Live #LikeAGirl: This Girl’s Response

In the Always commercial Like A Girl, people are given actions, and are told to act out the first thing that comes to mind. The responses from people past puberty:

• Run like a girl — prancing and worried about their hair
• Fight like a girl — wobbly arms
• Throw like a girl — no energy

Then a young girl gives her impression of running like a girl. She’s mimicking the fast and furious.

“It means to run as fast as you can.”

When did something like “run like a girl” become an insult?

One word: puberty — a time when many girls began losing confidence and care more about their appearance and how others view them.

This transition during puberty is also explained well with Brit + Co’s I Am Creative shoot.

Young girls and women were asked to pick a colorful cape and act out a character.

The girls instantly became insync with their imagination, and acted out their dreams.

The women stood in silence between ummm-ing to avoid the awkward silence.

The young girls were next given a white canvas, and were instructed to paint whatever they wanted.

They immediately started painting their fantasies.

The women were slow to begin painting, and their presentations began with qualifiers:

• “It’s JUST a bunch of slashes and dots.”
• “I’m not an artist, but…”

77% of adults feel they’ve lost their creativity.

Why does this happen? We’re thinking too much before we speak. We care too much about what others think. We’re losing confidence.

Nowhere is this more pronounced during puberty than with body image.

The Jubilee Project created a video, Comfortable: 50 People 1 Question: “If you could change one thing about your body, what would it be?”

Responses from adults began with ummm-ing, and they were quick to respond:

• Forehead
• I’d like to be taller
• The puffiness of my ears.
• Stretch marks after having a baby
• My skin.

The kids didn’t respond immediately. After shrugging their shoulders, responses included:

• Have a mermaid tail.
• Have a shark mouth.
• Extra pointy ears.
• Run like a cheetah.
• Wings so I can fly.
• I don’t think there is anything to change.
• I like my body actually.

Why do people lose their self confidence when they grow up?

At times after puberty, I had a similar lack of confidence as seen in the short clips.

From now on, I promise to:

• Be confident.
• Care less about how others view me.
• Speak up.
• Be a leader.

… in other words: live #LikeAGirl.