I stand strong beside my friends; no matter your gender, sexual orientation, race, culture, or background, I will be your friend. We are all one. But there is one thing that challenges my ability to create friendship, and that is when someone is not living a life in kindness, when they are not leading a life built with love.

So when I read about feminist movements  resisting being “likeable” and resisting “smiling more”, I just don’t support these measures of resistance. I understand that there is a long history of women being conditioned to be quiet, to be polite and to not have an opinion on things “only men” should talk about, and that shit is WRONG. Women have a voice and I want that voice to be heard loud and clear! I want our voices to be respected around the world. This is where the “anti-likeable” movement is coming from, which definitely makes complete sense. To be “likeable” to fit into a box defined by men/society is not right and I do NOT support this box. And to be told to, “smile more” instead of telling someone what you really feel due to fear of being judged or being punished by men/society is not right and I do NOT support this either.

But…to take these movements out of context to mean that you can be rude to others because you are resisting being “likable” or to never smile because you want to have attitude instead of spreading happiness is counterproductive. Feminism is not just for women but for every human in the world. It is about equality to all and being kind to all. If you’re just going to hang out with your B****s, saying rude things about men and never smiling, all you are doing is adding anger and hatred to the problem. Nothing can be solved with anger and hatred. Only compassion and love can heal and move humanity forward.

Being kind to others, loving one another and smiling at others to share happiness is SO necessary in a world currently full of so much hatred and sadness. And when you are nice to others, generally you become a “likeable” person, which is truly a good thing in my mind. And smiling makes you approachable because people generally trust nice people. We crave kindness in our lives. We crave connection through love.

So no matter your background or gender, I encourage you to go be a nice person. I encourage you to be so nice that you are considered likeable. And most importantly, I encourage you to smile more. 🙂