The power of the girlband

“Girls should be building each other up and we should all be on the same team.”

Female relationships are to me, what keeps me sane. Without my girlfriends who would I talk to? They’re there for me when I’m in need, whether that be a serious conversation about what I’m doing with my life or a shot of tequila and a dance, there’s no one better, and no one more like minded, than a girl to brighten your life.

When I hear girls say that they ‘prefer’ boys as friends, it is in all honesty a hard concept for me to get my head around. Don’t get me wrong, my guy friends are stars in my sky, and there are times when all I need is a good chat about those very girlfriends I am raving about. But, it’s increasingly difficult for me to understand the concept of ‘dicks over chicks’ in this ever changing and evolving time in my life. Not to be cheesy, or stereotypical, but lets be honest here, while steady friendships live on, relationships can crash and fall, and who better to mend your broken heart than your best friends?

In a study at UCLA in simple psychology, it was found that female friendships help girls to deal better with stress. This is apparently because when women experience stress, a hormone called oxytocin is released.

“If hormones could win popularity contests, oxytocin might well be queen of the day.”

Oxytocin has a number of ridiculously cute nicknames, such as the ‘love’ hormone, ‘hug’ hormone, the cuddle chemical, moral molecule, and the bliss hormone, (which really speak for themselves) so.. this study concluded that girls with lots of female friendships were able to deal with stress more easily, which is just the ideal, is it not? There is also research to show that women react differently to stress than men do, stating that as men release smaller amounts of oxytocin, they tend to get away from stressful situations by suppressing, and bottling up their emotions, while women ‘tend and befriend’. Women will consequently then relate to each other better in stressful times, because they are more likely to ‘talk out’ their feelings, an action that is rewarding for both/all women involved.

We’ve all asked ourselves the question of whether we really do ‘sync’ up with our closest girlfriends, or if its simply just coincidence and wishful thinking. But in terms of our 'like mindedness', our similarities do not stop with our reactions to stress. Periods and reproduction connect us girls in a way that we could never connect to our boys, this isn't a negative thing, it is in fact an incredibly magical thing to tie us together, one that we should all hold as one of our most important blessings. Connecting us not only to our girlfriends, but to our mothers.

We have all I am sure experienced how girls can be, mean, bitchy and just down right unkind within group situations, but we've got to make this stop. Girls should be building each other up and we should all be on the same team, so be good to your girls. We are unbeatable when we are together, the POWER OF THE GIRLBAND is real.