“She’s a slut.”
“She’s a hoe.”
“She’s too fat.”
“She’s too skinny.”
“Did you see how much she just ate?”
“Hey isn’t that the guy you slept with before you slept with that other guy.”
“Is she going to seriously go workout again?”
“Of course there’s a guy over at her apartment.”
“She’s never slept with anyone, what a prude.”
How many times have we sat around as girls and said these things, or something similar, about another girl? I will be the first to admit that I have. It is almost second nature to say these comments, they seem so harmless if the person is not there. But how many times has someone said these things to your face? It hurts. These little words: fat, skinny, hoe, slut, prude have big hurtful meanings that we sometimes forget.
In a generation that is fixated on labels and stereotypes more than ever, we need to watch what we say. It is so easy for anyone to overhear a conversation or take something out of context. Also, we as women need to stand up for each other. If we want men to stop calling us those words then we need to stop using them on each other. If we want people to respect us as a whole than we need to begin by respecting each other. The shaming needs to stop.
How do we stop this shaming? Well, first of all, we need to let each other live our lives. If a girl wants to sleep around- let her. It is her choice and her choice affects only her, not you. If a girl decides that today is the day she gets pizza and a burger for lunch- let her. Her choice, her life, her body and let’s be honest we all have days where we are craving all the food too. If a girl wants to workout multiple times a day- let her. Maybe it is her stress relief. You only have the right to be concerned if her health is being affected negatively but that is it and you address her and only her in a private setting. If a girl decides to not sleep with a guy no matter the situation you support her. You do not call her names for not sleeping with him and you do not make her feel bad about it. Think about it this way- if someone tried to control your life by constantly stereotyping you every time you did anything, would you be okay with that? No. So why do we feel like we can do that to others? There are ways to bring concerns up but you need to focus on the concerns and not another person's lifestyle.
Also, it is 2017. We need to move on from being fixated from on people’s lives. By now we should know that we can’t change people and what they believe. We should know by now that everyone is going to do what they want to anyway. We should build each other up and support each other. Then maybe one day we won’t be hearing those small words anymore.
