Lifestyle Mirror

On Saturday, The Wall Street Journal published an article that seemed to enrapture much of the social media sphere. Titled "The Tyranny of the Queen Bee", writer Peggy Drexler eloquently illustrated the troubles facing many women in the workplace: Other women. She writes:

"Far from nurturing the growth of younger female talent, [female bosses] push aside possible competitors by chipping away at their self-confidence or undermining their professional standing. It is a trend thick with irony: The very women who have complained for decades about unequal treatment now perpetuate many of the same problems by turning on their own." 

Drexler's piece was well-written and very informative, but for many women, reading it was not a shock. (In fact, it was more of a "duh" moment.) But, just a few days following the Queen Bee moment, pop-country singer Taylor Swift's interview with Vanity Fair's Nancy Jo Sales was released. In it, Swift addresses some below-the-belt comments Amy Poehler made about her dating life at the Golden Globes in January:

“You know, Katie Couric is one of my favorite people because she said to me she had heard a quote that she loved...that said, ‘There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help other women.’”

In other words, this is what Taylor wants to happen to Amy Poehler: 

And here we are again—back at the Queen Bee situation. Certainly, there's nobody in their right mind who watched the Golden Globes and thought Taylor Swift was unjustly teased. Poehler and co-host Tina Fey made fun of nearly everyone in the audience—male and female—and the personal lives of celebrities are always fair game at awards shows. No, it's more likely that Swifty is being a bit of a poor sport.

Still, it's an odd concept to think about. Taylor Swift has essentially made a thriving career out of having failed relationships with very successful men, writing about it, and then hiding their names in her lyrics.

Obviously, her serial dating situation is immensely publicized and addicting to her teenage fanbase (all good for ticket and album sales). But really, if you could be a mega millionaire off of every bad date or breakup you ever had, wouldn't you? And, furthermore, isn't Swift exploiting men to the same degree (or, lesser, I would argue) that men have exploited women in music? At least she's not separating them into big booties or apple bottoms (or whatever the kids are talking about these days.) 

The whole situation is immensely Mean Girls, which is ironic considering Tina Fey wrote the movie and Amy Poehler stole the show as Queen Bee Regina George's youth-obsessed mother. 

It's actually impossible to claim that Amy Poehler is a woman who doesn't help women. Her career is groundbreaking in terms of women in comedy, and she even has a website, Smart Girls at the Party, dedicated to giving advice to young women and helping them foster relationships with mentors and role models. "I feel bad if she was upset. I am a feminist, and she is a young and talented girl," Poehler told THR. "That being said, I do agree I am going to hell. But for other reasons. Mostly boring tax stuff."

In light of recent events and Mean Girls everywhere, we're dedicating today's Throwback Thursday to our favorite cast of high school drama queens. Because there's nothing like a good teen movie to remind you of a very important life lesson: Just be nice. (Except, we can still make Lindsay Lohan jokes, right?)

GIFs courtesy of MeanGirlsGifs.tumblr.com, my latest bookmark.