While slightly hard to admit due to the “typical teenage girl” reaction I receive, “Mean Girls” is an all-time favorite movie of mine. But, every time I watch it, one scene really hits home, and I find it highly relevant in today’s society.

Ms. Norbury, a math teacher played by Tina Fey, says to a gym full of girls, “I want you to raise your hand if you have ever had a girl say something bad about you behind your back.” Almost the entire gym raises a hand. She then asks everyone who has talked about a girl behind her back to raise their hands. Almost all hands go up once again. What is called “girl-on-girl crime” in the movie is an issue women face today and is demeaning and harmful to female culture.

This particular scene focuses on the fact that guys will not respect girls if girls can’t respect girls. Girls calling each other “sluts” or “whores” opens the doors to guys thinking it’s OK to casually throw these terms around as well. Dudes — this does not give you an excuse to degradingly or playfully use these words. With girls being so hard on each other, guys adding to this doesn’t do anybody any good.

Approximately 48 percent of the world’s population is female. If girls can find a way to tolerate each other, that theoretically cuts the world’s negativity in half. How cool is it that something so impactful can happen so easily if girls can simply learn to appreciate each other?

I’m always baffled at the audacity girls have to verbalize the disrespect they seem to have for each other. Last week, while sitting at lunch, I heard two girls who I assumed to be good friends — I was quickly proved wrong — sling insults concerning weight, looks and being able to get guys back and forth. Woah. This is a prime example of why girls struggle with self-esteem, when, in reality, girls degrading each other shouldn’t play a part in self-esteem issues.

According to the Dove Self-Esteem Project, 81 percent of 10-year-old girls in the U.S. are afraid of being fat. If by age 10, eight out of 10 girls are uncomfortable with body image, imagine the numbers as females go through teenage years. This being said, most girls experience low self-esteem at an early point of their life. If we all know how much it sucks to have a lack of confidence, there is no reason to try and make others feel the same way.

Every time I walk down the halls, I cannot get over how many pretty girls there are surrounding me. Daily, I get to see handfuls of girls who are each beautiful in a unique way. It’s not hard to find some sort of beauty in everyone, you just have to have the right mindset.

You may be saying, “How can there be that many pretty girls? Only so many people can be enviable when it comes to looks.” I wholeheartedly disagree. There’s absolutely no limit to the amount of people that can be cute or have pretty eyes or have a nice smile. We can all be pretty together, and that needs to be more widely accepted.

I understand that some girls don’t lift other girls up simply because, for them, they don’t genuinely believe every girl is beautiful and don’t want to come off as fake. While I get this argument, I also have to say — get over yourself. It can be as simple as telling a girl that her hair looks good one day or that she was helpful with homework. If you can’t find something as simple as that, you indeed need a mindset change.

It’s undeniable that girls rock, but this is somewhere that we struggle. Being a girl isn’t easy, and we’re all in this together. So, bottom line, let’s help each other out. Don’t be a Regina George — instead, spread the female love.