Little Girl’s Bravery In The Face Of A Lion Helps Disprove An Old Sexist Saying [VIDEO]

“I would have run like a little girl and wetted myself,”

Well, not like THIS little girl, obviously.

I love that the female anchor told him what’s what – even though he went on to say “I didn’t realize you had your Gloria Steinem vitamins today.” What a d-bag.

But I love that his co-anchor called him on it. :) And how she was all “I’ll give you my heels to run away in, how about that?” Awesome.

And that’s the thing. These ideas are SO INGRAINED that someone WILL say something like that without even thinking about it. What we need to do is notice when it happens and call them on it.

Not only sexist, it was entirely inaccurate. He said he’d have run scared “like a little girl” if that’d have happened to him, just after seeing a little girl not running scared when it happened to her. I mean wow, was he not paying attention to what he was reporting on? 

Major props to his co-anchor. 
More demerits for him sarcastically apologizing and calling her Gloria Steinem after it was pointed out.

No, he wasn’t paying attention to what he was saying, big difference. It’s like if I said someone was “like a bull in a china shop”, I would immediately correct myself with “…except MythBusters disproved that so… like a Tory in a china shop?” (referencing Tory in MythBusters, not Tory the political affiliation)
He should have accepted the correction after being called on it though.

Maybe *he* should start taking Gloria Steinem vitamins.

UGH. But yeah, I’m really happy with his co-anchor! A lot of the time you’ll see them just try to let it go or laugh it off and she stood up. Props!

15-20 years from now that girl will be on National Geographic discussing the time she spent on the Serengeti…

Awesome little girl, cool co-anchor, tea and medals all round!  Except for the guy, he can spend a day in the lion pit.

Isn’t a perfectly natural, preferred reaction, when confronted with a lion swatting at you and growling, flight? I see this as either a) the girl understood that there was a glass partition protecting her from the lion and therefore no harm could come to her or b) her parents haven’t properly equipped her to understand when she is confronted with a harmful situation.

So, either a) she understood that she was safe or b) she has no concept of danger.

I don’t really see this as a “brave little girl” story. That’s wishful thinking.

But… she wasn’t “confronted with a harmful situation”, so her parents have, in fact, equipped her to discern when she is and is not in danger.  I don’t understand where you came up with b) at all. It’s obviously a). 

You know, those reaction images/gifs are irritating enough on Tumblr. I didn’t expect to see them here, of all places. It makes you look like you’re incapable of expressing your reaction in words, or are too indecisive to pick a single image/gif.

I’m just sayin’.

Regarding the story at hand, it was cute as the dickens how that little girl mimicked the lions expression, but I have to feel sorry for that poor lion. I bet he gets a lot of people harassing him through the glass to get a reaction.

How often are children aware of what is going on around them? You can scare some kids just by turning out the lights. Or, on the other hand, my Option A. I’m leaning toward Option A, as well, I’m simply saying that I don’t see this as a “brave little girl” story.

I think that little girl’s a brat. Her mother clearly asks her to get away from the glass several times and she doesn’t. What a little turd.

But maybe a tiny bit of props for knowing who Gloria Steinem is?

Saying gifs are irritating on Tumblr is like saying words are irritating in the newspaper. 

That male anchor is an idiot.

would you like some salt with your foot already lagged deeply in your mouth my friend

Thanks for mansplaining that to us!

That little girl wasn’t the only brave lady on that reel.

Haters gonna hate.

Nothing says “I’m not sexist” like using a term created specifically to be sexist!

This is why we can’t have nice things.

You know, the “run like a little girl” is such a rote expression to a lot of people, it can almost be forgiven – but when watching a little girl NOT run away? That’s just stupid.

The Gloria Steinem comment, though? He’s just being a straight-up asshole with that.

She’s three. If you’ve ever dealt with a young preschooler who did exactly what she was told all the time, more power to you.

Isn’t the point of a comment board that lets you reply multiple times to open dialogue? This is my P.O.V. and I’m very interested in yours…when you’re not trying to be insulting.

Agreed. I’m guessing that these two probably get on like this more often than not.

Y HALO THAR BERT!  NISE TO C YOU UNSTONED.  WEAR R THOS DWARVES WE WUR GOING TUW ET?

I was actually thinking the same thing, Adam – that she has no concept that being so close to a lion could be dangerous, and that’s not a good thing.  However, she probably doesn’t live in an environment where she is ever in any serious danger.  I think if she lived around lions, and knew firsthand the harm they could do, she would have instinctively jumped away from the glass – if she even would have been willing to go up to it in the first place.  Watching this video, and especially seeing the very intent look on the lion’s face, made me feel pretty uncomfortable. 

I agree.  Bravery, so far as I understand it, is courage in the face of fear.  This little girl clearly wasn’t afraid in the slightest, so her actions can’t really be called brave.  “Little Girl Fearlessly Faces Lion, Disproves Old Sexist Saying” would be more appropriate to me.  Of course I’m a gigantic pedant, so whatever.

Yes! I agree. Thank you very much!

And TomtheTroll: I don’t get it.

Inappropriate use of the term. He wasn’t saying “here’s how it really is, ladies”; he’s questioning the use of the term “brave” in relation to a small child in this situation. I don’t agree totally with his assessment but there was nothing of a condescending “I’m a man and therefore I know how it really is” nature to it. 
I’m with wolcotte and I would only add that she would have learned that lions were something to be afraid of if she had experienced negative reactions to lions from her parents. As it was, this was a big kitty in a glass box to her. No reason to see it any other way.

^THIS

But see, the “give you my heels” joke still plays into the stereotype of cowardice being feminine.

Is she the one who said all heterosexual sex is rape? Or was that Dworkin?

Brought to you by the Redunant Department of Redundancy.

This is what happens when little kids watch The Chronicles of Narnia. Dulls their survival instincts.

Dworkin, misquoted and out of context to be sure, but Dworkin.

also the Lisa Simpson disapproval face NEVER gets old

Ah, fair enough. After some further research, I find that the actual quote that seems most closely aligned with that statement was:
“Intercourse is the pure, sterile, formal expression of men’s contempt for women”

Though, according to Snopes, she later said:
“Penetrative intercourse is, by its nature, violent. But I’m not saying that sex must be rape.”

I think I understand where the statement is coming from. As a prospective “hole” where something must be, er, shoved into repeatedly (taking all emotion out of it), it’s kind’ve a scary and depressing thing, that that’s your lot in life …

Must be? It’s not like anyone is forcing you to…

Oh. Oooooh. :(