I was thirteen years old, just entering the beginnings of my teen years, and my mother and I were at the mall. She took me into Victoria’s Secret because I had started to develop and I found their selection the most comfortable. I should preface by saying I have never been the thinnest individual, having been insecure about this all my life.
The store sparkled, pinks and white and reds everywhere. My mom wandered off to go look at some panties and I wandered over to their bras. One of the associates took one look at me and told me, “We don’t have your size hon. Try Boscov’s.” I was stunned. I was not obese. I was not fully developed yet and she had not even measured me! I was crestfallen. How could someone say that to a young girl?
I learned later in high school that body shaming and being wicked to other girls did not stop. However, in light of the recent election, I see a lot of women standing up and yelling about how sexist our new President elect is. They quote tweets about how Clinton cannot even keep her man so how is she going to run America (Trumps Tweet). I see posts all over Facebook about how famous men are horrible to their women. I see posts about how “We must unite and stop sexism in America!” I agree, we must stop sexism in America. Women deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.
Where is the real cause of the problem though? I do not believe men are the issue. I see bullying and ridicule more from women vs. other women. We women are despicable in our behavior towards other women! We are bullies to one another. I see more women body shaming other women than I do men! Just look at this one example, Girl over 200lbs body shamed. That is one example of three girls body shaming another girl who appears to be quite confident in who she is!
Young women are starting this kind of ridicule in high school! This is an article about a girl in Delaware who died at the young age of 16. (Teen, 16, dies after hitting head on sink) Let that sink in. She was only sixteen years old. They were fighting over a boy and it cost her life. No boy is worth that. Those girls who jumped her proved that they did not care about this other girl, they killed her over a petty boy. We girls turn on each other faster than any man. Why? Why is it so hard to love one another? Huh? This website helps prove that female bullying has risen quickly in schools and has the ability to overtake male bullying soon, Female Bullying.
Another example is when female celebrities feud over miniscule things such as show ratings or men. This piece is from the Jeanette McCurdy and Ariana Grande feud (McCurdy vs Grande) and they are bickering over who has more fame! They are not the only ones. One of the most famous feuds was Taylor Swift vs Katy Perry (Celebrity Feuds). They were reportedly fighting over back up dancers. Back up dancers! Both of these women are highly successful in their fields and are beloved by many young girls. Such a petty feud is showing these girls to be possessive and to ridicule other girls. If you look further into that websites slide show, you see that 5 out of the 8 featured feuds on there are celebrity women vs other celebrity women. These women are making media coverage focus on how disrespectful women can be to other women. Where is the love? If men are the real sexists and the real enemies in this war for equality than shouldn’t we be fighting less and focusing on them more? Turns out, maybe men are not the only contributors to the sexism of women.
Ladies, sexism is never okay! Body shaming is never okay! But blaming men for all the sexism in the world is unfair. The more we, women, bully and ridicule one another, the more the men think it is okay to do the same! Instead of ridiculing one another why don’t we build one another up? Stop pointing out each other’s flaws! Instead, praise what good we see in each other! Lead by example ladies. You feminists and Clinton lovers are correct, women are powerful. Let us use that power for good instead of bringing one another down. Bring back the love.