Story time: as a teenager, I used to hate the color pink. I was socialized to believe that “only vapid girls wear pink,” and I was very keen to prove I was not like those other girls.

I am happy to report that I recovered from that brainwashing. I now love pink (and purple!) and proudly wear it. I also don’t judge other women as “vapid,” especially for wearing a certain color.

All I can do is look at my younger self with compassion and tell her it will get better.

My "not like the other girls" phase was so intense that I repressed My transness

Now I know I'm not like the other girls because I'm a nonbinary goddess!

I have a daughter who is almost 21 now. When she was much younger we talked about this kind of stuff a lot, about girls wholesale rejecting feminitity or their female identity and not doing it because of self exploration but rejection of what society tells us we should be. We talked a lot about the subjugation of women historically and up to current times, the deep strength, perseverance, commitment and determination the women we came from must have had, what an incredible sisterhood we belong to and how we are free to embrace it in any way we as (mostly) free women see fit, we don’t have to be women the way society tells us to be, we don’t have to add to the chorus of voices trying to define who and what women are. We, anyone, can embrace their feminine powerful nature, the nature that has born all of us despite even the slimmest of odds and channel that in ourselves and into the world. Needless to say I have a budding revolutionary spirit in my life and I could not be more proud of her.

I feel like it's basically understandable, if not ideal, to have that mindset if you were a bullied outcast teenager, especially if their subculture was rare in whatever community they grew up in.

Then when we get older and discover life isn't high school, we're not stuck anymore, and it's easier finding like-minded people, and then we realize we're all just different archetypes, and we're like some but not others, and none are better than any other. At that point, it's weird to be "not like the other girls."

I went through this phase. I actually am not and never will be like other girls and could never makes friends or identify with them for a good reason. I'm autistic.

I now have many girl friends, but they are also all autistic.

Been there. Done that. Have the scars.

Ah yeah i remember that phase.

Turned out i wasnt talking about women per se but neurotypicals