Girl Hate

Living with five other girls here in Barcelona and being in a program that is largely female dominated, I am seeing gender roles magnified as of late. One glaring problem and common occurrence is an absurd amount of girl hate, body policing, and slut shaming.

Every day I hear a handful of comments about what Alex was wearing, how Lauren is "weird", the amount of makeup Jess decided to put on that day, or the "gross" amount of hookups Jen has had. The word bitch is used in excess in reference to other females, and hate is in the air everywhere.

Needless to say, it is hard to stomach. I was thinking to myself, "I can't believe I live with such mean people!" But then I realized that it's not just them, it's prevalent among so many young females and they don't even realize what they are doing.  

It's an epidemic of girl hate that needs to be put to rest!

We are told as girls, that we should hate other girls. A culmination of patriarchy, insecurity, and internalized misogyny have lead so many women to hate one another. You hear it in the media, in the hallways, and on the playground. Women are criticizing, judging, and hating one another for something as insignificant as their choice of crop top that morning. We as women are spending so much of our time hating one another, we forget to live our own lives and let other females do the same.

If we keep fighting with one another and hating one another how in the world are we going to come together to address the larger issues? How are we going to fight the patriarchy like the badass babes we are?

We need to learn to not only love ourselves, but love one another. We need to accept our differences and diversity. We need to think, hey maybe Jess feels really good with all that makeup on, go her! Jen is really sexually liberated, isn't that great? Alex looks amazing in those short shorts, her confidence is admirable!

I'm not saying you have to love every woman you meet. There is a difference between girl hate and and real hate (neither of which is very healthy). But we need to stop throwing harsh words and judgement at other women because society has taught us to do so. No more constant competition, comparison, and judgement. Let's try to support and respect our fellow sisters and create a community of acceptance and girl-love! Because we all know once that happens, there's no stopping us.