I have been playing soccer recreationally and in teams/clubs for the past 9 years of my life. And so, for the past 9 years of my life, I have been hearing comments like “Oh you play soccer? That’s so cute!” or “You play varsity soccer?” as if it’s the most unbelievable thing in the world or I play because its “cute”. So, you can imagine that seeing that we had to read an article called “Throwing like a Girl” by Iris Marion Young for class was entirely too triggering. I have heard the exact statement “kick like a girl” by all the little boys I used to be in a club with and even well into my teen years. I would go home crying in my room, thinking I wasn’t good enough and that I would never be as good as the boys on my team.

One day my older cousin, Nate, picked me up from soccer practice and saw that I had been in a bad mood. After pestering me and refusing to drive out of the lot if I didn’t tell him what was wrong, I confessed that the boys had laughed at me for not making the goal and taunting me because I was a “such” girl. He looked me in the eye and said “Next time, show them how good a girl kicks when you kick them straight in the balls.” At the time, I was only about 10 and thought it was the funniest thing that he’d ever said but it definitely worked to get me out of my rut and stopped letting those little boys get to me.

After reading Young’s “Throwing Like a Girl”, I started wondering what made the boys on my teams and clubs find it so offensive about me that I was a girl. It’s not like I kicked worse because I can confidently say I was better than 90% of them. Was it my hair flowing around when I would forget to tie it up or was it worse when it was in french braids? Maybe it was that I had curves that I couldn’t hide or that I had a “girly” voice? I guess it was all of the above and more. I guess my mere existence as a feminine being was too triggering for them. Either way, it doesn’t matter. I’ll still play in my shorts that show off my smooth thighs and tie my long hair in a high pony and not change a thing about me to fit in with the boys.

So yes, I do kick like a girl because I am a girl. I don’t see anything wrong with kicking like a girl because we don’t kick any worse than boys (maybe even better). And the next time someone tries to undermine my abilities as a woman, I might just have to take my cousin Nate’s advice.