#LikeAGirl

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One of the Superbowl commercials that really stuck with me was the "Like A Girl" commercial (extended version embedded below).  It asks the viewer to question how using the phrase "like a girl" in a derogatory fashion impacts adolescent females.  I've never liked this phrase, but I never really thought about how hearing it impacts young girls.  But the commercial's assertion that building an association between being feminine and being inferior would undermine self-esteem makes perfect sense to me.  And once you have established that girls are inferior, there is no reason why that inferiority would only apply to physical prowess.

Also, as insults go, it's quite antiquated.  Sure, women tend to be weaker and slower than men, and if "like a girl" merely referred to speed or strength, that would be one thing - but it doesn't.  Running, throwing, or hitting like a girl means that you are using bad form, looking clumsy and foolish.  There probably was a time, perhaps when my mother was a child, when girls were not taught how to play sports and college women played six-on-six basketball in skirts.  But at least for the last several decades, it's incredibly common for girls to play coed team sports as young children, learning to run, hit, and throw just like boys do.  So why does "like a girl" conjure up images of doing something poorly?  It shouldn't, and I will call it out when I hear it being misused.