When first reading Young’s “Throwing Like a Girl”, I often found myself internally wondering who exactly was the “girl” or “feminine body” she’s referring to? I realize this probably seems like a very obvious question—but when you view femininity through an intersectional lens, it is one you have no choice but to ask. I concluded that these experiences of the feminine body highly depend on who that girl is.
Young argues that girls are socialized by their bodies, needing to be fragile and weak. This often can appear through how (and if) girls take up space and use their bodies. While I agree, I can’t help but ask: when we say girls, does this generalization dismiss the clear differences in femininity experiences? I think not, but it does leave room to discuss how these experiences of femininity are extremely context dependent.
Black girls sit at this incredibly complicated and unique intersection of race and gender, and it becomes clear as we have to both battle to reclaim our femininity yet also battle the racialized expectations of our bodies. We are perceived as more mature, stronger, and less vulnerable than our non-Black peers. Drawing back to my title, we aren’t even allowed to “throw like a girl”. We often exist as this weird secret third thing by society, and have to fight to even get the same feminine descriptions.
It’s not a question if Black girls experience femininity differently, but rather what happens when society will not allow us to still experience femininity. If our bodies are shaped by the situations we exist in, it serves as further proof that race cannot be separated from gender. Maybe throwing like a girl is not a completely universal experience. Maybe it depends on who is allowed to even be a girl in the first place.
I really liked this post because it made me think about my own experience with “Throwing Like a Girl” in a different way. When I wrote about Young, I talked about how my dad raised me to throw every ball just as well, if not better, than the men around me, so I never really felt like I was limited by the idea of being a girl when it came to sports. But reading your post made me realize that my experience isn’t necessarily the same as someone else’s, especially when race and gender are both involved. I really liked your point that we have to ask who actually gets to be seen as “feminine”, because I never thought about the fact that society can treat different girls completely different based on how they look. It also makes me think about how some people are constantly being watched and judged for how they act or use their bodies. I honestly never thought about “throwing like a girl” from this angle before, and I think that’s what I liked most about your post.
Yes!! I LOVE this post! When referring to that of the feminine or female body, what exactly is being pictured? When something is being spoken about in broad terms, is everyone included? The white body is seen as the default in so many aspects which leads to stories and experiences being excluded. Tests and research and theories not being fully applicable to the Black woman. Intersectionality is so vital to understanding our bodies and the world around us. Black women, especially those in the U.S, have such a unique relationship to femininity. Is insult validation? Is being catcalled a win? How do we define our own femininity outside of societal expectations, outside of objectification?
I liked how you pointed out that “throwing like a girl” isn’t the same experience for everyone. I never really thought about how race could change the way femininity is experienced, especially for Black girls. Your post gave me a different way to look at Young’s argument.
Your post and our class discussions have really brought to my mind the very different expectations for white and Black womanhood, and how the currently-lived experiences Black, particularly African-American, women is built on stereotypes that have been in place in the US since its inception. I’m thinking of Sojourner Truth, who asked “Ain’t I A Woman?”, of white Susan B. Anthony who excluded Black Ida B. Wells from an equal place in marches for women’s suffrage, through Brené Brown’s explanation of living at the intersection of sex and race as a Black woman. There’s a long history in the US of not allowing Black girls and women to “throw like a girl”, and that feminist writing like “Throwing Like A Girl” remain very, very white. The more things have changed, the more they have, unfortunately, remained the same.