Acting “like a girl” has had negative connotations for far too long. To rectify matters, an art director has been handing out an empowering note, telling young women to embrace “all forms of [their] femininity”.
In her letter, titled Boy Poison, Sophia Tassew advises girls to give boys “direct eye contact” and “speak with a loud, clear voice”.
“Don’t apologise for talking about what you love,” she says.
The 20-year-old, from London, handed out the notes to passersby at King’s Cross station before posting an image of one of the letters on Twitter, where it soon gained more than 1,400 retweets.
The full note reads: “Give them direct eye contact. Speak with a loud clear voice.
“Always make sure your handshake is firm. Don’t apologise for talking about what you love. Stand up for your ideas.
“Think like a girl. Confuse them with embracing all forms of your femininity and dominance at the same time.”
Speaking to the Metro, Tassew said she was inspired to write the note because working in a male-dominated industry has sometimes caused her to question her own ideas.
“I think a lot of women might go through a similar thing where we’re not sure how to act because we’ve been told to be quiet for so long,” she said.
“Then again, if you speak up you’re seen as too overbearing. It’s almost as if people don’t know how to handle the feminine and dominant part of a woman. I really wanted to remind all types of women that you should believe in yourself no matter what environment you’re in.”
Her message couldn’t have come sooner, as new research by Girlguiding has found today’s young women are experiencing a confidence crisis.
A worrying 35% of girls as young as 11 say that comparing their lives to others is one of the greatest worries they have about spending time online, while a third also worry about how they look in photos.
We hope they take note of Tassew’s message.
