Recently, I read an article on Swoon that got me pretty heated. Swoon is a website that is separate from (but in the same family as) the Odyssey. This is a place where creators can share their personal stories on a more relevant platform. Here's where you can read more about the platform. To summarize, creators can share stories that are more closely related to their relationships.

The article that I saw was titled "If You Flirt With My Boyfriend, Chances Are I Hate You". I read a lot of articles like this, so I wasn't expecting to be outright offended. I read a lot of articles on Total Sorority Move, and I feel like this article would be really well suited for that specific platform. Regardless, it was really problematic for a few reasons.

The subheading simply says "But, also please be aware I'm not threatened by you, I just want to have a little chat. " Let me just point out that by saying that she's not threatened, the author is coming off as, in fact, threatened. This was a really defensive article. People don't get defensive for no reason. People get defensive in response to (you guessed it): A threat.

I understand the sentiment of hating a girl that flirts with your significant other, so I'm not even going to comment on that. Moving right along.

She's correct in saying that she's pretty much earned the right to be his sole flirt-receiver by being his girlfriend. That's fine, and that's true. She goes on to break down the two different types of girls that flirt with her significant other: Girls that are aware of his relationship status, and girls that aren't.

She says that a girl that is aware of the relationship is the "absolute worst type of person", and I just have to disagree with that. There are way worse people out there than a girl that simply disregards your relationship. Having been the "side piece" in a few relationships, let me just make one thing clear: It's not always so black and white.

Yes, cheating is bad. I would repeat that until I'm blue in the face if I could. But flirting? That's something completely different. That's laughable, even. Harmless. Some people don't even realize that they're doing it (myself included).

If you're getting this upset about something that isn't actually even cheating, you may want to take a good, hard look at your relationship. If this is something that happens a lot, address it. Don't just vent about it. Bring it up.

Maybe your boyfriend is a huge flirt. If that's the case, he won't know that there's a problem until you say something. If he's unwilling to change and disregards your feelings on the subject, do you really want to be with him in the first place?

She goes on to say that if a girl simply doesn't know that her boyfriend is in a relationship, that they're probably "a 5." That's blatant disrespect. She says that her boyfriend will see through the girl's act (?), and turn her down. She generalizes and assumes that this situation is the exact reason that the girl in question is single. Again, blatant disrespect.

I understand being a protective girlfriend because I used to be just that. So on one hand, whatever. But on the other hand, calm down. Jealousy kills relationships.

This bothered me on so many levels, but here's the moral of this story: Why should anyone respect your relationship if you can't even respect another human being?