Hello hello, another personal post from me today yay! I seem to be doing personal posts on a monthly basis and I'm really enjoying writing them actually - they seem to go down well with you guys too so when I watched the #LikeaGirl campaign video earlier this week it prompted me to write this blog post. This video has been everywhere recently and it's definitely worth a watch. I am not someone who gets offended easily and in fact, I don't really like people who get offended easily purely because I just think life is too short to take everything so seriously, but, there is a line to be drawn when it comes to certain things. For example, saying females/blondes/girls/boys or whatever stereotypes, 'can't do something'... the amount of times I've been told I'm a dumb blonde or I've been judged because I like make up (some people don't realise that you can be intelligent and like red lipstick too!!!) so I really wanted to talk to you about this today.
First up, I thought I should probably show you the video that prompted this; Like A Girl - which actually went viral. It focuses around the wider topic of how societal limitations are holding girls back...
The above video was launched by Always to challenge the negative perception of what it means to do something 'like a girl' (it's often used as an insult). There's a reason why this video has had more than 36 million views worldwide!
I personally do not feel like society limits me whatsoever - truly, I just will not allow it to limit me. I will not allow anything to limit me, but trust me, it has taken me a long time to feel this way. Mind over matter. If you set your mind to something, you can do it. As a person, I will not let something limit me. I have been through some terrible things in the past few years, seen things, heard things and felt things that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, but instead of letting these terrible things define me or 'limit me' I use them to make myself stronger, happier and it's true when people say bad things sometimes need to happen to make you appreciate life/the world. When someone says 'you can't do something' it makes me want to do it more just to prove them wrong and I think more people should have this mindset. You too can have this mind set - you don't need to go through something terrible to be a strong person.
So here are some of the things I've heard/have been said to me;
So here are some of the things I've heard/have been said to me;
- 'You're a girl, all you know about is make up' - This one for starters makes me laugh my head off nowadays. When I was younger, it used to really offend me that so many people looked at me and judged me. I wear make up. I write about make up. To some people, that means I am just a dumb, bimbo with nothing else going for me. Wrong. It all goes back to the 'don't judge a book by its cover' and 'you don't know someones story' quote. Every single individual is different, some girls hate make up, some girls love it - me liking make up and beauty does not define me and certainly does not make me dumb.
- 'You can't run fast, you're a girl' 'you're a really fast runner for a girl' - Another funny one - I find these funny because as a female, I know none of this is true. You can do anything. You can run just as fast as you want to run. I go to the gym and use the men running at the side of me as inspiration; I take a little look at their treadmills and make sure I run a little longer than them. Nothing like healthy competition! I was lucky enough to go to a sports college and it was actually 'cool' if you were a sporty girl at my school so I never ever let the whole 'girls shouldn't do sport thing' 'girls shouldn't lift weight thing' bother me - I was brought up in a world where it is totally acceptable for girls to sprint as fast as they can. At the same time, I also did ballet, not because society told me girls should dress up in pink and do ballet but because I liked ballet! I'm a big believer in doing what makes you happy, if you're a girl who wants to do ballet, go for it, if you're a boy who wants to do ballet, go for it. It honestly does not matter one little bit.
- 'Girls aren't strong' / 'Girls can't be brave' - Female bodies don't have the same testosterone levels as men etc but strength isn't just defined by how many reps you can do or how many tyres you can lift. People are strong in different ways; for some people, waking up every morning takes a lot of strength, for others, they're strong because of the challenges they have faced. Every single person has had to be brave at least once in their life.
- 'Girls have to be perfect' - I guess as children we have always seen Barbies, dolls, perfect figures so we are kind of conditioned into believing that girls 'have to be perfect' or should 'look perfect'. I personally love doing my make up and making the best of my self, I feel good about myself when I've had a nice long pamper session but I do this for myself. Not for anyone else. Equally, I love nothing more than putting my hair on the top of my head in the ugliest pineapple, wiping my make up off. My longest boyfriend would tell me that I looked way better without make up on - even though I don't believe him, I love that he preferred me without make up on. Wait for the person who sees how perfect you are without make up on. My first ever boyfriend was pretty disgusting and honestly ripped my confidence in half, he would tell me I had to have a full face of make up on at all times. People like this are not the people you should be spending your time with. You are perfect in your own way and you are always someones reason to smile, you dont need to put a full face of make up on to please anyone. Never forget that.
- 'Women shouldn't go back to work after having children' - This is quite controversial but it's something that really gets to me. My Mum is a single Mum, she has brought myself and my brother up and played both the Mum and Dad role throughout her life. She can put up IKEA furniture get rid of spiders and do all those 'manly' or 'Dad' tasks. Proving that actually, you can do anything. My Mum went pretty much straight back to work after having me, she needed to carve her career and she needed to work so that she could support her family. I will never ever look down on her for this. She told me though that many people did look down on her for this. I have a lot of friends who had stay-at-home Mums - I would never judge these people either. You can do what you want to do but, I honestly believe that my Mum going to work every single day and working harder than anyone can imagine, has made me a driven, strong and independent person that I am today. I don't think people can ever judge until they now someones circumstances.
The answer? Don't let anything limit you. I love this campaign because it's about championing girls confidence. Don't let anyone break that. You were born to make a difference but mainly, you were born to be happy. Don't ever let anyone dull your sparkle, tell you that you can't do anything or make you feel less than amazing.
Have you watched this video? How do you feel about this campaign? Have you ever been told that you can't do anything because 'you're a girl?'?
*This was sponsored by the Like A Girl Campaign but as always it's 100% my honest opinion.
Have you watched this video? How do you feel about this campaign? Have you ever been told that you can't do anything because 'you're a girl?'?
*This was sponsored by the Like A Girl Campaign but as always it's 100% my honest opinion.
Lots of love, Em x
Don't forget to follow me on bloglovin! to stay up to date with my posts!
I would also love it if you could subscribe to me on YouTube here!
No comments:
Post a Comment