Like a girl…

If you watched the Superbowl you saw lots of commercials.  Some were awesome, some boring, and some simply terrible (Hello?  Dead kid + football game = BAD!)

One of the ads was asking post-pubescent boys and girls what doing things "Like a Girl" meant.  Predictably, doing things - specifically athletic things - "like a girl" was bad.  We saw kids lamely pretending to throw a ball and running by kicking their legs up.

Then they show younger kids being asked that same question and instead of making fun of girls, the kids saw girls as powerful and capable.  Being “like a girl” was a good thing.  The voice over then tells us that the self-esteem of girls plummets during puberty.

Now I'm not normally the type of person that feels the need to stand on a soapbox and scream for equal rights - not for race or gender or sexual orientation.  But I've been thinking a lot about this ad the last couple of days.

There is no doubt that I have self-esteem issues.  As do a lot of you out there reading, right?  And I can't help but wonder how my self perception - my self worth - would have been different if, as a child, I received different messages from society. 

What if I had more encouragement to be athletic?  What if I believed that as a female I was just as capable at physically challenging things as my brother?  What if I wasn't judged so incredibly harshly and mocked for my weight by everyone including my own family!   Which, as well know, just exacerbates the problem?

Maybe nothing would have changed - I mean I had choices, right?

But certainly empowering young girls to see themselves as strong and beautiful and smart – that can't be a bad thing? 

You know, the messages still persist.  I had a subscription to Shape magazine but dropped it after reading article after article showing an impossibly thin gorgeous blonde getting a "great ass" by squatting with 2 pound weights.  Or what exactly I need to look like to turn my husband on in bed.

Instead I read Marc's Men's Fitness magazine which is far more useful for me even as a chick.  Their articles talk about getting strong and fit without a eating a salad and smoothie a day for weeks on end.

Today on Twitter, I posted this pic and announced to the world that I lift weights #LikeAGirl