“Boys f*ck things up. Girls are f*cked up.” – Louis C.K.

Girls can be really mean. And no, I don’t mean that girls are mean to guys – because guys are also really mean to girls, so that’s a wash. But man, can girls be so terrible to each other.

That’s the message coming out of an interesting little survey conducted by photo gifts site MyMemory. They asked over 1,500 women about their habits when it comes to posting photos to Facebook, and they found that some women are using Facebook to get back at former friends.

According to the survey, 25% of women purposefully post “unflattering photos” of their friends in bikinis to Facebook and other social media sites. And most of the women who admitted to doing this said they did it after a “falling out,” and 1/3 of them cited “revenge” as a motivator.

On top of that 40% of the women surveyed copped to posting photos of their female friends without makeup.

20% went on to say that they have refused to take down these pictures, even when asked to do so.

From the other side of the coin, 75% of the women said they detag photos that they don’t like and 2/3 said that they would be mad at a friend for posting “unflattering” photos of them. This mirrors a Sophos study from earlier this year that found 83% of people think it’s “common courtesy” to ask permission before posting photos of someone online. And 8% went so far as to say it should be a crime to post photos without say-so.

Of course, an unflattering photo of someone you hate is a powerful weapon in today’s social media-dominated landscape. A single photo can be seen by hundreds of people in a matter of hours – and there’s not much the subject of the photo can do to stop its spread. That’s because Facebook doesn’t make a habit of taking down photos that people are just “unhappy” with. Unless a photo violates Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, it’s at the mercy of the uploader to decide if it stays or goes. The most anyone can really do is untag themselves, but even then the photo remains.

It’s no wonder that studies are showing that Facebook is fueling the fire when it comes body image issues.

There’s not much advice I can give here. I’ve never had a buddy post a crappy photo to get back at me for something. People can be shitty – just remember that next time you dissolve a friendship.

[via The Telegraph]