What are the messages we give to each other as women? What statements do we let wash over young girls and our daughters? Do we weaken our self image and limit our possibilities by allowing negative phrases in our vocabulary or by laughing at jokes? These are questions I have been grappling with in my work with college students and in my family, bringing up a teenage daughter.
I also have two lovely sons and we all enjoy joining in sport, on the tennis court, in the gym. Sometimes they have gently said that I do indeed ‘throw like a girl’. So I asked and watched and they taught me another way to throw, and I doubled the distance that the ball covered. I had grown up saying that I couldn’t throw. Actually, I had just never been taught how to throw, or maybe I had never had the confidence to try and now I can!
There is a new advert out there, by the ‘Always’ marketing team. Well, we do have a soft spot for ‘Always’ after we pinched their name for our last Weekend Away! And I think this short film has some interesting ideas. Please watch and share. And let me know what you think. Are there words that we use that we might think about changing? How can we be more positively affirming to each other?
What does it mean to ‘run like a girl’.