5 Ways women can empower each other!

Women are hardwired to detect flaws in the appearance and character of other fellow women says psychologist David Buss. Slut-shaming over the internet is an extremely common phenomenon. Anonymity has been taken advantage of, to express spiteful opinions regarding other individuals, which are not possible to express in person. However, a very upsetting an alarming finding suggests that these insults are mostly directed against women by fellow women.

In fact, 52 per cent of misogynistic insults upon women were made by other women and this has been revealed following several years of research and study, of over 19 million tweets on social media platforms like Twitter. The most common form of insult includes name calling – slut, whore, and bitch.

EVER WONDERED…

How can we expect to escape misogyny when we are the ones who are propagating it?
Where do men learn perfectly hurtful ways of criticising women from?
How often have we found ourselves insulting promiscuous men rather than women at a bar or a discotheque?

WE BLAME MEN EVEN WHILE WE ARE EGGING THEM ON

Well, the funny thing is we subject ourselves to patriarchy without even realising it and then we blame men for demeaning us. We are egging them on to believe that women are supposed to behave, dress, talk, and think in certain ways appropriate for the society. HERE’S WHY WE ARE GUILTY OF MISOGYNY

We are guilty of misogyny because we are afraid of competition. According to study, women are more sensitive to social exclusion than men and in order to protect themselves from being socially outdone, they will want to exclude all possible threats. We fear that a promiscuous but excessively attractive woman will probably pull our man away from us. We are constantly competing against each other to acquire the fitter mate. We want to secure the highest position in men’s head according to their idea of a ‘perfect woman’.

LEARN TO HELP EACH OTHER INSTEAD OF TEARING EACH OTHER APART

I am sure that most of you reading this have been subject to insult from a fellow woman co-worker, a friend or an acquaintance, or you may have victimised another woman, yourself at a moment of weakness. We must learn to outdo our weaknesses and elevate one another in order to elevate ourselves.

WAYS IN WHICH WE CAN EMPOWER ONE ANOTHER:

It is our responsibility to help and support other women and not engage in unhealthy competition against each other by contributing to misogyny.

PROVIDE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK

Learn to compliment other women. Acknowledging another’s qualities won’t take away your attributes from you. Be gentle with negative criticism by making one another realise their scopes for improvement. Treat a woman the way you would treat yourself.

WORK TOWARDS THE FULFILLMENT OF YOUR DREAM AND ENCOURAGE OTHERS

Don’t ever give up on your dreams even if they are unusual and not complementary to what is expected out of you. By following your dreams you set an encouraging example for other women to follow. Don’t settle for anything less than what you deserve and encourage your fellow girlfriends to have the same motto.

SHARE YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCES

Help each other grow by sharing ideas and experiences. Don’t look down upon or be intimidated by any fellow woman, instead aspire to build each other up.

PROMOTE A STRONG COMMUNITY OF WOMEN IN YOUR LIFE

Maintain a loving relationship with women in your family, workplace and with your close friends fostering a sense of togetherness.

By continuing to disgrace one another we will indefinitely draw disgrace to our own stratum from men alike. So if we are willing to dispose-off misogyny then we must contribute to the change.