The movie “Mean Girls” was a huge hit. Thousands of people lined up and saw it in theaters or bought the DVD, loving the hilarious plot line of a group of catty high school girls inflicting unspeakable damage on themselves and others.

Why, though, did everyone love to watch and laugh at the drama? It's always been my belief that people like to see and hear things that they can find some truth in.

So even as I laughed along, I was a bit uneasy. Is this what people really thought all high school girls were like? Backstabbing, promiscuous, wanna-be Barbies? Of course there's truth behind the stereotype: just very rarely. There's always one person who starts a label, and every time you meet someone who fits it, it gets worse.

Sadly, I've met girls who fit that stereotype, and honestly it makes me mad. Guys think it's OK to talk about girls in a derogatory way, expect to get anything they want, and think that every girl is going to be backstabbing and mean.

After stereotypes, there come double standards. Guys get to be players, girls get judged and ostracized. Guys who are jocks are considered popular, but if a girl is good at sports, she's usually assumed to be unfeminine and therefore unattractive. Girls are almost expected to spend hours on their appearance, whereas guys get to just roll out of bed. In our society, people mainly focus on the things that separate us rather than the things that can bring us together.

For example, tonight I was playing “Halo 3” (I'm still not sure why, because I am exceedingly bad at video games), and as soon as I said hi to the other live players, someone on the other team went, "Wait are you a girl?" He then said, "They have a girl gamer!" — as if a girl playing a video game was the most amazing thing. It was weird to never meet or see a person, just say hi, and all of a sudden have someone assume they knew everything about me.

Gender stereotypes are a big problem in our society today, but not everyone seems to recognize that. Yes, every day you see a new person and make a snap judgement: It's what we're programmed to do. However, it's quite another thing to voice those opinions. For example, some of my guy friends have taken to saying that 90 percent of the girls they know are mean, ugly, or promiscuous.

These casual comments that happen about once a minute really bother me, because it makes me realize that no matter how nice, or pretty, or perfect you may be, teenagers will find something about you to demean. I've even heard people say that others are “too perfect.” In this war of stereotypes and double standards, no one wins, and everyone gets hurt.