In the “Always #LikeAGirl” video kids and teens are asked to
run, fight, and throw like a girl. Always presents a strong argument that girls
are not limited, but society tries to limit them by portraying them as weak, and girls start to portray
themselves the same when they hit puberty. Always wants to change the audience’s
view of the phrase “like a girl” from as insult to a compliment, and they did
that by making some very strong points to support their argument. These include
the contrast between different people’s view of girls, when the phrase “like a
girl” became an insult, and that girls should not be limited.
At
the beginning of the video, the older girls and guys are asked to run, fight,
and throw like a girl. They all reacted the exact same way which was very slow,
weak and complained the whole time. The older teens reacted the way they did
because society has labeled girls in general as weak and slow. The girls ran
weak not because that is how they themselves run, but how the phrase “like a
girl” would imply they run. When the younger girls are asked the same question,
they ran as fast as they could with determination, and put all their strength
into the exercises. When the little girl was asked what it meant to run like a
girl, she said, “It means to run as fast as you can.” The younger girls didn’t understand
that “like a girl” was supposed to mean be weak and not try hard. They interpret
it as, “Well, I am a girl, so I should show them how well I can run.”
The phrase “like
a girl” becomes an insult when girls are going through puberty. It’s at this
time she is most vulnerable, so it becomes confusing for her. She is trying to
figure out who she really is and had thought she was a strong, confident person,
but everyone is telling her that she can’t be strong and confident because she
is a girl. Because of a girl’s vulnerability during puberty, she believes all
of the lies society says about her. It’s insulting, and even the little boy in
the video knew it was an insult, but didn’t fully understand that by saying girls
are weak he is insulting his sister as well. Society limits girls and crushes
their self confidence with this one phrase.
Always
wants to show girls that they should always do their best and not limit
themselves by what society says about girls. Being a girl doesn’t mean that
they are weak, can’t run as fast, can’t hit as hard, or can’t win, it means
that they should be the best person that they can be. Always shows that girls should
just be themselves when one of the older girls says she wants to run again but
this time like herself. Society says that boys are better than girls, but the
truth of the matter is not measured by who is better than who, but who works
the hardest to reach their goals. The strongest point that Always presents
about rewriting the rules in the video was, “Why can’t ‘run like a girl’ also
mean ‘win the race’?” This point opened the viewer’s eyes to how girls can be
winners and change the phrase “like a girl” to a complement that shows how
amazing girls are.
Always’ goal was to present a strong
argument stating that girls are not limited, but society tries to limit them by
portraying them as weak, and girls start
to portray themselves the same when they hit puberty. Always succeeded by
giving points about how society views girls, how younger girls view girls, how
during puberty the phrase “like a girl” becomes an insult that crushes their
self confidence, and how Always wants to help girls to not limit themselves. Their
ultimate goal was to change the audience’s view of the phrase “like a girl”
from as insult to a compliment.
