This summer, I've been spending a lot of time online due to not having any school work, and one of the main things I have noticed while being online is that young women get slammed for a lot of things. It mainly seems to be about things that many young women enjoy doing, and honestly, that makes me really angry and upset.
I'm not sure what it is about our culture that makes it so acceptable to be this disrespectful of young women and what they enjoy. For everything from enjoying a Starbucks drink to even writing on this website, women from about the ages of 16 to 25 are ridiculed. It's seen as wasteful, narcissistic, ignorant, and laughable among other things. Young women are seen as an easy target for jokes about how they act, and that is not okay.
You see this in all sorts of different places too. Recently, I saw it through a YouTube video that the incredible Sabrina Cruz of Nerdyandquirky posted this week. The video was about being called a fake nerd girl from boys that were upset she enjoyed things like makeup or wasn't there for the beginning of something like Pokemon. She talked about how even though she maybe wasn't there all the time, she still deserves and is allowed to enjoy nerd culture just as much as the next person. This is so true, women should be allowed to like what they want without being questioned for it.
The most baffling thing to me though is that even girls do this to one another. Our culture makes it acceptable to say we aren't one of "those types of girls" even though there is nothing inherently wrong with enjoying the things other women do. We as women should not be trying to tear one another down for what we like. There's this really awesome theory out there right now called the Shine Theory. In essence it's about supporting other women, especially those who are doing very well for themselves. It's the idea that by surrounding ourselves with other women who are successful as friends makes us all better. That's a powerful thing. I know I'm personally working on this myself as the world we grow up in as women pits us against one another.
In short, we need to be supportive of young women, not tearing them down for small petty things like what they enjoy. Let the shaming end and the love begin. It will make the world a better place if we can all be supportive of one another. Let women's light shine for themselves by what they enjoy and are good at. Please, try to be kind.
