Everyone on the internet is familiar with the latest war – Selena Gomez vs. Hailey Beiber. Whole of the internet was divided into two, and then reluctantly came up a third group which held Justin accountable. The whole episode became a troll favourite, with one group shading the other and then digging various stories from their pasts and what not. This whole chapter seems to be repeating itself throughout history. Not some years ago, before the popularisation of social media, Indian media had a field day with the Kareena Kapoor Khan vs. Priyanka Chopra Jones debacle too.
Our whole culture revolves around women having best physical features which will help them in getting better matrimonial prospects and ultimately making her life a success. This is a perfect equation for pitting women against each other and making nemesis of female friends.
It has become a common occurrence in our society that when we see female friends group we automatically think that they are together now and as soon as they turn their backs on, they’ll trash talk about them. A healthy female companionship seems like an alien subject for many of us, because the mainstream media has always portrayed women as enemies of each other. Pitting women against each other is just one way of the few ways society finds loophole in every sisterhood.
Lately, this narrative has been changing. We can see strong female friendships been shown in mainstream entertainment as well as in media. Celebrities like Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt and Katrina Kaif, among others, have shown time and again that men don’t control their friend circle and being friends with my significant other’s exes is fine. This speaks volume in the society that makes the villain out of someone’s former partner.This issue of one pitting one woman against another doesn’t end here. Even in the professional front women have always been pitted against one another stating that they should be thankful because there are millions others who would have killed for that job. They are constantly reminded that they can be easily replaced by other women. Those who have watched Devil Wears Prada know way too well about it. Andy, played by Anne Hathaway was often insulted by Emily and criticised by Miranda, played by Emily Brunt and Meryl Streep respectively. The film put forward the narrative that women don’t support each other succeed.
Invalidating one woman’s work won’t make someone else’s achievement shine. Flooding someone’s DM and telling them to let go of their husband because he has good on-screen chemistry with his co-actor isn’t something to be proud of, but alas many do this, and often times than not, it is female audience. In the time and age where feminism is soaring new heights we as women should consciously work on these ingrained issues. Unlearning is absolutely difficult, but it isn’t impossible. If we don’t want men to be our knight in shining armour, we shouldn’t be putting down our girl friends for always having our backs, after all Oprah Winfrey said “Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo – what you want is someone who takes the bus with you when the limo breaks down”.