To my dear fellow women,

Throughout history, women have been considered the lesser gender. We’ve been harassed and stereotyped, we’ve been viewed as weak. So let me ask you this, if we already face opposition from men, how come we as women also do some of the harassing and stereotyping? How can we treat other women so harshly when we already know what it’s like to walk the footsteps of a woman? When we know how hard it is, as women, to adhere to all the expectations of society? How can we allow ourselves to be so hypocritical?

As women, we should be building each other up. We shouldn’t be tearing each other down. We shouldn’t be stereotyping the girl who is wearing a top that shows too much skin. In no way at all does that make her a “slut”. It makes her confident and comfortable with her body. And why are we always judging girls on how many guys they’ve been with! That is their business, that is their choice. If Susie has been with one guy or ten guys, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t make her a “whore” if she’s been with more than one guy. We shouldn’t be going around calling other women sluts or whores regardless of any scenario because we know that we wouldn’t want to be called that ourselves. We should make this world welcoming to other women. We shouldn’t have to make life harder for other women by having them worry about our negative judgments, too.

Because we should already know how hard it is to make society happy. Show too much skin, you’re a slut. Show not enough skin, you’re a prude. You’re a virgin? Must be a weirdo. You’ve slept around? Must be a whore. You have too many guy friends? Must be too desperate. You don't have any guy friends? Must be undesirable and unattractive. You want to take charge? Then you must be too bossy. You don’t want to be the leader? Must be weak and too timid. You have too many ideas? You’re being too smart and that’s intimidating. You don’t have enough ideas? You’re just a dumb bitch. You like wearing dresses? You’re too girly and it’s overwhelming. You like wearing T-shirts? You’re too much of a tomboy. You’re standing up for yourself or you’re talking back? What a psycho! You’re mousy and you keep to yourself? What a coward!

We can never win. But we shouldn’t have to win at anything. This is just life; we shouldn’t have to be competing for our own life! All the categories that were listed beforehand are just different characteristics that we all have inside of us. We shouldn’t be criticized for expressing ourselves. We shouldn’t be judged, and we shouldn’t judge each other. We should accept each other for who we are as people. We should be kind to one another.

A woman alone is the strongest entity walking on this earth. So imagine how strong we can be if we walk together. We’d have the power to change a whole generation’s way of thinking; we’d have the power to change the world. So to all the ladies out there, let’s build each other up.

Sincerely,

A woman