Mayim Bialik Is Not Here For Grown Women Being Called “Girls”
One of the most famous girls of the 90s, Blossom has a very important message for people who call anyone too old to wear a Blossom hat a “girl.” Last Thursday, Mayim Bialik posted a video on her YouTube channel with some thoughts on the matter called Girl vs. Woman: Why Language Matters. Mayim’s expertise in language clearly doesn’t lie in the language of YouTube videos, otherwise she’d know you’re required to start by saying: “Hey everyone, welcome back to my channel!”
Mayim really doesn’t like it when people refer to women in what Mayim calls “that super-narrow age range between 5-years-old and 55-years-old” as “girls.” Mayim’s teachable moment came after she was in a bar with two of her 40-year-old guy friends, and one of them called someone a “girl.” Mayim points out that adult men are seldom called “boys“, which sets up an unintentional imbalance and makes women seem inferior.
“When we use words to describe adult women that are typically used to describe children, it changes the way we view women, even unconsciously, so that we don’t equate them with adult men. In fact, it implies that they are inferior to men.”
She adds that calling a grown-ass woman a “girl” is outdated and insensitive, and that we know better now.
I’m with Mayim on this one. But that’s not to say it doesn’t come at a “be careful what you wish for” price. There’s something about hearing an employee at McDonald’s shout “this woman wants three extra slices of cheese on her cheeseburger” that is just so much more humiliating. It’s like a shady one-word way to tell someone they’re too old to still be treating their body like a dumpster. I really don’t need strangers to remind me of that.
Pic: YouTube