These past few weeks I’ve been binge-watching shows on Netflix, like KC Undercover and Liv and Maddie, because I love Disney, and those shows aren’t half bad compared to other new ones. I was a little disappointed though, hearing the main female characters of those shows using remarks like “Man up” (as a way of saying to be confident and strong, implying that only men are capable of being that) or “You hit like a girl”. I know some people see this as inoffensive and that it’s not really a problem, but that’s actually where the problem starts.
By using these phrases or jokes you’re contributing to sexist culture without even trying or realizing it.
Men use these insults or jokes because they want to appear more masculine, but in reality that just makes their masculinity more fragile. The actual sad part about this is that many women actually use them and don’t realize that they’re degrading themselves. People have come to believe that running “like a girl” means running weakly and slowly, when it’s not true at all; doing things “like a girl” has such a bad connotation to it and it’s time we change that; yeah I’m a girl, and I’ll do everything like a girl and I’m proud of it. You’ve probably heard about or seen the video “Like A Girl” that Always made a few years ago, but in case you’ve been living under a rock, it’s basically a video with the message of promoting changing the stigma in the overly used phrase “Like A Girl”, especially targeted towards young girls so they don’t grow up thinking this language is acceptable. Sexist language is the first step that leads to a highly dangerous culture of violence so do us all a favor and try to stop sexist language among your friends, family and/or acquaintances.
