Lady Love!

I've been lucky to be surrounded by supportive women throughout my life. Whether personally or professionally, the women in my life have been a major source of security and strength. So it always comes as a bit of a shock to me when I hear women say things like "I don't trust women," or generalizations like "women are catty." But maybe I shouldn't be surprised. After all, that is what we're taught to believe...

Through multiple sources, the media included, women are taught to mistrust and be "catty" toward one another. We are taught to keep secrets from one another -- to be nice to each others' faces then talk trash behind our backs. We're taught that we can build ourselves up by cutting each other down. And many of us believe what we're taught, at least some of the time. As hard as I try not to, I sometimes catch myself entertaining petty and useless notions about other women.

So I have to ask myself: who benefits when we cut each other down? I've got some theories (the billion + dollar cosmetics industry, for one) but rest assured we -- women as a group -- do not benefit from these catty antics.

So let's cut it out already! Let's choose to be happy for our sisters who are reaching their goals. Let's speak up when we hear women call each other nasty names. Let's defend our gender when we hear sweeping and negative generalizations about us.

I'd wager that our own insecurities are at the heart of catty behavior. So I can't help but wonder: if women spent as much time building each other up as we currently do cutting each other down: how many of our insecurities would be shifted to securities? I'd like to find out.

Let's not beat ourselves up for doing what we've been taught to do. Let's just stop doing it! Let's treat each other with love and claim sisterhood as the legacy of our generation.