Mayim Bialik Has a Message For People Who Call Women Girls [Video]
As someone who loves Big Bang Theory and Mayim Bialik the video she posted hit me in an unexpectedly way. It is not something we think about every time we open our mouths to speak but our words carry more meaning then we realize.
She recently posted a video on her Facebook and her Youtube channel that calls out the subconscious effects for calling women girls.
She has a valid point.
And don't worry, I looked up Sapir Whorf. It is a hypothesis created by Edward Sapir in 1929. He hypothesized that "the structure of a language determines a native speaker's perception and categorization of experience" which is a quote straight from Google. Meaning that the way we phrase our words has a subconscious effect on how our minds frame certain things. Words carry more weight then we realize.
Just a reminder Mayim Bialik has a PhD in Neuroscience, Bachelors in neuroscience, Hebrew and Jewish studies. She knows what she is talking about.
Bialik gives multiple examples that demonstrates how calling a woman a girl is demeaning. Just like Bialik said, "you would never call a man a boy." Even though this is something I have never really put a lot of thought into (this idea that this effects our subconscious), but I totally get it.
Even growing up I have never liked someone calling me a girl. I grew up with all boys, hearing them call each other girls to make fun of or poke fun at each other hurt me. For instance, the boys would go out and play football and one would say that the other threw the ball like a girl. What does that say about me? Obviously I am not a fan of sports, but that isn't the point. I can do whatever they do. Just because I am a girl doesn't mean that I am inferior, right? Of course not. Women are hardcore.
No woman should ever feel that way.