Before you continue reading, count how many times this week you or someone else has called someone a “pussy” or said they did something “like a girl.” Personally, I can count three occurrences just today in which someone else did one of the above.

My entire life growing up, I was told I couldn’t do certain things because I was a girl. I was told I couldn’t play baseball because I’m a girl, that I couldn’t be that good at sports because I’m a girl and that I even couldn’t have certain jobs because I’m a girl. Being a girl, I didn’t like that. There is something wrong with society and my eight year old self was made to feel like I was less than the male population.

You see, the ideas we stick in the minds of the youth are the ones they will pass on to others as adults. We have successfully bread a generation of people that are stuck on the idea that being a girl can be used as an insult.

It is becoming more and more of a problem that these hurtful words and phrases are becoming part of pop culture in our society. The first step to turning this around and promoting gender equality is to simply recognize the issue and stop using these words or phrases. Here are some of the things I have had said to me in the past week and why each and every one of them has made me absolutely furious (and why it should make you feel that way too).

"Stop being a pussy."

I don't know about you, but I hear this phrase on a daily basis. I would first like to point out that this phrase is used to call someone "weak" yet there is absolutely nothing weak about a pussy. Pussies can take a beating. If you want a use a set of genitals to call someone weak, how about a testicle? Every guy can agree with me on this, testicles can't take a beating. Why are we describing a weak person as a woman's genitalia? Just take a second to think about that.

"You punch like a girl."

Yeah I do punch like a girl, and it will f%*#ing hurt. So next time, modify your choice of words or else you might just find out what it feels like to be punched "by a girl."

"You're a woman going to medical school? So you want to be a nurse?"

First of all, educate yourself. Nurses go to nursing school, doctors go to medical school. Second, this is not 1960, women can be doctors too and men can be nurses. It's the 21st century, people!

"She's too muscular, she looks manly."

Since when is being muscular something exclusive to men? Looking healthy and taking care of you body should be a sexy thing for both men and women.

"Stop being a bitch."

First of all, the word bitch describes a female dog, yet is used to describe someone who is fussy and mean. How is someone who is fussy and mean comparable to a female dog? What about a male dog? They can be fussy and mean as well.

You see, all these insults revolving around female traits and stereotypes hold no truth and are just hurtful. Maybe if we started thinking before we speak and truly caring about the implications of our words and how sensical they are, it would spark a change. If everyone was just slightly more conscious about the words they say to one another the world we be a better place.

Today, that change starts with you. If you are reading this article take it upon yourself to correct your own verbal actions and those of others around you. As Ghandi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."