Why are we still doing this in 2019?
We all have, at some point in our lives, referenced the 2004 hit movie ‘Mean Girls‘. Everybody knows that “evil takes form in Regina George”. The movie emphasized the high school cliques and established it almost as well as High School Musical did in 2006. The whole movie was about Lindsay Lohan’s Cady realizing how “The Plastics” were named as such as she hangs out with them. It is a fun movie and in all honesty, it’s one of the few movies that should be in the late night throwback movie marathon with your girlfriends along with ‘White Chicks’ and ‘Clueless’. But we might have missed the biggest lesson this movie should have taught us a decade and a half ago: we need to stop pitting women against each other.
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Tina Fey really did a good job at writing ‘Mean Girls’ but a lot of people tend to only see the fun part of the movie. We don’t blame you. In this day and age where everything is being scrutinized for the social injustices, movies like these are our only escape. I, for one, only watch the movie when I’m bored. But seeing all the women being pitted against each other in this day and age sounds so 2000 and late. Cady solved this 15 years ago.
It’s Woman VS Woman
The rules of feminism sure have changed from having included the line, “don’t date your friend’s ex.” It sure has improved a lot and every woman has been given a platform to speak up and fight for women’s rights. It’s amazing to see women fighting for each other not against each other.
2019 was just beginning and we’ve already seen issues involving two women. A prime example would be Lady Gaga and Irina Shayk. There’s no denying that the on-screen chemistry of Gaga and Bradley Cooper in their award-winning movie ‘A Star Is Born’ is amazing. Their mushy Shallow performance at the Oscars was just one of the many “moments” fans have been waiting for to call it. Apparently, the internet is obsessed with them and are convinced that they’re in love with each other for real. Google “Lady Gaga Irina Shayk” and what will you get? A bunch of headlines like “Irina Shayk Forcing Bradley Cooper To Choose Between Her And Lady Gaga?” or “Did Irina Shayk Unfollow Lady Gaga on Instagram?” It’s amazing how we never run out of angles to stir this story up, well guess what? These women are okay with each other. There’s absolutely no beef between them and Irina definitely didn’t force Brad to choose her.
But that’s not what’s happening. If you look at Irina’s Instagram, you will see a bunch of comments saying that she should just give up because Gaga and Cooper are “in-love”. The internet seems to enjoy trolling the woman. What saddens me the most about this issue is that a lot of fans who are stirring up this controversy are girls as well. Now, it’s not very surprising to realize that we’re still in that era of women pitting women against each other.
Invalidation Doesn’t Validate
We all claim to hate it but we have also fueled the normalization of girls hating girls. What are the websites and fan pages that come up with headlines as mentioned before? Who are the fans of these people who are so obsessed into making mortal enemies of? Can we get over the Anti-Taylor Swift movement yet? We sure love all the drama that’s going on all around us but wouldn’t it be nice to find these women holding each other’s hands to prove just how strong we can be when we fight together not with one another?
To invalidate what another woman has achieved won’t validate someone else’s achievements. Unfortunately, things like these just simply roll off the tongue. The comments sections of our web pages alone can always be seen filled with arguments by fans against fans. Who’s better looking? Who’s more popular? Maybe we need to take a break—hold our horses, and think. When the pettiness wears off and the Twitter timelines calm down, what are you left with? A profile that’s marked with unnecessary insults towards a human being that’s just as fragile as we all are.
In this day and age where feminism is starting to rise against the tides, the fight is only getting tougher. While we’re slowly getting the recognition we very much deserve, women are still being put below men because we too have the crab mentality of pulling one another down to get ahead of each other. In ‘Mean Girls’, Tina Fey’s Ms. Norbury says that we “all have got to stop calling each other s**** and w*****. It just makes it okay for guys to call you s**** and w*****”. And believe it or not, 15 years since these lines have been spoken in the big screen, we still never learn.
Men can’t all be blamed for our problems as women. Sometimes, the problems are within us. Pitting women against each other is just one of the few ways men find a loophole in every sisterhood. Over the years, our pride as women have simply soared up with all these movements and causes that aim just that but they are utilized inappropriately. If we don’t want men to be our knight in shining armor, don’t put down the girl behind you for being who she is. Cady said it herself, “Insulting someone will not make you any more beautiful.” Who knows? She might be the shoulder you’ll run to when you need makeup wipes and wine.
See Also:
11 Series About Women Empowerment To Binge Watch This Women’s Month
https://mega-onemega.com/woman-learn-priyanka-chopra/
