
We were at a karaoke bar on a weeknight. I was sitting near a wall-length mirror, and I felt self-conscious about my body.
This night, there were two beautiful young girls in the bar. They were confident, and sexy, and did I mention young? They writhed as they belted ACDC songs. I held my boyfriend’s hand tighter and wondered what he was thinking as he watched them.
I had one eye on them all night. Intellectually, I felt happy to see two pretty girls having a good time together. Emotionally, they made me feel bad about myself. I realised that at 33, I was feeling threatened by younger women for the first time.
I’ve gone through stints of hating other women in my life. Growing up, internalised misogyny led me to resist all things inherently feminine. I “wasn’t like those other girls,” whom I thought of as a vapid and petty and superficial.
Anything considered masculine was inherently more valuable than “girly” things. Fuck sisterhood — I’d seen that the men around me had all the power, and I was willing to throw my whole gender under the bus for a grab at my share.
Then, in my early 20s, I found myself filled with jealous resentment against other women. I was drinking alcoholically and working a job I hated editing test preparation materials for elementary school kids. I loathed myself deeply, so I sneered through my hangover at women who had achieved the things I felt I deserved.

Once I got sober and started having some of my own career success (at least partially because I wasn’t working through a pounding headache every day), I started feeling happier with myself, and the feelings of resentment dissipated.
It wasn’t until that night at the karaoke bar that I realized that hating other women was something I’d have to keep actively resisting throughout my life. So I rounded up a few of the things that have helped me over the years when I started to feel the creeping tendrils of girl hate take root.
Top Comments
"men are a plentiful, renewable resource, not worth fighting over" LOL
Maybe it's just me.
Does anyone else think it's bizarrely weird that you never read anything like this with men hating men on blokes sites?
You won't, because men have not been conditioned over generations to hate each other, like women have.
I think when they bash and kill each other and start wars, that is them hating each other.
I have worked in all male environments and the men can be just as bitchy and backstabbing as women.
I don't. But I do think it's a bit bizarre that whenever someone tries to comment on the way (some) women negatively treat each other, some women claim it's not true; it's all just made up (by men).