Preppy Girly Girls

                Have you ever watched a movie or TV show where the setting is in an all-girl private school or boarding school? If you have you notice sometimes they present the girls as rich girly girls, well sadly I believed them. For years I watched those movies and TV shows and assumed that was how the girls were. It wasn't until I was in high school that I realized how wrong I was.
        In my eighth grade year I had to look for a high school to attend the following year. I had charter, magnet, and public schools on my list to learn more about. As I am looking at these schools my parents added all-girl private schools to the list. When I realized this I argued with them about the choice, I did not want to go to an all-girl school. The idea of going to an all-girl school where the girls where preppy girly girls was not an appealing to me. In the end I had no choice.


Ursuline

        Well the following year for high school I ended up at Ursuline Academy, an all-girl school. I entered the year with the stereotype that all the girls there were preppy girly girls. I spent the first week of school watching the girls in my class and distancing myself. In the time I was watching the girls I realized that not all of them fit the sterotype that I had formed in my head about them, sure there were one or two that did but the majority were not. I felt like a fool for assuming that all the girls were like how some movies potrayed them.
          By following a stereotype that I had learned from movies and TV I had "otherized" a group of girls I did not know. By "otherizing" those girls I also made myself the "other," because I made it so I did not fit in with them. Once I realized this I made more of an effort to get to know the girls better and became friends with them. Four years later I graduated from an all-girl school and still am friends with those girls. Its funny how a stereotype can have people "otherizing" each other but learning the stereotype is not true in the end is the best part about it