I was listening to Hailee Steinfeld's newest song "Most Girls" the other day, and I had a moment of realization.
At first, I was thinking, "Yeah this song is catchy, but I'm not sure it can be used for a 'girl anthem' since it frequently outlines the 'most girls' portion of the statement." Once I did a little reading into how Hailee came up with the song, my mind changed. While discussing inspiration for the song, Hailee commented that all too often, the phrase "I'm not like most girls," is used to differentiate yourself or a girl that you're interested in apart from the "other" women of the world. My question is... why do we do that? I mean sure, you may not do everything that "most girls" do, but do "most girls" do all the same things? I doubt it. Just because you don't wear makeup or because you drive a stick shift it doesn't make you higher-up than "most girls." It just means you are your own person, much like the rest of the population.
I'll admit, I was guilty of using the "I'm not like most girls" line because I have no interest in going out and getting trashed every weekend, or the fact that I don't even know how to contour my face (seriously, I don't understand it all). I thought that those things somehow made me more of a "catch" to guys because I was different. Come to find out, there are lots of women in the world who don't wear makeup and would rather sit on the couch with Bobs Burgers on a Saturday night. In a time when tearing women down is such a popular activity, why don't we show people what empowering women looks like? We could start a trend of respecting women (can you believe it's 2017 and I still have to speak about respecting women like this is the 1920s?).
Instead of talking about other women like they are below you, try complimenting something about them: acknowledge their achievements, praise their kindheartedness, tell them how much you love their company. Spread positivity in the workplace, in your own home, even on social media. You never know, maybe if we can start a trend the men of the world will catch on and view respecting women as something that makes them "cool." (Or, if they were raised right, they'll probably already think its cool!).
Because c'mon (to quote Hailee's song), "Most girls are smart and strong and beautiful, work hard, go far we are unstoppable."
