If you pay any attention to online celebrities, you may be familiar with Lilly Singh. Singh is a famous comedian, vlogger, motivational speaker, but most prominently, a Youtube personality. More commonly referred to by her YouTube username, Superwoman, Singh has over 7.5 million subscribers on YouTube who watch her weekly videos religiously. Obviously, this means that she has quite the audience; she has people who are interested in her ideas, beliefs, and respect her. Singh used her knowledge of that to her advantage recently, as she noticed a problem arising in today's world and decided to do something about it.
In an attempt to start the conversation about the sudden increase of girl-on-girl hate and why it needs to be stopped, Singh did what she does best. She made this video and called all girls to come together in support of one another.
As Singh explains in the video, girls have become vicious toward one another. Desperate for validation and in the true spirit of competition, girls are resorting to bullying and shaming each other in order to gain superiority. This is very saddening of course, considering that girls are capable of so much. With support from other girls, a girl has no choice but to feel invincible and strong. Without it, a girl may feel self-conscious, unsuccessful, and insignificant compared to her equals. In 2015 in particular, girls accomplished so much. However, that being said, discrimination and hate was still a problem. Although we are no longer surprised by men hating on women, complete with unjustified social movements such as "meninism," we should be surprised that women would be so hateful toward other women.
The problem with women hating on other women is that it only amplifies the idea that you can treat women poorly. Thus spiraling into not only women hating on women, but also men hating on women, both of which are not OK. Tina Fey explained what is wrong with this girl-on-girl hate very matter-of-factly in the movie "Mean Girls:"
So, Singh got together with friends of hers, influential women including Mamrie Hart, Grace Helbig, Shay Mitchell, and others, to spread some #GirlLove. They complimented one another, but also women who are making extraordinary strides toward equality in today's world. For example, a visionary of comedy such as Amy Schumer, who is changing the way female comedians are overlooked, and actress Emma Watson, whose tireless work as a UN Women's Ambassador and alongside the HeForShe campaign is changing the way the whole world sees women. However, these are just two examples. There are so many amazing women, doing amazing things each and every day, all over the world -- women who deserve #GirlLove.
So, instead of accepting hate, it's time to spread the love. Girls need to stick together. Girls have overcome so many obstacles to get to where we are today. While there is still a long way to go, we cannot move forward if we are holding each other back. Therefore, we need to let go and let it out. Think of a woman you admire, a woman that you respect, and tell her, show her some #GirlLove. Girls need to start encouraging one another, because a breakthrough made by just one woman, is a breakthrough for all women. It's time that we realize: nobody can understand what a woman does, thinks, or goes through, more than one of her own kind. We relate to one another more than we realize. It is because girl-on-girl hate stems from jealousy that we need to morph that mindset into something positive.
Girls being jealous of one another is OK, quite frankly, it's inevitable. However, it should not justify hate. Instead of calling a fellow girl a "slut" or a "whore" or any other demeaning label, tell her what you find admirable about her or what you think makes her special. So find your mom, your best friend, your sister, or maybe even reach out to your celebrity girl crush -- just find a woman and tell her what you think makes her amazing, what makes her strong. We need to stop trying to put ourselves on pedestals in order to feel superior to or degrade other women. Instead, we need to start trying to raise other women up. Empowering one woman creates a domino effect. Soon enough, #GirlLove will spread far and wide, so everyone will know just how amazing girls truly are.
It's 2016. We cannot afford to go one more minute, letting girl-on-girl hate continue to affect our friends, our sisters, our mothers, our role models. 2016 is our year, 2016 is the Year of the Girl. It's time that we stand together and recognize that being a woman is a special gift, a bond that you share with billions of other women, a bond that should be cherished and nurtured, flaunted even. Therefore, it's time to spread some #GirlLove y'all, cause we're in this together.
**Singh also promised that for every share of her video, a dollar will go toward the Malala fund, which helps provide education for girls in third-world countries. Therefore, I ask you to consider not only watching that video but also sharing it, in order to help ensure the education of a girl in need. Show some #GirlLove.**
