A Call to Sisterhood

Typical feminist drivel…my Common App essay, actually.

            As a young feminist, I’ve always felt that women in America are held to ridiculous standards. We are pressured to be unnaturally thin while also being curvy; we are required to be caring, but often called clingy; if we have sex, we are damned as s***s, and if we don’t, we are shamed as prudes. As a gender, we are constantly told to live up to unreasonable, even paradoxical expectations, and that’s not fair. We’re constantly torn down, gossiped about, judged, and deemed worthless for any number of possible flaws. We can’t seem to catch a break.

            The worst part? We do this to ourselves.

            At first, it doesn’t seem to make sense, but it’s true: girls are a big perpetrator of internalized misogyny. It’s the little things: gossiping about other girls, commenting on one another’s appearances, spreading rumors about who slept with who…they add up to a general feeling of competition between women, an underlying sense that we must tear one another down to bring ourselves up.

            It’s even seen on the Internet, where countless “about me” blurbs from girls’ blogs begin with the words “I’m not like other girls,” as if that’s supposed to be impressive. Because, you know, being like other girls is wrong, since most girls are stupid and vain and crazy. These stereotypes exist, and they continue to thrive partially because so many girls repeat them, just to make themselves seem comparatively better.

            Let me clarify one thing: I don’t believe women are the sole cause of the problem. In fact, the issue stems from our male-centric culture: we’re raised to subconsciously feel the need to compete for male attention. The patriarchal roots of American society put these pressures upon girls from childhood on, so it’s really no surprise that we grow up with the urge to compete with other women. But while we can’t change our entire culture overnight, we can change how we interact with one another.

            We don’t need to be like this. If women want equality " and I know we do " we need to start by making a change in the way we treat each other. Not all the blame can be placed on the patriarchy: we need to take control of ourselves, respect other women as people, and resist the urge to tear one another down. The power is in our hands now. To make a difference, we must stand not apart as rivals, but together as sisters.