Sabrina Murray

This article called “Did this hug end Jen’s marriage” was written by the Daily mail which is practically a gossip column and it describes a theory about why Jennifer Anniston and Justin Theroux have split up. In this article, they describe how a photo of Justin hugging another woman caused Jennifer to throw a fit and end the relationship.  Despite this being a gossip column and not usually based on the facts, there is a point that should be made about the basis of the article. The speculation that there has to be woman versus woman is absurd and typical. Social media is notorious for pinning a woman versus a woman when there is no basis for the fight. Women are constantly put under a negative light in media when they have done nothing wrong. They have taken a common divorce and blown it out of proportion, claiming infidelity to make it seem that Jennifer is being the typical jealous woman. It is a common thing to see in media that women cannot be friends and there must be more underlying the surface. Another example, the two tween stars from the tv show Shake It Up, were quoted in many articles and talk shows where they have discussed being forced to be “enemies.” They described that they did not want to hate each other but were told they had to. Again, two women are being put against one another in order to entertain others.

Why are women continuously being put against one another? This negative portrayal is detrimental to women in society because it makes women always seem petty and trivial. Women have been trying to excel in society despite all of the set backs from men telling them that woman cannot. The institutions that are limiting women from being truly successful are trapping them into boxes with unflattering labels. In every day life, girls in high school and any social setting judge one another and are quick to label another girl unfairly. Girls grow up with social media everywhere telling us how to look and act to be liked. When we see other girls that are more popular we want to tear them down because we have seen it over and over in media. This phenomenon will always be present and spreading through out generations as social media expands. There should be ways where women are not seen as the villain anymore and portrayed as the heroes and comrades to one another.