such phrases showed weakness and ineptitude. Reality has settled in, and as their bodies developed into distinctly more ‘female’ forms, their beliefs aligned with the cultural definitions of femininity, lesser. However, the younger girls’ definitions of ‘...like a girl’ were vastly different. Their ‘...like a girl’ means ‘like me,’ not ‘like society tells me.’ They ran like themselves, threw like themselves, and fought like themselves, the strongest, most confident they could be. At that younger age, society has not influenced you as much, and your basis for defining who you are is dictated by your family culture, not society. As you become more exposed to the cultural norms of society, you start to create your own definitions based off of what your culture says. Right now, we are trying to take away the stigma behind femininity, and that progress is, personally, so exciting. The changes we are trying to create now will open up the playing field for women in so many professional, educational, and social areas. aardvark123
ReplyDeleteI had never seen this commercial before. It is interesting how different the phrase “like a girl” could be interpreted by someone so differently just based on how old the person is. It is also interesting that it did not matter what sex the person was, but I did not see any real young boys answer the question. Would a real young boy answer like the other boys or like the real young girls? There was a discussion about this used in my sociology class this past week. We were talking about power and value. We used an example like when a man is talking about his car, the car is sometimes referred to as she. This is to show power, control, or ownership over the vehicle, as if the car is lesser in status, so a feminine term is used. We also discussed using feminine terms to be used for a negative meaning as opposed to masculine terms. This commercial is a prime example of this. Society has used the phrase “like a girl” to mean an action that is lesser than average. I do not understand how this came to be. As I watch my two young sons playing at school with other kids their age, the sex of the child seems to not make a difference with the child's ability. One of my sons is in track and even though the boys and girls run separately, my son looks at the times of the other competitors and not their sex. Also my other son is on a co-ed soccer team. When watching the players there is no difference in the child's ability if you are judging by their sex. There are good players and not so good players, but it is not all the boys are good players, and not all the girls are the not so good players. Diver123
ReplyDeleteThis video is very inspiring and eye-opening as to how girls are represented in today’s societies. The fact that there is a difference between what girls think it should look like to do something as a female and what the younger, less developed girls look like doing those things means that there is a serious label put on females. This label convinces people how girls are supposed to act, which is supposedly sensitive, self-conscious, weak in some cases, and graceful. This video proves that mature girls and boys who have experienced society and learned from those around them, witnessing standards and labels put on genders, have grown accustomed to how girls are supposed to act. They have almost left behind a personal part of themselves that believes they can act however they want and replaced it with how society tells them to act. They talked about how confidence decreases as they go through puberty because of becoming a girl. I think that the insults from society about females are the reason this happens because of the fear of becoming that way. This change doesn’t mean a female becomes less of who they were, it means they have the strength to become better. It is the same a male going through puberty. Society sees a boy’s transformation stage as a benefit to him, so why can’t it be the same for a girl? Anyone of any gender can always become better than anyone else of any gender if they keep on trying hard and being themselves. It is true that physically girls may be weaker than boys, although that doesn’t mean they can’t be better than other boys or girls at sports, or even careers. I really like the movement Always is creating, saying let’s make “Like a girl” mean amazing things. It is up to the people who make up a society to change their opinions of girls. I think that in time, this is possible if new generations continue to ignore the insults and beliefs that older people have practiced before them and change the perspective on females. -Kiwi123
ReplyDeleteI ended up watching this video twice, once with my mom and then once with my dad. Both of their reactions to it were completely different. My mom laughed and thought it was really funny when the older people were acting “like a girl” while performing an activity. Then she realized what she was doing when the younger girls came on and were giving it their all when asked to “act like a girl”. With my dad however, he immediately acted with disgust when the older kids were making fun/putting down how a gild would run. I would have expected their reactions to be completely flipped considering my mom is a female and she has experienced someone insulting her with “like a girl” comment. So while saying “like a girl” is an insult I feel like just as many girls say it to girls as boys say it to girls. The entire saying is ridiculous to begin with. Of course we run like a girl, hit like a girl, etc. we are girls, yet somehow in society that is a bad thing. If we were to say you run like a boy that would be considered high praise. I don’t think anyone should be insulted with a “like a girl” comment. There is no superior sex on this planet. We are people and we are all on equal standing. There might be some of us that excel at certain things and others who don’t, but there is no reason someone should ever point that out let alone pointing that out while insulting the female population by implying that we are inferior. I ran into a man today who was out shopping with his daughter. Long story short he said in front of her, “and this is why boys will forever be better than girls.” I was completely shocked. As a female I was insulted and angered that this girl would grow up hearing her father say these things and have her actually believe them. Now whether he was joking or not I don’t know. But regardless it’s not funny and that should never be said.
