Here at Vikara Village we find girls-only spaces provide young women with the opportunity to be themselves, voice their concerns, and be part of a supportive community.
Today let's talk about all girls-only spaces!
Our Body Love Yoga sessions are a girl-only space. Girl-only spaces provide young women with the opportunity to be themselves, voice their concerns, and put their own experiences front and center. Our priority is to empower individuals, especially young people, by instilling a sense of confidence and comfort within them through our programs. We strive to create an accepting, supportive, and genuine community allowing youth to socialize and learn from not only our wonderful team of facilitators, but also one another.
Why we need girl-only spaces
Zoe Fenson, a freelance writer in the Bay Area, captures the essence of girls-only spaces by saying, "Girls learn to defer to boys, let boys behave as they will, cushion boys' feelings, and soften boys' falls. We learn to be calm, likable, pliable; we learn to doubt our own instincts and neglect our own needs in order to smooth the way for others." Fenson depicts how oftentimes, co-ed environments can lead to negative reinforcement of gender stereotypes and leave girls feeling inferior and constricted. Rather than letting boys take the lead, we feel strongly that girls need to understand their strength and potential and not feel like their issues, struggles, and thoughts, come secondary to boys. By offering spaces for only girls, we hope youth understand girls are important, appreciated, and recognized. In an article produced by the Girls Empowerment Network titled "Girl Power: The importance of only girl spaces," the author states, "when young women are involved in girl-only spaces, such as sports teams, they are given the opportunity to pursue leadership roles."
Empowering Young Women through all-girl spaces
We hope the young women in our all-girls spaces not only feel comfortable within the Vikara Village community, but understand their value and the strength they possess as women. We hope to offer them an opportunity to assert themselves as independent women in the real world. We have found creating girl-only spaces allows us to best achieve our mission and vision. At Vikara Village, we want to combat and alleviate the societal pressures that are put on women by offering all girl-spaces through Body Love Yoga, and allowing our students to gain courage, strength, and leadership skills. You can join our girl-only community by registering for Body Love Yoga! Join Body Love Yoga