Over the weekend, I had something unusual happen to me. Unknown to me, my Instagram was the number one trend for three hours. Why? I have no clue… (someone teach me insta analytics:/)

Anyways…this was cool and all for a hot sec. I gained a lot more followers, received some nice comments and encouragement, etc., but I also was exposed to some really hateful comments. I am not used to getting so many comments, especially mean ones, so I thought I’d write a bit about my thoughts on the whole experience.

I posted a picture of my family and I during USC parents weekend for game day. I was wearing a tank top, jean shorts, and high socks. Apparently my shorts were too short. And for that reason, here are some of the comments I got:

“You’re so disgusting!!”

“Your parents are def not proud of you”

“Cough * slut * cough”

“Wow you should be raised better than that”

“Sure, your mom is “proud” of you hahaha”

“An excuse to wear nothing”

“That poor dad”

“What the f**k”

Then, some of my female followers decided to go weeks, I mean like WEEEEEKS back, to comment mean things on my posts.

So you get the point. My best friend and I were reading them, so she immediately stood up for me and responded to about 25 of the girls. Many ended up deleting their comments in embarrassment once they were called out.

What is most crazy to me is that a majority of these girls were ages 12-17. This truly scared me. Girls at this age can be so hurtful with their words, and I think a lot of them are unaware of how their words can impact others. I was bullied in middle school, so I know what it’s like, but thankfully when I was 13, social media wasn’t a big thing yet.

What if they recieved a comment on their picture saying, “you’re so ugly.” How would they feel? Not so great I’d assume. These girls LITERALLY say whatever they want to over social media- things they’d never say in person. Are you girls insecure? Jealous? Full of hate? Maybe all of the above. When you comment something hateful on someone’s picture, it shows how unconfident you are. I feel as if these girls think these users on social media aren’t real people, and they can take anything. Tagging friends like “oh my gosh look how ugly she is!!” LIKE HELLO! I can see that. Do people not understand that these so called “usernames” or “accounts” on Instagram are HUMAN BEINGS? I don’t even have a lot of followers, so I can’t imagine having above 500k.

One girl commented on my picture that I do not respect myself because of my outfit. She told me the “next time a man talks bad about me, question myself.” This first off, is sexist. When a “man” talks bad about me? (I could go on about that one comment in a whole other blog, but I won’t haha) I feel like she thinks she is trying to empower other girls by saying you only respect yourself if you cover up. But no, female empowerment is not about covering up. Welcome to the twenty-first century, people. Female empowerment is respecting and lifting up the women around you. Even if I didn’t agree with something I saw a girl wearing (or not wearing) on social media, I would never comment something mean. People have the choice to wear what they want, and their values and character should not be judged because of it.

People think they can tell something about a person just by the way they dress, but this is so incredibly false. Because I’m wearing short shorts I’m a slut? The clothes you wear do not define who you are. I’ll even take my argument a step further by saying that many people think they can tell something about a person from social media as a whole. Social media is maybe 10% of someone’s life. If you don’t know the person, you have no right to make claim about them. (Another girl commented that I’m a fake workout guru because I don’t have enough muscle tone… like WHAT! Oh you know how much a workout? Kk. I’ll keep an eye out for my little spy at the gym:))

Whether it’s over social media, or being bullied in person, I know that whoever you are reading this has been there before. It hurts. A lot.

Imagine if people invested more time in bettering themselves and spreading love, rather than focusing on trying to bring others down via social media.

I wasn’t born to please others and it is impossible to please everyone. I love who I am and don’t need anyone else’s approval.

Love,

Katie

PS: I’m sorry for the sassy rant. When I have my heart in something I strongly believe in, I can get very into it hahah