Why women often fight each other

Men fight and women don’t, right? Actually no.

Women can be just as aggressive as men – though generally they’re less physically violent.

Their hostility is much more subtle. And mostly directed against other women. Especially young women…

Imagine an attractive and sexy woman.

When she’s wearing modest clothes, everyone’s nice to her. But put her into a low-cut blouse and short skirt and everything changes.

The men will love her even more, of course. But the women won’t. She’ll be met with stares, anger and disgust.

And talked about behind her back. Women everywhere are bitchy towards an attractive female who’s dressed provocatively.

The more attractive she is, the more the “mean girls” will go after her.

What’s going on? Aren’t women supposed to stick together and be nice to one another?

Not a bit of it.

In just about every society on earth, men have to compete – often violently – for the chance to have children.

Whereas women don’t. But women are not passive trophies for triumphant males.

INDIRECT COMPETITION

They also compete fiercely for the most popular partners. But indirectly.

While boys’ fight’s usually involve direct physical or verbal assaults, girls are much more likely to use a whole range of indirect tactics.

Like gossip, shunning, back-stabbing, revealing secrets, spreading rumours, criticising clothing, appearance or personality.

Derisive gestures like up and down scans, rolled eyes, averted gaze, fake smiles. All probably undetected by everyone except the women being attacked.

Of course they get hugely upset by it all. Because indirect aggression is very clever. Very effective. And can be so skilled that it can look as if nothing is going on at all.

But why do women react so strongly to another attractive and provocatively dressed female?

It’s because she threatens their own efforts to attract and keep a desirable long-term mate. By triggering his desire for casual sex.

So women punish females who seem to make sex too readily available.

Through “slut-shaming” – the stigmatisation of female promiscuity. Research everywhere finds that this stigma is mainly enforced by women, not by men.

Women putting down other attractive females goes far beyond simple aggression.

For example, female recruiters discriminate against attractive same-sex candidates, while their male colleagues actively welcome them. Similarly, it’s rivalry between women that’s created the modern fashion for thinness.

What women consider an “ideal body shape” is far thinner than what men consider a woman’s ideal shape.

WOMEN DRIVEN BODY IMAGE

And though often blamed on the ultra-thin models in magazines, research shows it’s mostly the result of peer pressure.

Thinness is associated with youthfulness, which is sexually desirable.

So because women value thinness more than men, we know that they’re basically motivated by female-female sexual competition.

It’s females, not males, who are driving the modern culture of thinness.

Just like it’s women’s hostility to women who are “too sexually available” which creates the “double standard”. Which expects men to be promiscuous, while loose women are stigmatised…