This video is part of the #LikeAGirl campaign by Always, a brand of feminine hygiene products. The campaign aims to keep girls’ confidence high during puberty and into adulthood, since “like a girl” is often used as an insult for girls and boys, which negatively affects the confidence and self-esteem of girls from a young age and especially at puberty. In the video, a production crew is shown filming and asking individual girls, boys, and adults to show them the first thing that comes to mind when they ask them to show them what it looks like to run like a girl, fight like a girl, and throw like a girl. In response, these young people and adults act out stereotypes associated with femininity, such as weakness, shallowness, and inability to fight, throw, and run. The next section of the video shows what happened when they asked younger girls the same questions, and their responses are markedly different, in that they confidently use their strength to run, fight, and throw. The next question on the screen is then, “When did something ‘Like a Girl’ become an insult?,” and it shows some of the young respondents processing that question and the actions they just acted out. The producers are shown asking if some of women would like to redo their previous actions, and one of the women says yes. At the end of the video, the words “Let’s make #LikeAGirl mean amazing things” appears, and then a woman is shown running forward while another’s voice says, “why can’t ‘run like a girl’ mean ‘win the race’?” The video closes with the Always logo, and the message, “rewrite the rules,” and an invitation to join the #LikeAGirl campaign.
discussion
What does it mean to do something “like a girl”? Are positive or negative things associated with it? Who is it said to and why?
Where do you think this phrase came from? Why do people say it? Have you ever used it? What did you mean when you used it?
What is the impact when someone tells young girls or boys that their actions are done “like a girl”?
Why did the younger girls have such different reactions than the other people?
What is significant about puberty and self-esteem? How does this relate to gender expectations?
How did this video try and challenge gender norms and expectations? Do you think it was successful? Why or why not?