ReplyDeletesunflower123
This commercial demonstrates a how social norms are embedded into people’s minds. They use the phrase “like a girl” to show the power men have placed over women when they use the phrase “like a girl” as an insult.. To hit like a girl, or run like a girl, or fight like a girl means you are bad a hitting, or running, or fighting. This demonstrates how misogyny is carried out through language. They ask all of the participants what it looks like to do something “like a girl”. All of the older participants, men and women, alike put on a show of how weak and dramatic it is to do something “like a girl” Then they ask young girls what it looks like to do something “like a girl”. The young girls have concentrated looks on their face and they performed whatever activity to the best of their ability because these young girls have not yet been taught that “like a girl” is a bad thing.They asked one of the young girls if it was a good thing or a bad thing to run like a girl and she said “I don’t know but it kind of sounds like it’s a bad thing like you are trying to humiliate somebody.” she was just beginning to realize the context of the phrase which is so sad. When the older participants realize what they have just done they are filled with a sense of regret. They subscribed to misogyny without even realizing it. We been accustomed to saying things that have horrible ugly meanings behind because it becomes socially normal for us. All of the older women spoke about trying to fill the script and use “like a girl” as a good thing. One woman said “why can’t run like a girl also mean winning the race” -Glass123
ReplyDeleteI have never seen this commercial, and I didn't even know it existed. I loved watching and listening to this video. It showed how people think that girls act, when in reality, it isn't even close. It showed how others feel when being said that they kick or run like a girl. The casting, the organization, and the topic and they way they filmed it, was phenomenal. Who are you to judge how girls throw or run or do anything? People not only say those phrases to girls, they say it to guys to make them feel like they are inferior and cannot do it right. That is so mean, judgmental, and insulting. It is even worse when those comments are said to young girls, because like they said in the commercial, that is when puberty starts and they will feel like they cannot do anything right. One of my favorite parts of the video was when they asked the girl in the blue dress what advice she would give to the girls that are being told that they hit, kick, or run like a girl. She basically said to keep doing what you are doing, and who cares what the others say. She said, "That is not something that I should be ashamed of so I'm gonna do it anyway." Be proud to be a girl and don't let the jealousy, and ignorance of others bring you down.
ReplyDeletepanda123
So this clip is something that I’ve seen before. It is a commercial for the Always deodorant. It is showing girls, and a few boys standing in front of a tarp and asking them, what does it mean to do something like a girl? And they all answer pretty sexist responses, no surprise there. They were asked to do actions like, run like a girl, throw like a girl, ect. Then they did the same thing for young girls and they did genuine responses. They ran as hard as they could, they threw the ball as far as they could. Sexuality and gender are a huge topic in the world today. People are starting to discover themselves and be more public about it than the LGBTQ+ back twenty years ago. My thoughts on the matter are very open and accepting. I have a lot of friends and family members who fall into this category. They started coming out when I was in high school and more and more started to be confident and come out to me once we graduated. It makes me happy for them that they understand themselves. I don’t understand why it has to be a big deal. I think about this at least once a day honestly. I hate how as soon as people have the right to get married we have someone come into office trying to ruin it. But besides the political aspect, I hate how people find the term gay to just be enough to make them flinch. I hate how someone can be super cool, but as soon as someone finds out they’re gay it’s like, wow they’re not cool anymore, I need to keep my distance. I don’t mean to be going off on the matter but it means a lot to me. And gender too for that matter. I can’t tell my mom to accept my friend’s pronouns because she doesn’t understand and think it isn’t right. My family won’t call my cousin by his preferred name because “that’s not his birth name” I’m probably well over 300 words at this point but I can talk about this topic all day. In conclusion, people just need to learn to love, accept, and respect each other as equals.
