Girl Is Not A Dirty Word

Originally published Thursday, 17 April 2014.

If you have searched the internet or browsed social media hashtags for any combination of phrases that include the word “girl” then inevitably you have come face-to-face with the reality of what our culture thinks of our daughters.

Four years ago, when I founded For Girls Like You, I was a bit naive to this shift in definition.

Now I realize that using the word “girl” as a key subject can be misleading and heartbreaking.

Typing “G-I-R-L” into the search box of your browser immediately elicits images of partially dressed girls, girls partying, and tips to help girls increase sexiness.

Not what you had in mind, right?

Me neither. But, the images of colorful earrings, picnics, and friends sharing a giggle are long gone!

You see, in my home the word “girl” is synonymous with creative, curious, intelligent, humorous, fearless, compassionate, gentleness—Christ-likeness, and I cannot exclude sparkly, loud and full of giggles. These are things that God created my girls to be.

Your list may look a little different, but there is one thing I am positive it does not include:

Sex Symbol.

This is not who my girls are and certainly not what their Heavenly Father intended for them to become.

So in my naivety, it made perfect sense to create a resource that matched my girls’ nature to her Creator—A tool to reinforce who they were created to be and what they were created to love in a format that was safe, pure and 100% focused on Christ.

In other words a resource for girls- like them.

Enters For Girls Like You.

As the years have progressed, I am constantly reminded that a Christ-focused, safe, pure and fun resource for girls is in the minority. Somehow social media, books, and television have taken another form of God’s beauty and twisted it into a shameful concept.

So… I am sorry.

I am sorry if you have searched to find us and have been forced to sift through the garbage and the lies.

I am sorry that our daughters’ virtue has lost importance in our world.

I am sorry that we, For Girls Like You, are in the minority.

I am sorry that you and I must work harder to keep truth in the front.

So, will we change our name?

Certainly not.

Regardless of what Google, YouTube and social media #hashtags tell us, girl is not a dirty word. {TWEET THIS!}

It is a word to be grateful for. It is a word to be admired, celebrated and cherished.

So, friends, let’s reclaim it.

At For Girls Like You, we are committed to using the word GIRL as often as we can and to connect it to Truth. Connecting our girls and the things they love to the heart of Christ.

At For Girls Like You, we are for girls like yours!

Your girls, our girls, need to be affirmed in the true meaning of who they are and what they are created to be!

Who is your girl?

If she had her own personalized search box, what words or images would pop up to describe who she is?

We'd love to hear how you describe your girls, and we would love for you to take it a step further and tell her!

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