Writing: I'm Not Like Other Girls Toxicity
"You're not like other girls."
This is a line many of us have heard in a film or TV show, usually said by the love interest to the heroine to praise her for her uniqueness. However, this is a bit of a backhanded compliment, especially when the praise is acknowledging traits many women have or insinuating its better not to demonstrate typically feminine character traits. That might be why this line is almost only found in young adult and teen media. Writers may not expect teenage audiences to analyse the subtext or larger social implications that dialogue can hold. By saying that your intelligence, sense of humour, chastity, lack of interest in makeup, independence, or whatever make you "different from other guys/girls," it's implied that anyone who identifies as other to those traits is somehow lesser than.