Girls judging other girls.

We are all guilty of it. We’re out and we see a pretty girl we don’t know and we don’t give her the benefit of the doubt and think, wow she’s stunning, bet she’s a really smart and nice too. We judge her – we may pick apart her outfit and decide it is ‘slutty’ or decide she’s wearing too much makeup/has over styled her hair. Why? Simply because we are jealous.

This topic – of girls judging other girls – has been on my mind recently. I saw a girl post a rant where she said how annoying it was that a girl judged her when she was talking to a guy when in fact she has a boyfriend and she’d known this guy for years blah blah blah. All fine. Until the part where she mentioned something about being the type of girl who wore trousers and a t shirt instead of hot pants and a crop top, and that was a reason why she shouldn’t be judged by the girl. Now hold on. That one comment undermined her whole argument – she was essentially judging girls who wear clothes like that, saying she wasn’t ‘like that’ because she didn’t wear those clothes.

Just because you wear certain clothes, doesn’t make you a certain person. Wearing shorts and a crop top doesn’t make you a ‘slut’, and it doesn’t mean that you should be looked down upon. Girls have the freedom to wear whatever they choose. As long as they are doing it for the right reasons (i.e. for themselves, not because they think guys will like them better for it), there is absolutely no problem. Wear your combat trousers or jeans or a prison jumpsuit for all I care, and I won’t judge you. But please don’t judge girls like me who, in summer or on a night out, like to get dressed up and feel good about myself.

Wearing shorts and a crop top doesn’t mean you’ll be easier to sleep with. It doesn’t mean you’ve been with more guys. It doesn’t mean you’re not smart or intelligent. It doesn’t even mean that you’re confident. It is you exercising your right to wear what you want and express yourself through what you wear.

By making a comment like she did, the girl inadvertently made it okay for guys to look down upon girls who wear shorter/tighter clothes. There’s always debate about girls ‘asking for’ or ‘encouraging’ rape by wearing provocative clothing. This makes me exceedingly angry. A girl should not be judged – by guys or girls – as being a ‘certain type of person’, based on the fact she may wear shorts and a little top.

I know we can’t help judgement – it’s human nature – and the post probably didn’t mean to be hypercritical, she was probably just trying to defend herself and prove her point. But it did show that girls do judge other girls based on what they wear, and label them as a ‘certain type’. Girls, we gotta stick together! Wear what you want and don’t judge others for it – at the end of the day it’s jealousy and bitterness fuelling that judgment.

If girls think it’s okay to label a girl as a ‘certain type’ and talk down about them based upon what they wear, it makes it okay for guys to do the same, and that’s where it gets dangerous. So the next time you see a girl wearing an outfit that may seem questionable to you, don’t judge her and label her as a ‘slut’, be thankful that we have that freedom to wear whatever we want. Judgment clouds that freedom – don’t be a cloud.