North Texas Daily

There are so many stereotypes about women that have existed for far too long.

One of the most common ones is that women are naturally jealous of one another so they need to tear each other down to get to the top. Or, that we are always catty and are only nice for personal gain. These stereotypes are all cold-hearted that only fuel the notion time and time again of pitting women against each other.

There always seems to be a need to tear one woman down to lift up another. You might have even noticed all the hate against Lizzo right now.

Ariana Grande lent her vocals to the Lizzo track “Good as Hell,” and fans felt the need to imply that Grande is too successful and renowned of an artist to feature on something crafted by Lizzo. There was even drama being brewed when Grande supposedly was not credited for her feature in “Good as Hell” when the song charted on the Billboard Top 100 chart. The version that made its way to the Billboard chart is not the one that features Grande, and fans felt that Lizzo only had her on the song to reach the Billboard charts. This spurred the trending hashtag #LizzoIsOverParty on Twitter after Grande’s rabid fans began tweeting the hashtag.

The duo probably just wanted to have fun together or gain some easy streams for their collaboration, and it turned into unnecessary drama between fans. Lizzo isn’t really an artist that I’m into personally, but I respect her and can get behind her success. We need female artists and support for them, so there is no need for unnecessary competion or hate.

Selena Gomez recently released a song about her ex, Justin Bieber, and shortly after the release, his wife Hailey Bieber posted a screenshot of the song “I’ll Kill You” by Summer Walker to her Instagram.

This caused fans of Gomez to speculate that it was “shade” and started to attack Hailey Bieber. Pulling on strings and reaching to spark negativity between women is so ridiculous. While it does look a bit coincidental, her posting the screenshot of the song probably wasn’t that deep. Gomez and Bieber broke up a while ago, so it’s unnecessary to try to make it seem like his wife is out to get her or vice versa. Women are much more than who they date. 

Actress Constance Wu was accused of being a diva by a “source” on the set of her movie “Hustlers.” Allegedly, Wu wanted to receive top billing in press coverage for the film alongside the rest of the women in the film. All this all seems like an attempt at separating the women and enforcing a negative situation when there may not have been one to begin with. Making enemies out of women who are on good terms shows how people latch onto stereotypes and try to make something out of nothing. 

More often than not when I see people talking about “body positivity” there’s the implication that one woman looks better than another. But that isn’t what it should be about. The need to bash on one group to compliment another is wrong. I can understand previous societal ideas on body image and that shame by society can be hurtful.

But why belittle each other in that same way? It’s so strange to me that that’s what feels like needs to be done. We should all look after one another and compliment one another. We can give constructive criticism and share each other’s knowledge, instead of sharing insults. There isn’t a need to tear someone down to lift someone up. It’s unnecessary and creates a rift we don’t need. There’s a way to acknowledge the privileges or advantages different women have while also being aware that there’s a way to accept one another and be one with our differences. With there already being so much discrimination and violence against us, do we really need to do it among ourselves too? 

We as women need to be united. Our differences should unite us, not divide us. 

People tend to always build a false narrative out of nothing. There are always fabricated stories about women being vicious in some way, whether it be one word slip ups, or mentions of something specific, people start clawing at it and spinning a false web out it. Misunderstandings often turn into chaos. 

Having more women that we respect and admire working together is a step in the right direction, as seen with our favorite female artists collaborating, or with movies like “Hustlers” or the new “Charlie’s Angels.”

Support between women is something we need now more than ever. 

Featured Illustration: Olivia Varnell