Why do we pitch women against one another?

The older I get the more I notice in society how we pitch women against one another, the more I notice the more I see how things are worded online and within the media. It must be so hard to be a woman in the public eye, yet why do they pitch them against one another?

I really do not understand the need to do it, but feuds sell, and everyone will read and choose whose side they are on even when they haven’t met these people in reality. I constantly see at events women are targeted by up-skirting, worst and best dressed and who hates who. Women aren’t just here to see what clothes they are wearing and if they wore it well, we are so much more than that. It is frustrating to see as a 21-year-old that women are constantly being torn down for things out of their control yet the focus not being on who they are.

Image from Digital Arts Online

What message is this sending to our younger generations? That it’s okay to tear women or people down for the way they look or the materialistic things they own, when there’s so much more to life than this. Most recently it is heavily focused on the Duchess’ of Cambridge and Sussex constantly comparing them in the public eye, instead of focusing on the good work they are doing. Making people choose a side, yet these women are so much more than what the media and pages are saying online, they are humans who will be affected by these things and most likely will want any attention on the charities and work they do.

Social media is hard, yet we are enforcing the ideology to young people that we have to constantly compare and contrast ourselves to others, always trying to one up another and tear each other down. We are all guilty of it someone stating something amazing someone has done but someone responding “yeah but have you seen this about them” putting negative light on their accomplishments.

With these ideas being easily accessible online, it will be warping the persona people have to take online and changing who they are to fit in. It’s hard enough mental health wise without this added pressure being thrown into daily life. It’s not easy and it’s just going to make self-esteem issues worse in young people.

We as women are so much more, we have our achievements and we should rise one another up together instead of tearing one another down, we should celebrate who we are and what we stand for. Most importantly we have to be unapologetically ourselves, it can be hard within school but it’s a waste of time trying to be anything but authentic to ourselves (I am speaking from experience.) When you see these articles scroll past, it isn’t true and do not add added pressure to yourself, you are already enough.