2017 was rough. We all know that, but there were positives, and one of my favorite things that the internet seemed to agree on was the death of the “I’m not like the other girls” trope. Thank God. It’s about time that we stop seeing other women as the enemy or who we need to beat, and instead see the value in each other. I was that girl growing up: the girl who took pride in not being like the rest, as if it was some great accomplishment. I wasn’t true to myself when being the “unique” one was my goal. It didn’t matter if I liked something that was popular, I would just see it was popular and immediately force myself to hate it, clinging to my “otherness”.
While this trope’s downfall may have come in the form of a meme, they are absolute gold and were probably the best way to get the message across. It’s sad, though, that some of these tweets are from as early as 2014, but the message didn’t seem to become widespread until 2017. At first I just read the tweets as they came across my feed and laughed, but then I thought about it, and realized they were right. I think it was successful because it was put across as humor rather than an angry tweet thread. The message was able to be understood before the viewer really realized.
While 2017 was a rough year, I have hope that 2018 will rise above and be something spectacular. (fingers crossed.) We’ve already had the internet saying enough is enough and demanding action be taken against those who abuse their power (looking at you Paul brothers). We have women speaking loud and clear, inspiring others (cheering at you Oprah). No, it won’t be a perfect year; there’s no such thing, but I think it’s safe to say we’re done laying down and taking it. 2018 will be the year we smile more, fight for what we believe in, and remember that even in the dark we can find the light in each other. They say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but I say we change it to hell hath no fury like women standing together.
Source: Pixabay.com