This is why we can’t have nice things.
Always, the company that sells menstrual products, ran a minute-long Super Bowl spot trimmed down from their longer #LikeAGirl video released this summer. The ad challenges the stereotype that running, throwing, and fighting “like a girl” indicates weakness and ineptitude by running the expression by adults (and one young boy), and then by a series of girls who haven’t yet been told that “like a girl” is usually meant as a bad thing.
(Transcript at the bottom.)
Responses to the #LikeAGirl hashtag were immediate and positive, with women taking to Twitter to share stories and pictures of sporting prowess as well as performance in the military, in science and medicine, in business, in farming — wherever men’s performance is praised and women’s performance is minimized, there was a woman proudly tweeting that she does her job #LikeAGirl and it’s awesome.
And then it took about ten minutes for the meninists — this is a thing, apparently — to start protesting the “inequality” that there wasn’t another commercial (also produced by a tampon company?) for #LikeABoy.
Congratulations! There was one already! It was called “the Super Bowl.”
This is always a thing. We saw it with #YesAllMen and #AllLivesMatter. You know what? No one is denying that men have struggles in everyday life — they’re just pointing out, in one spot on the Internet, that there’s a crapload of experiences that women have on a daily basis that are overlooked, dismissed, or flat-out denied by society. And by the number of reactions from men that boiled down to, “Holy shit, this stuff really happens? I had no idea,” it seems like #YesAllWoman probably was a necessary thing. Ditto #AllLivesMatter — yes, as a matter of fact, all lives do matter, but since it’s generally not white people who get beaten, shot, and killed for minor infractions and then demonized and blamed for their own deaths, #BlackLivesMatter points out something that hasn’t been reinforced as status quo of late.
Demanding a #LikeABoy commercial is just stupid. Flat-out stupid. Not because encouraging boys to have self-confidence during puberty or challenging gender stereotypes is bad, but because “like a boy” has never been assigned a negative connotation. Even “like a man,” an expression that has been infinitely harmful to men and boys, isn’t itself considered an insult. You got a naked woman eating a huge cheeseburger, an ad that was basically entirely about cleavage, and a Fiat that more or less literally turned into an erection. And you got an ad celebrating dads and another one celebrating dads and an ad celebrating the triumph of the human spirit featuring a little boy and another one celebrating dads.
What in the everliving fuck are you complaining about?
Guys, it’s not all about you. No one has taken anything away from you. Stop peeing your pants #LikeAnInfant just because someone is getting attention who isn’t you. Trust me that you are not lacking for positive representations in Western media. Just for a minute, stop worrying about what you’re not getting and think about what other people aren’t getting. Trust me, that Carl’s Jr. ad will still be there when you get back.
“#LikeAGirl” transcript:
A crew sets up behind the scenes in a brightly lit studio as a young woman steps up to her mark.
SUPER. What does it mean to do something “like a girl”?
DIRECTOR (O.S.). Show me what it looks like to run like a girl.
A series of people — young women, a boy, a young man — demonstrate mincing, flailing steps. One pushes her hair out of her face and whines, “My hair.”
DIRECTOR (O.S.). Show me what it looks like to fight like a girl.
The individuals demonstrate giggling slap-fighting.
DIRECTOR (O.S.). Now throw like a girl.
A boy pretends to throw a ball, but instead drops it and says, “Aw.”
SUPER. When did doing something “like a girl” become an insult?
DIRECTOR (O.S.). So, do you think you just insulted your sister?
BOY. No! I mean, yeah. Insulted girls, but not my sister.
SUPER: Then we asked young girls.
DAKOTA. My name is Dakota, and I’m ten years old.
DIRECTOR (O.S.). Show me what it looks like to run like a girl.
Dakota and a series of girls her age run furiously and fiercely in place. One little girl in a pink princess dress tears across the set at full speed.
DIRECTOR (O.S.). Throw like a girl.
The girls throw imaginary fastballs.
DIRECTOR (O.S.). Fight like a girl.
Fearsome punches.
SUPER. A girl’s confidence plummets during puberty. But it doesn’t have to.
DIRECTOR (O.S.). What does it mean to you when I say “run like a girl”?
PRINCESS DRESS. It means run fast as you can.
SUPER. Let’s make #LikeAGirl mean amazing things.
LOGO. Rewrite the Rules. Always.