What this girl thinks of This Girl Can

A new project to encourage more women to participate in sport is a fantastic idea, but is there a touch of sexism about it?

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This Girl Can is a new campaign aimed at getting more women and girls into sport. It’s a fantastic idea. Women are under-represented at all levels of sport, from taking part in it at both amateur and professional level, to media and TV coverage, all the way up to management and governing bodies. In fact, research carried out by Sport England (the organisers of the This Girl Can campaign) shows that 1.75 million fewer women than men regularly take part in sport or exercise, while of the 1.3 million coaches in the UK (across all sectors of sport), only 17% are women.

Much of this is to do with good-old-fashioned sexism and the old boys’ network that operates across much of our society. But there are other factors, many of which I believe start in school.

Women’s bodies are scrutinised in ways that men just do not experience or understand and this happens from a young age, as soon as puberty begins. We are put under huge pressure to conform to an unrealistic and unobtainable ideal, and if we don’t measure up to it we’re not good enough – in our own eyes, in those of our friends and the men and boys we’re told we need to impress. We worry that we’re not fit enough, not thin enough, not skilled enough, and that we don’t look good enough in lycra.

When I’m working out I don’t care about my wobbly thighs or love handles

With all that self-judgement going on it’s no wonder we don’t want to get out there and play sports or hit the gym. There’s also a fear – particularly among teenage girls – that sport isn’t feminine and that exercising too much will make them muscular and unattractive.

This Girl Can seeks to address these fears and lack of self-confidence. There is much to love about the campaign. The fact that it even exists is a huge step in the right direction. Sport England are going all out on it. There’s a website, Twitter account (with attendant #ThisGirlCan hashtag) and TV and billboard advertising. And judging by the tweets I’ve seen using that hashtag it’s working. Woman all over the country are responding favourably. At time of writing, the advert had been viewed 5,279,704 times on YouTube, having been online for just two weeks.

To really judge the effectiveness of the campaign, though, Sport England will have research whether more women are taking part in regular exercise. I hope the organisation does take the time to do this.

Screen shot from the This Girl Can TV ad.

I love the way they’ve used women of all shapes, sizes and ages. I refuse to use the term ‘real women’ – the idea that a woman is less real than another because she’s skinny is as abhorrent as insisting that all women must be thin. Black and disabled women are also represented. The women are shown doing all kinds of activity, from dance classes and netball to boxing and football.

The ad uses some inspiring slogans: “I swim because I love my body. Not because I hate it”, “I may be slow, but I’m lapping everyone on the couch”, or “I kick balls. Deal with it”.

But – you knew that was coming didn’t you? – there are elements I’m not so enamoured of. Slogans like: “Sweating like a pig, feeling like a fox”, “Hot, not bothered”, or “My game face has lipstick on it”.

I don’t know about you, but when I’m training feeling hot or foxy is not a priority, and I certainly don’t get fully made up before getting on the bike. This feels like a retrograde step to me: it’s reducing women to physical appearance again, telling us that what we look like is what’s most important about us. It’s “Hey girls, do some exercise and you’ll be more attractive to boys.”

Like many women I have issues with my body, but when I’m working out I don’t care about my wobbly thighs or love handles. Pushing myself to get up that last stretch of hill or swimming against the tide in the sea, I don’t care about feeling beautiful, because I feel strong, healthy, powerful. It’s about the only time I’m truly proud of my body, of what it can do.

Screen shot from the This Girl Can TV ad.

Taking part in exercise brings with it all kinds of benefits, both mental and physical. It can improve self-confidence. Joining clubs, teams or groups widens your circle of friends. It makes you stronger, fitter, healthier and can mean you’ll live longer (importantly it also increases the quality of those extra years). You’ll probably will lose weight; or size, at any rate, as changes in muscle: fat ratio could mean an increase in weight despite getting smaller.

All of these things in combination will almost certainly make you feel and look more attractive. But this is secondary to all those other fantastic benefits, and it’s those benefits that the campaign should be centring on. Can you imagine a similar campaign aimed at men and boys telling them they look foxy?

But maybe I’m over-reacting. The campaign appears to have gone down very well in general, and maybe I should just be glad it exists. What do you think?