Picture someone running “like a girl.” Now picture someone throwing “like a girl.” Kicking, punching, fighting… “like a girl.”
Did you imagine strong, confident actions or weak, comical ones?
A new video by Procter & Gamble’s Always brand, produced by Lauren Greenfield, shows what several male and female young adults do when they’re asked to run, throw and fight like a girl. They make feeble, flouncy attempts, laughing at themselves as they do so.
The video then changes focus, asking six pre-adolescent girls to do the same. Unlike the adults, they throw themselves into their movements, sprinting around the room and punching the air with vigor.
“When did doing something like a girl become an insult?” the narrator asks.
According to a study by Always, sometime around puberty. That’s when the vast majority of girls start to perceive “like a girl” as a negative statement. Not surprisingly, it’s also when more than 50 percent experience a sharp drop in confidence.
The video ends with the tagline “Change the rules” and asks people to share what they do #LikeAGirl on the brand’s Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #LikeAGirl. Always says it wants to make the phrase one that “represents the strength, talent, character and downright amazingness of every girl.”
So now picture someone running “like a girl.” Has your vision changed?