ReplyDeleterosethorns123
This video exposes the negative stereotype our society holds against doing things “like a girl.” The older girls and guys in the video when told to run, throw, or fight like a girl all acted like they were too weak and powerless to complete the task. On the other hand, when the young girls came out and were told to do the same things, they did them will great strength, power, and determination. This shows how our society shapes girls’ minds into believing that they are truly less than men. I think it is really sad that people laugh about it and think it is funny. Many people take it as a joke, however like we learned in class if you are told you are something enough times you will internalize it and accept it as true. What started off as a silly joke has now become a woman's reality. We are not less than men and every girl should be reminded of this often. Our society is so centered on men being the most powerful that it takes a lot of reminding for the girls that this is not actually true. Personally, I grew up with two guys in my household my brother and my dad. I love them both, however they have unknowingly said things that implied I am less capable than them. For example, if I am strongly defending an opinion I hold they have told me to “calm down.” The most frustrating thing about this is that when guys get worked up about a topic they are taken seriously and their ideas are assumed to be true. Women on the other hand are told they are being emotional and their ideas are not often taken as seriously. While all of these things individually may seem quite minor, over time they are instilled in our minds and make girls feel like they are less than their male equivalents. -Chameleon123
ReplyDeleteOkay, I’m going to be real here. I’m already a cynical person in general, but when it comes to advertising, I can be overly-cynical. There is always this notion in the back of my mind that, no matter what emotions an advertisement or commercial may extract from me, at the end of the day it is still just a company trying to sell something. I hate feeling manipulated. Now, I realize that I cannot speak towards the intentions of these advertisements, but marketers are not stupid. They are able to see trends and predict how to best sell something to the public. This is happening everywhere from companies such as Always, Dove, Target, Kroger, and even fast food restaurants like Wendy’s: companies are beginning to attempt to become more personal to promote sales. And, after all, doesn’t that make sense? Wouldn’t you rather buy from a company that is attempting to try to understand you? All that being said, this commercial does still make a valid point. The fact that our culture has completely separate meanings for doing something “like a girl” as opposed to doing something “like a man” is ridiculous. Now, on average, men are biologically more adept at being faster and stronger than women; but of course there are always outliers which is definitely a good thing! Something I would like to see in the next few years is a campaign like this one put out by Always, except aimed at boys and men in general concerning the societal stigma that to be masculine means that you cannot show emotion. Instead, you must be stoic and strong, never wavering in your manliness. This is something that I have noticed is prevalent in our society today that still has not been ousted. I have only ever seen my father cry once, and that was at his sister’s funeral. It was extremely revealing for me to see this side of the man who I had always considered to be a rock.
ReplyDelete-ThreeTwo123
This is the first time I have ever seen this commercial from start to finish. I had seen parts of it but had never really seen it enough to put meaning to the point they are trying to get across. This commercial really makes you step back and see what people are actually saying and how it may influence half of the worlds population. Every time we say this or something similar to it we are insulting all women and we may do it without even knowing we are. We just do it without realizing it and because we are used to using terms such as these as insults. These can be examples of hardwired emotions that we have put insulting meaning to. Feminine terms have been linked to negative meaning more than masculine terms because in our society men are considered superior to women, when everyone should be treated as equals. We would like to believe everyone is treated equally but in reality women are not treated equally to men. I love the part in this commercial when the young girls come out and are told to do the same things as the adults and do it to the best of their ability. In the adults, a stereotype has already been implanted in their mind and behaviors so they do what society has made true for them. The young girls are told to run like a girl and they run like themselves. They run to the best of their ability. This just makes me smile because they are so pure and haven't given into the norms of the society. It is truly sad some of the negative norms our society have given to all different groups of people that differ from the majority of the population. Scuba123
