One of the best things about being a girl is the friendships and connections you make with other girls. Whether it's the syncing of periods or that you bond over the fact that Nick is your favourite Jonas brother, I don't quite know, but there's something special about it. However, there comes a time in every girls life were the phrase 'I'm not like other girls' will fall out of her mouth. This is a time where she starts to hate being a girl, not because she is in the wrong body but because she just hates girls.

The media is especially guilty of the over use of this phrase. The female protagonist in the majority of teen films and books will confess they are 'not like other girls'. They are unique, they aren't obsessed with boys and they hate drama. These type of films confirm to young girls that they shouldn't aspire to be like 'other girls' and they shouldn't even attempt being friends with girls because they aren't nice people. Just furthering the Girl vs Girl mentality and separating them from their gender.

Mean Girls (2004) - a classic example of Girl vs Girl.

 I have had many female friends throughout my life. There has never been a time when I haven't had a best friend, who was a girl, or a group of friends, mainly consisting of girls, and I never thought there was anything wrong with this. Until, I turned 14 and I began to think that being friends with girls was wrong. 'I'm not like most girls. I just don't like the things girls like. I have more guy friends'. At the time I did have more guy friends, but I had girl friends too, but I had managed to separate them from the 'other girls', making it acceptable for me to like being with them. 

Me and my best friend would happily tell people that we didn't like having friends who were girls, we just got on better with the boys in our group. A very contradictory statement coming from two people who are both, female and best friends. But, again, we had separated ourselves, and each other, from the 'other girls'. The other girls are the enemy and we did not want to be associated with them. 

I'm still not sure who these, 'other girls' were and at the time it didn't matter who they were, all I knew is that I was not one of them. 

Every girl goes through this phase, maybe some girls do get on with guys better, but saying you're not like 'other girls' is a form of internalised misogyny, which sounds complicated but really isn't. In relation to this topic, it's basically being taught to think that girls are bad, everything to do with girls is bad and being a girl, well, that's the worst of all. As a girl you feel you should separate yourself from that, from the girls. This is not something you should do, unless you generally get on with men better, you should try to find a few friends who are girls. Don't let the fact that they are girls scare you away. 

There's nothing wrong with being 'like the other girls'.

These videos cover this in a more in-depth and personal way: 

Arden Rose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5VTVELhY0M

Savannah Brown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpelSFTFkHc