To The Girl Who "Isn't Like Other Girls,"

I've always been confused as to why you were so proud of that phrase; "I'm not like other girls." Until I encountered you, probably around middle school age, I had honestly never viewed being a girl as a negative thing. I never took seriously the comments of 'You throw like a girl." and "Man up." You apparently did, though, because you grew up to admonish anything girl and in the process only hurt women like me.

I get that internalized misogyny isn't a phrase that you generally hear over lunch with your friends in the cafeteria, but it's prevalence in your life couldn't be more apparent to me. This pervasive construct is a type of sexism that influences women to enact types of misogynistic behavior towards other women and even themselves. When you exclaim that you aren't like other girls, you're insulting every girl in the opposite category and treated them as inferior. In reality, no girl is exactly like other girls, but this isn't the sentiment you're conveying. Instead you're showing everyone that girly is an insult, which is just as damaging as typical misogynistic phrases.

Your favorite color might be blue, and that's great. However, there isn't any glory in rejecting the ever so girly pink beyond expressing personal preference. You like football games and tee shirts, but that doesn't make you better than the girls in heels who are sipping Starbucks at the mall. When you tear down these girls simply because they like something different than you, you become part of the problem.

This is all coming from the girl who pretended that her favorite color wasn't pink because being girly was the worst possible thing you could be. The fact is that I don't and never have cared if a girl wears makeup, dresses or jewelry, but I've found that a lot of people like you care that I do. You have every right to love what you love and be proud of it, but you have to respect that everyone also has that right. Maybe, if you think about it, "girly" isn't the worst thing you can be.

Sincerely,

The Girl Who Is Like Other Girls