'Like a Girl'

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Masato
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'Like a Girl'

Postby Masato » Mon Jun 30, 2014 3:52 pm

Hey all,

I normally hate when a cool idea turns out to be a contrived advertisement for a product, but this one was pretty cool.

Just watch, it is quite powerful if you think about it





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fungi
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Postby fungi » Mon Jun 30, 2014 4:34 pm

When does anyone say "like a girl" to a girl as an insult, or ever?

Masato, I think, they are trying to confuse the general public, especially young girls, with this "empowerment" BS again.

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Postby Masato » Mon Jun 30, 2014 4:45 pm

^ no as an insult, but an unconscious insinuation that 'like a girl' = weak.

I see your POV, it is interesting (for sure they edited the 'right' reactions to create this ad - who knows maybe it is all scripted)

But I think if you ask most people to act out these things 'like a girl' they would do the same (weak, arms flailing, stupid).

Feminine empowerment is good to a degree - there is a lot of shit going around these days that is becoming anti-male, and confusing a lot of things... but I found this to be an interesting insight into analyzing some of our cultural vernacular.

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Masato
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Postby Masato » Mon Jun 30, 2014 4:45 pm

^ not as a direct insult per se, but an unconscious insinuation that 'like a girl' = weak.

I think if you ask most people to act out these things 'like a girl', they would likely do the same (weak, arms flailing, stupid).

I see your POV, it is interesting (for sure they edited the 'right' reactions to create this ad - who knows maybe it is all scripted) - Feminine empowerment is good and needed to a degree (to balance the over-sexualized female role in entertainment/media) - for sure there is a lot of shit going around these days that is becoming anti-male and confusing a lot of things... but I found this to be an interesting insight into analyzing some of our cultural vernacular.

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Postby fungi » Tue Jul 01, 2014 12:24 pm

^ I disagree, Masato.

I still think it's empowerment BS. Women are the weaker sex, the slower sex, the smaller sex, the "arms flailing"...

They are also called the fairer sex, "they have more endurance" sex, the more naturally flexible sex, etc.

I'm a proud uncle to many nieces and, some day, hope to have my own daughter, and I'm all for girls being secure and strong in a way, but girls should be girls, and boys should be boys, imo.

Not like in some countries, like Sweden, they decided to take away words "he" and "she" and make up some neutral word for 3rd person pronoun. And some parents not naming their kid until kid grows up and decides whether IT wants to have a boy name or a girl name. it's beyond ridiculous, it's dangerous, me thinks.

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Postby Masato » Tue Jul 01, 2014 12:35 pm

hmm, interesting

Don't you think these kind of roles limit people? As in; why can't a girl learn to box, or a boy to dance? Do girls REALLY run like that? Or only because they were never practised in real sports? I bet if a culture trained its women to be athletic they would all be badass.

Don't you think that to a degree our cultural gender roles are artificial? Do girls REALLY like pink better than blue? To boys REALLY all like to play with action figures and not a cooking set?

The extreme examples you posted aside, don't you think its wise to question these stereotypes, and exercise our own choice what a child wants to do or be?

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Postby fungi » Tue Jul 01, 2014 1:22 pm

Masato, I've watched a documentary about sexes a while ago.

This was one of the findings: women should have around 20-30% body fat, men - 10-15% (more or less) to be healthy.

When women (bodybuilders/athletes) train extensively and reduce body fat to and below 10-15%, their periods stop. They literally become infertile ITs.

Mother nature / God / intelligent Designer / evolution / a "flying spaghetti monster" created us that way. Girls with eggs, boys with balls...

I'm definitely against limits and discrimination. I'm all for FREEDOM, you know that. And if I ever have a daughter, I will definitely have her at least start/try some martial art and will encourage sports participation.

But this forced attempt to break natural order of things by those in power (especially as of lately), tells me one thing. Werdum-ed. I ain't a prophet, it's just my opinion.

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Postby Luigi » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:37 am

My understanding of "like a girl" has always been in an athletic context, meant to tell a guy their technique is bad. Coming from a culture where men are more involved in athletics than women(are there cultures not like this?) this makes sense. Its not used to insult women, its meant to insult effeminate men.

Gender roles are most definitely social constructs, but I think artificial is the wrong word. Social roles and beliefs grow organically in societies. Men being more involved in athletics seems like it appears in cultures everywhere.

So is this limiting women? It doesnt have to. You could tell a girl she may not like a violent sport, tell her the sport is masculine, but still tell her she has the choice to practice it anyways and there is nothing wrong with that. The culture of the society is preserved and the girl has freedom to become the person she wants to be. Honestly this sounds exactly like the society I grew up in.

I guess the only point in the video left to address is "does it hurt a girl's self esteem to hear -like a girl- statements?" Well, if they have been raised in a culture that encourages femininity in females she should understand the comment not as an insult but as a description of femininity. Im sure that if a male who was raised to value masculinity overheard girls say something like "you do make up like a boy!", he would be neither insulted nor upset about the notion.
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Postby Masato » Thu Jul 03, 2014 8:46 am

Wow, Luigi, that's maybe the most sensible post I've read about the topic.

Indeed, we have to find ways to RESPECT traditional gender roles and realities, while at the same time encouraging the freedom to break them if one chooses.

Just because we say its OK to break them doesn't mean we have to start hating on them.

Sometimes this is natural though, when we get introduced to a new idea it is human nature to go overboard, to get preachy about it and hate one's previous perceptions. I am not sure how much of this trend is natural and how much is manufactured.

I also lol'd in the vid when they flipped the switch, and then the girl started throwing punches like a girl :)

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Postby Luigi » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:03 pm

^Totally agree. I see plenty of people who go overboard, and plenty who take the sensible middle path.

Historically it does seem like we always take new ideas overboard at first, but what, if anything makes us take a step back and get over this phase? Would anti-communist sentiment still be rampant in our society if the threat of the Soviet Union was still a reality? Are there any ideas that never leave this phase? The ideas of the European Renaissance flipped Western thought upside down, but in many ways it still dominates our society.
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