“Throw Like A Girl”

Growing up and attending a softball tournament every weekend during the summer became the norm for me. I got to spend the weekend with my teammates/friends and play the game I love so dearly. It became a tradition to get a new t-shirt every tournament. It was always the same setup–a tent with tons of shirts hanging up with tons of different designs to pick from. I would always pick a color that I didn’t already have and a design that had a cool and catchy saying on it. I can’t remember one tournament that didn’t have a t-shirt design that said “Throw like a girl.” I of course bought one because it is a phrase I has heard associated with softball for as long as I could remember. I never really thought much about what that saying meant or how it was making a mockery of girls playing softball. So what does the phrase “Throw Like A Girl” really mean? It is a way of making fun of softball and girls while making a catchy phrase out of it. It means that girls can’t throw like boys can and have a weaker way of throwing. Today, softball players use it as a power statement and are proud to represent the softball community. So now softball players use it as a way to challenge the idea that girls are weaker. I wish I would have realized when I was younger and every time I heard that phrase I replied with, “Oh Yeah? Prove It.”