ReplyDeleteThis is the first time i have seen this commercial and it just brought back memories of my childhood. We lived in a small house with 7 different families and when the boys would go outside and play the girls were told they couldn't because they were playing too rough and that's what boys would do. My grandma was old fashioned and said girls were supposed to be clean and be lady like. It never dawned to me that she was excluding me and my girl cousins from activities because of our gender. I feel like we have learned a lot of this from watching tv or how we were raised. Like in the commercial the little girls showed how they ran as girls and how they did things as girl and they did it normally. When it came to the adult that ran silly and threw with little to no effort. Kids don't care what they look like when they are playing they just want to have fun so when we tell little girls they act throwing like girls and running like girls they don't take that as an insult they take it as they are doing there job right and no one can tell them otherwise. Adults have been more exposed to how people use the saying “ you hit like a girl” and they take it as an insult because boys are usually the ones saying it to undermine women. As new generations are born I feel as if though this term won't be used in they way it is used now. I feel like it might be used as a saying to describe what a girl does. People come up with new things all the time to undermine something so this is something little and will be left in the past until they find something new to say. Dancer 123
ReplyDeleteI remember when this commercial came out. This video clearly shows the social norms of what people believe about women. "Like a girl" throughout the video is used as an insult to women. It is clear that in today's society that men empower women. In the video, random people, both men and women, were asked to "run like a girl", "fight like a girl", "throw like a girl", and so forth. They acted weak and displayed poor skills to all of the things they were asked to do. It is said that "like a girl" is used in such a negative manner. I liked that the younger girls performed the actions to the best of their abilities, trying their hardest. The only reason they tried their hardest though is because they have not yet conformed to our society's norms. I am glad that the older people that participated in the video began to realize how bad that phrase sounds. They even seemed like they regretted their actions. I hope that everyone can watch this video so that this phrase can stop being used in a negative manner and be used more positively. It is crazy to me that women and men can be sexist without even realizing it. Everyone needs to watch what they say. A lot of women are accustomed to this phrase and it does not even phase them. I have used the phrase "like a girl" in a negative way before, definitely not often, but I am still ashamed of using it. It destroys girls self esteem and confidence. Women can be good fighters, strong, throw hard, and do anything they set their minds too. That is what our society's social norm should be, not the opposite. This video was eye-opening to me, because it shows that the words people say truly do matter and that we need to think before we speak.
ReplyDelete-softball_savvy123
I do recall seeing this commercial spread across social media upon its arrival to the world. I remember a very strong response, both emotional and supportive from both men and women. So the question then arises, why does the stigma of the saying doing something "like a girl" still have such a strong resonance within the psyche of our society? We as humans are exposed to so much media throughout our lives time, and kids nowadays are practically born with a bright LED phone screen right in front of their faces. This sort of media, including music, television, and movies may display women as very vulnerable, cowards, and generally weak women who have no good place in society. This could not be any further from the truth however. Women most definitely lead more difficult lives than men due to their detailed biological infrastructure as well as the constant harassment of the stigma "like a girl". These are both challenges that have pushed them further and further into society as the centuries have passed creating stronger, intelligent, and hard working women. Women now more than ever are really pushing the envelope of society to make themselves known, as well as to display what they are truly capable of: equal rights and fairness in the workplace. Although not all may see this commercial the way I do, I applaud "Always" for making great use of their power in the marketplace to put on display a very important lesson of what it truly means to be a girl and/or woman in today's modern world. There is something to be said for companies who use their time on television and in advertisements to put on display a message of hope or educational importance for the societies and individuals that are viewing their correspondences every single day on international media.-MrG123
ReplyDeleteThis isn't the first time I've seen this video. When I was in high school, I was a freshman peer advisor and we actually showed this video to classes of girls and discussed it as a group. There is so much negative stigma attached to feminine words, and this isn't surprising with the patriarchal society we live in. It's so much a part of our culture that women, not just men, use these feminine expressions in their everyday life. There are certain standards that are associated with women in American culture, and you can see this very clearly in the commercial. Women are meant to be soft, pretty, and feminine. When they ask the older participants to "run like a girl", they ran kind of silly looking with their arms flailing, and one even said, "Uh, my hair!" When they asked the young girl to "run like a girl", they ran as they normally would. To them, doing things "like a girl" has no negative stigma attached to it because they think being a girl is still something to be proud of, and why shouldn't it be. Somewhere along the way, these girls get exposed to the media and society, and her vision of who she needs to be changes. We are all guilty of using feminine words in a negative way, but this commercial opens our eyes and allows you to take a sociological approach to the saying "like a girl". Daisy123
