🚫 “He’s Mean Because He Likes You” Has to Go

It’s one of the first lies many girls are told:

“He pulled your hair because he likes you.”
“He teases you because he has a crush.”
“That means he likes you—boys don’t know how to show it.”

But let’s be clear:

Unkindness is not affection.
Disrespect is not flirtation.
And abuse is not love.

When we teach girls that mistreatment is a form of attention,
we teach them to associate pain with intimacy
and confusion with connection.

We don’t just risk their feelings.
We risk their futures.

🧠 What This Sets Her Up For Later:

• Ignoring early red flags because “he probably means well.”

• Confusing chaos with chemistry.

• Tolerating disrespect because “he’s just awkward” or “not good with emotions.”

• Believing that being chosen matters more than being respected.

This is how patterns of triangulation, gaslighting, and manipulation get in early—long before the relationship even begins.

🌱 A New Truth to Teach Girls:

• You don’t owe kindness to people who treat you unkindly.

• You don’t have to like, befriend, or “understand” a boy who disrespects you.

• You are allowed to expect kindness, safety, and peace in every connection.

Not when you’re older.
Now.

Because when a girl learns to trust her boundaries early,
she carries that self-trust into every room she enters—
into friendships, into partnerships, into leadership.

Let’s end the tradition of telling girls to endure mistreatment in the name of love.
Let’s raise girls who know that love doesn’t come with cruelty.
It comes with care.