Why Girls Should Stop Tearing Each Other Down

How many times have you heard a girl refer to another girl as a “slut” or “bitch?” And why? Because that other girl had the nerve to wear the same dress? Date the wrong guy?

When girls verbally degrade one another, they probably feel better about themselves for about a minute, maybe even two. But tearing down one another isn’t getting us anywhere. If anything, it’s causing regression.

It’s hard being a girl. We all have bad hair days, awkward first dates, monthly cramps and many other problems that make being female an everyday challenge. And whether we like it or not, we’re all in this challenge together. So let’s help each other out. Let’s not make being a girl any harder than it needs to be. Let’s just be kind to one another.

“It’s sad when you hear guys talking meanly about girls. It’s usually so frowned upon,” says sophomore nursing major Kelly McCarthy.

“But when girls do it, it’s just every day gossip. Thinking back to ‘Mean Girls’ tearing down someone else is just mean and usually pointless and doesn’t make you feel any better in the long run either,” she adds.

Girls’ nasty comments about another girl are usually rooted in contempt or more likely, jealousy. Every girl has her insecurities and sometimes belittling another girl’s success seems like the best way to deal with that insecurity. This has become such a common practice that some girls may feel it’s the only way.

Senior sociology major Lexie Walsh says, “We should be bolstering each other, appreciating and enhancing the femininity in other women, not perpetuating a competition-based judgment system enforced by a grander patriarchal culture.”

So, what is there to do?

In order to reverse the idea that we need to tear down our fellow females to boost ourselves, we have to start small. When another girl accomplishes something or finds success that maybe we wanted, instead of being jealous we should be happy for them. We should try to find the part of ourselves that is proud another girl did something so great. We can see that girl’s success as an example or even an inspiration to create our own greatness. Every girl has her own exceptional talents to bring to the table and they all deserve to be celebrated.

Girls want men to respect them. So, let’s give them an example they can follow. Let’s treat one another with the same respect we hope a boy would show us. We’re all doing our best to get through the ups and downs of womanhood, so let’s support each other along the way.