While watching the Superbowl, you may have seen the commercial released by the feminine product brand Always that asks what it means to do something “like a girl.” In the commercial, a woman asks boys and girls to show what it looks like to run, fight, and throw “like a girl,” and their reactions tended to involve a lot of stereotypical behavior, such as flailing arms and fixing hair.
The point of this commercial was to question why the concept of doing something “like a girl” is an insult and to emphasize that having stereotypes such as these can be harmful to a girl’s self-confidence, which is especially vulnerable during adolescence. Unfortunately, some men on Twitter either completely missed the point of this commercial or did not care about the statement that Always was trying to make.
A number of men on Twitter started using the hashtag #LikeABoy and began asking why there wasn’t a #LikeABoy commercial. The answer is simple. There wasn’t a #LikeABoy commercial because we don’t need a #LikeABoy commercial. This isn’t to promote misandry or to say that men and women shouldn’t be equal; it is quite the opposite. The reason that we don’t need a #LikeABoy commercial is because there usually isn’t a stigma against doing anything “like a boy.”
Some may look at these tweets as a joke or claim that the people getting offended by them are overreacting or are being overly sensitive. However, it is this kind of attitude that promotes bullying and creates a divide between the sexes.
In addition to the #LikeABoy hashtag, some men also used the hashtag #meninist, which in itself is a mockery of feminism. The very definition of a feminist is not a woman who hates men or a woman who believes that women are superior to men. A feminist is any individual who believes in the equality of the sexes. Keeping this in mind, the “meninist” movement is going against the goal of equality, which was not the intention of the commercial.
At the end of the commercial, Always encourages us to make “#LikeAGirl mean amazing things.” Attempting to eliminate the stigma against doing things “like a girl” may not seem like much of an accomplishment. However, something small like this can put a positive spin on the public perception of feminity, which can develop confidence, and overall, can aid in bridging the gap between men and women.