Our BedPost columnist discuss the controversy surrounding the Super Bowl ad that sparked the #LikeAGirl conversation on Twitter.
Sex is an inherently feminist topic. It is founded upon an inherent equality between all parties involved, whether they be man, woman, gay, straight or anywhere in between. Because of this, and for many other reasons, I like to consider myself a feminist and an advocate for said equality to pervade our culture as a whole.
This Sunday, during the Super Bowl, the company Always aired a commercial asking people to do various acts “like a girl.” At the end, several young girls were asked the same questions and responded by acting totally normal rather than with gender-stereotyped miming. The purpose of the spot was to highlight the misconceptions of gender and how they can shape our views of different groups of people.
So of course, when a feminist message was displayed in public, a bunch of people got really stupid and sexist.
Go on Twitter and search the hashtag #LikeaBoy. Yeah, it’s not great.
It’s another in a long string of events aiming to increase awareness of a need for societal change and the subsequent backlash of those already in a place of privilege. It’s akin to walking into a funeral and yelling something along the lines of “I know someone who died too! Everyone stop mourning!” This is a toddler having a cake and then someone else getting the same amount of cake and the toddler crying about it.
Feminism isn’t about men losing rights and women gaining them. Everyone will be better off if and when the sexism ingrained in most of the world’s culture is eradicated.
But for now, many idiots who occupy the same gender I identify with are being childish about a company making the point that women and men aren’t all that different. I hope I was able to write this column “like a girl.”
Ian Ording is a senior studying journalism and copy chief of The Post.
Twitter users were enlivened on Super Bowl Sunday after Always, a feminine hygiene product company, aired it’s “Like a Girl” spot, which asked when doing something “like a girl” became an insult, via one young girl saying it sounds like a “bad thing.”
Naturally, thousands of self-proclaimed “meninists” took to social media to answer that question — a long time ago, for probably good reasons and we’re going to keep doing it because these self-righteous 12-year-old girls need to be knocked down a peg. Or something.
The hashtag #LikeAGirl, which was supposed to overturn gender stereotypes, was instead used to spread all sorts of erroneous messages. Some said the spot didn’t even matter because most women weren’t watching the Super Bowl. Some began to use the hashtag #LikeABoy. One Twitter user pointed out that, #LikeAGirl, Kim Kardashian was only famous for her sex tape and another said that women who don’t want to be treated #LikeAGirl should neglect seeing 50 Shades of Grey this Valentine’s Day.
To be fair, I shouldn’t have to step outside a gender stereotype just to prove I don’t want to be attached to it. I can watch Keeping Up With the Kardashians (that Kim lady is famous for quite a few things now), go see 50 Shades of Grey and completely ignore the Super Bowl and still be undeserving of an insult. I can write this here column about women and men wanting to be or feel sexy without having to worry about whether I’m being unladylike. Because, as one of those ladyfolk, anything I do is something another woman (or man) can.
That’s the whole point of the commercial, though many appeared to have missed it. Being #LikeAGirl isn’t an insult, or shouldn’t be, because there’s no such thing as “acting” like a gender stereotype that was perpetuated a very long time ago by people that probably forgot women gave birth to them, fed them, clothed them and then went to work for them. If you want to make a sex tape, see 50 Shades of Grey and not let a single thought about football occupy your mind — you’re just thinking #LikeSomeHumans.
Emma Ockerman is a sophomore studying journalism and local editor of The Post.
Have any questions about sex or other Super Bowl commercials? Direct them to thebedpostpeople@gmail.com.
