International Women's Day should mark the end of the 'mean girl' facade

I’m getting married in November. Friends have gone before me, usually armed with a pre-wedding diet and an exercise regime — a modern-day rite of passage. Some hired personal trainers.
We live in a world where mothers of brides say things such as, “isn’t she great, she lost x amount of weight,” or “she went down a dress size.” And brides-to-be routinely acknowledge it’s the women in the congregation who will be eyeing them most intensely as they walk down the aisle.