A group of six women have come together to fight back against gender stereotypes about women in sports as they take on an open water swim.
Their name, ‘She Swims Like A Girl’, was chosen by Medical student Lucy Hirst.
She said: “It could be seen as something you use in a derogatory way but actually we’re taking that and using it as a positive thing to be proud of.”
The group have been selling swim hats with their logo, stickers and hosting quiz nights to raise money for their respective charities such as Cardiac Risk in the Young, Galloway Society for the Blind and Papyrus UK.
Holly Satterly, a member of the group, said: “The hats kind of encourage you to be proud of your female biology, don’t let it hold you back.”
Swimmer Olivia Bull said: “Boys are also wearing our hats. My brother’s gone back to his uni with the swimming hat and it’s spreading the message as well of empowering women.”
The group collectively spoke about female sports being ‘underfunded on a professional level’ and has much less attention than men’s sports, particularly within swimming.
Most of them only had male coaches growing up and had male predominant team mates.
Holly said: “A lot of coaches don’t take into account that female bodies are changing so they don’t really give female athletes the grace that they deserve.”
Lucy Robinson, another member of the group, said : “I did a really high level of competing really young and plateaued off so I think doing this and having a goal again to swim the channel has made me really enjoy swimming again.”
The channel is approximately 21 miles (32 kilometres) and according to the Channel Swimming Association the fastest swim is just over 7 hours and the slowest nearly 27 hours.
Despite swimming for such a long time in water colder than 16 degrees, the group still faced comments saying it’s ‘easy’ and ‘anyone could do that’.
Swimmer, Olivia Bull said: “After like the first 40 minutes of my qualifier swim, my hands would stop clawing and because you’re not getting out of the water, you’re not going to increase your body temperature.
“I think the hardest part is probably going to be just like the mental game of like no one else is going to be in the water when we’re doing it on the actual day.”
‘She swims like a girl’ will be the first all female group from the University of Sheffield’s swim club to swim the English channel.
They will be continuing to accept donations here alongside their next charity bbq event 7 June at the Dam House.