ReplyDeleteWhat does it mean to do something “Like a girl”? In my eyesight, it means to be very feminist. Acting like a girl is someone who acts silly. Some girls find things to be just so funny at times. They can’t stop laughing. Some girls are prissy. They are always worried about staying clean and keeping up their image. In society, I think that people view acting like a girl as a characteristic of being weak. The video showed this by the gestures that were made through the video when asked to perform something like a girl. The video asked another question, when did doing something “like a girl” become an insult? I personally think that doing something “like a girl” has always been in insult to people in society. Most people take offense to it especially if a man is being called doing something “like a girl”. The girls take offense to it, because they feel people are calling them weak. The video showed how one girl feels it’s a terrible thing it sounds like someone is insulting them when being called out as doing something “like a girl”. A girl’s confidence plummets during puberty. This is the worst time for someone to be insulted as a girl. As society, we have many different outlooks on things in life. I feel that it is based off the individual cultural, morals, and values on whether they would take offense in the meaning of doing something “like a girl”. Like the girl stated in the video, the girls should not care what people say or thing they should continue to be them, because they are girls. There is no wrong way of being a girl is what I got out of this video. The video showed various aspects of how girls portray to be girls. Rendezvous123
ReplyDeleteI had seen a lot of conflict in the last three years over the issue of sex versus gender. Many people make the mistake of grouping these two words together, when they ultimately have different meanings. Sex is about the physical anatomy of someone. One is either born with the anatomy of a female or of a male, with the exception of hermaphrodites. A lot of people make the mistake of defining someone’s gender with his or her sex. This is incorrect because gender is what someone identifies herself as. One of my favorite debates that I have seen about this was on one of my social media newsfeeds. Someone had posted that gender and sex mean the same thing. I opened up the comments and I saw the most brilliant response: “Okay, wanna have gender with me later?” This is a serious issue that many people are dealing with today. There are already so many issues with self-esteem that are out there. Why would not allowing someone to live the life that he is comfortable with if it is not hurting others. There are a lot of stereotypes as well. I’m sure that every person identifies himself as something that is stereotyped. Always does an incredible job at making the negative stereotype toward women known, and an even better job at empowering women to defy these stereotypes. One of the last lines, “why can’t running like a girl mean winning the race?” was so empowering to me. Men and women should be comfortable with who they are whether they are a male woman, a female man, a male man, or a female woman. As more and more people shift towards these attitudes, hopefully the people who are enforcing these negative stereotypes are the ones who become deviant. I would love for my generation to be the generation that stands for equality and empowerment. Always is doing a great job at helping us do so. - M&M123
ReplyDeleteI think this is a very real problem in our society. I think men are constantly putting down women and making them seem not as superior or as strong willed as them. However I do think that even girls use these terms quite often as well. I think that generations are slowly getting away from this problem and becoming more accepting and less hurtful with their words, but the problem is still very relevant. One main example when I think of women and equality is the fact that I can have the same job as a man and he will still get paid a larger amount that me. That entire concept is insane to me. Being a woman does not make us any different then men. I think many young girls can be affected by these comments and they can mess with the confidence of young girls growing up. However I think we have become so used to these terms that no boys really see the true problem behind their words. I don't think a lot of people really see the power behind their words. I think that if someone would ask me to act out those acts I would probably respond the same way. It has become such a relevant saying and action that is performed that I think most people in my generation would respond that way. I do believe in equality yet because of the things I have heard and been told that is how I would act out those different questions that were asked in that video. I think our entire society as a whole needs to rethink about the way we use words and the meanings that we give to them. That is not fair to put those meanings behind those actions just because a girl is performing them. We need to change what we are saying and how we are saying it. Girls are powerful and they should be treated like that. I would hope that one day the sentence throwing like a girl is an act of being strong and powerful. Litv123
ReplyDelete