On February 26th, 2018, at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, Scottish musician and actor Shirley Manson, perhaps best known as the lead singer of the American rock band Garbage, read a letter to her niece.
WONDERFUL! I simply have no words. Powerful is another word that popped into my head just now. Wow. I love you Shirley, and have for a *long* time. This is yet another reason why.
Please remember feminism is about equality, it is about being denied equality in any way. The purpose of it is to bring awareness of the way we think, speak & treat anyone. The awareness to judge people on merit and ability. If you believe that language is not a big part of that then you truly must listen more carefully to how we speak to each other and how it can normalise the injustices of our world. Feminism is mindfulness and gives a platform from which other movements can begin to rise. The fact that we are still asking for equality and respect in 2022 gives you an example of how far we've come as a species. I have female friends who are millitant about so many causes & got into an argument with them about how feminist is a dirty word. This completely floored me & I pointed out how they were able to live the lives they do because of feminism. One of them, in fact my oldest & best friend has many revolutionary heroes and I asked her why were they all men, where were the women heroes. She's a very proud Manchestrian & can tell you how it's the birthplace of communism & socialism, loves Engels & Marx, I asked her why Emily Pankhurst wasn't one of the reasons she was proud of her city. This woman was born there, fought hard for equality and the right to vote & died for what she believed in, she had no answer. I then quietly pointed out perhaps it was because she was an early feminist. Words are powerful, very powerful and they influence the way we think. So the simple phrase "like a girl" does have effects. Think about what you say, don't just pretend to be enlightened.😶
How remarkably vile this is. I stopped when she read the part about Mrs. What absolute crap! Mrs is an abbreviation for mistress which is the title of a female head of household.
I love Shirley Manson. Been a fan of Garbage since I was a teenager. Right at the start, this letter shows that it is not "feminist" but "wacka-doo." I am embarrassed that I watched it at all. "You may be told that you run like a girl... as if doing anything 'like a girl' is a bad thing." Obviously it is fine if you are in fact a girl. If you are not a girl, then "doing something like a girl" is just a figure of speech meaning "to do that thing insincerely." When the video title suggests that Manson wrote this letter to her niece, not her nephew, I am just plain weirded out. I know that she is smarter than this.
@@NyanyiC A girl is a young woman, not a grown one. A girl is more reserved and cautious than a boy (which is a young man, not a grown one). Apart from the expectation that a grown man is heavier and physically stronger than a grown woman, a girl is lighter and physically weaker than a grown woman, so to tell a man that he "does something like a girl" is to let him know that he is not even trying and it is blatant that he is not even trying. Where is the problem?
@@baudgaud Why not say to a guy 'stop doing that like a boy'.its something that is never said. They always say 'like a girl' making it seem like there is something inherently wrong with the female gender!
When a boy tells a girl she runs like, or throws like a girl, it's meant as a put down or insult. Please understand it is in fact, not fine, to make such a comment to a girl. Shirley is telling her niece not to let comments such as these to stop her from running or throwing a ball or from doing anything her heart desires.
@@edb7121 When I said "it is fine if you are a girl" I was pretty obviously making the statement that there is no problem with you if you are a girl and do things like a girl. Not sure why you decided to make an argument out of it.
