As I began watching it and the first action was given, I thought in my head how I would do it, and it was very similar to what the people in the video did. When the second action, fight like a girl, was asked I pictured my brother making fun of me for how I made a fist when I punched him. When the third action, throw like a girl, was given I pictured my daughter Darcy throwing a ball and then fighting and then running, and it wasn't like any of what was portrayed on the screen. And I realized that I wouldn't really do any of that in talking about myself. I think I run like the wind, fight like a boxer, and throw like, well, maybe my pitching could use some work.
When "We asked young girls the same question" came up on the screen I was thrilled that I had thought of all of that in my head before that lit up the screen. And then I got teary because I knew what was coming. Because my younger daughter, while past that crucial age, does believe she can do all of that just as good as Carl Lewis, Mohammed Ali, and David Price. She knows she can run because only one other person could keep up with her in middle school track and she outran everyone on her soccer team. She knows she can fight and throw because, well, why wouldn't she not be able to do so?
She and her friend, Sarina, were in the other room watching a movie when I saw this video. I made them pause the movie and then I did what the director of the video did. I asked them to run like a girl. Sarina said, "I would run like I myself" while Darcy took off running out of the room and around the inside of our house. They both loved the video. Darcy spent the first semester of her Inquiry Skills class arguing that the textbook the class used was totally out of date because a writing paragraph in the book talked about women in the kitchen and the fact that boys could do everything better than girls. It started a daily discussion of the message in this very video.
I approached the same method to my husband and Madison when they returned from their trip to North Carolina. Tom portrayed everything the man did in the video. Madison, of course, analytically thinking it through and so I just played the video for them. Tom wanted to argue at the end that he only did it the way he had done it because "like a girl" is a connotation. Madison and I explained that yes, that was what the video was trying to discuss. Why? Why is "like a girl" considered an insult? He tried to say that he didn't see it as an insult, but that just fired us up more when we said that the way he had thrown and fought and ran was an insult.
I loved the video. My mother would have loved the video. It would have set her off on a topic that defined her entire life and existence. While I wish that she could have come to terms with her anger and the men, and boys, and her father, and the world who insulted her I am grateful for the fact that I learned enough from her to realize my mistake at the beginning of this video. I want my girls to still believe like those middle school girls, to know, that they should keep on doing what they are doing, being who they are, despite those who insult them for being "like a girl". They are girls. And they are wonderful and strong and powerful. Rock on girls!
No comments:
Post a Comment