You've probably heard the statement, "respect me, and I'll respect you," come out of the mouth of who is most likely a bully. Girls have the common theme of disrespecting one another in the harshest of ways, and it all starts with the lack of self-respect within them.

Parents of young girls typically try to instill morals at a young age: don't say anything you don't mean, hold the door for elders and have respect for everyone - including yourself. What I've come to learn is, self-respect is a wide topic and is interpreted in many different views.

The way I was raised learning self-respect was to never put myself in a situation where my character or integrity would ever be degraded. I was also raised to view myself as someone worthy of love, and wait for the person willing to show me that love, because I am worth it. I was raised to never do anything I wasn't comfortable doing, and never conform to others just to fit in. A very popular saying in my home was, "March to the Beat of Your Own Drum!" I took that saying to heart every time it was said.

Young girls today are completely lacking the entire concept of self-respect. They are degrading themselves by degrading others, and by conforming to peer pressure they are losing the true sense of who they are as an individual, they are subconsciously telling themselves they are not good enough on their own. By the time these young girls reach the age of discovering themselves, they are so lost in society that they never get the chance to figure out who they truly are.

We as a growing society need to start teaching our young girls, and older ones alike, it's never okay to abuse another human, emotionally, physically or mentally. We have to let them know that their bodies are their bodies before they are anyone else's. Each and every girl is beautiful and smart in her own way, and each and every girl needs reminded of this.

Our generation is the generation of cruelty and destruction. We tear each other down with no hope of recovery. Why? Because we're lacking self-respect. You have to respect yourself before you can ever respect another. We act out on our own insecurities, and we create insecurities in other people because we as individual people don't feel whole by ourselves. We were never taught to.

Teach your daughters, granddaughters, nieces, cousins, and friends what it means to accept yourself and know your worth. Teach the children you meet on a day-to-day basis the value of themselves, because everyone has value. Everyone matters, along with how they feel and perceive themselves.