We can all continue to dream about the day that our world will be full of acceptance and love for all of its inhabitants, but the world in the present is undeniably not always a fantastic place. This world is often a place that at times, can be filled to the brim with what feels like only hatred and negative energy toward others. This hatred may be purposefully hurtful and can come in the forms of homophobia, transphobia, classism, racism, sexism, ableism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance-- although there are more, of course. However dim the world may seem at times, we can always hold a sense of hope within our hearts that these people who fill the world with hatred and negativity will grow to eventually learn more about the reasons why they have a specific prejudice against something and how to evolve into a person who is accepting of all, no matter their differences.
We need to have a deep discussion about hatred and its roots and inner workings. Let us start a conversation right here, right now, with this very article. A sadly familiar kind of hate that we have all been exposed to, time and time again.
A specific kind of hate that we are all familiar with no matter how we identify and that I personally witnessed countless times, is the issue of girl on girl hate.
What words or phrases pop into your mind when you think about what it means to be a girl?
The first thing that I think of is developing a strong defense mechanism because the world isn't always beautiful for any person, of any gender-- even more so for girls who are hated on by other girls for merely expressing themselves as an individual. Girls are brutal toward other girls and especially toward our transgender sisters, who we should be welcoming in with open arms and nothing else but complete love and encouragement. We destroy each other with nasty words and purposely tear down each other's sense of self-esteem and are in a constant competition, due to the pressure placed on us by our society. Society often tells us that we have to be beautiful and thin, intelligent and funny, soft spoken and a pushover. In order to destroy girl on girl hate, we have to start pushing ourselves away from believing that women can't be anything that society deems to be not good enough, and instead learn and appreciate each other's differences.
We all bring something beautiful, yet different to the table. Take the time today and every day to appreciate who you are and who those around you are, as well.
