A few days ago, I was reading through my daily feed when I stumbled onto an interesting title. While I don't remember it exactly, it was about - you'll guess it - zodiac-shaming.

I stopped for a second and thought it was probably a joke or an ironic piece. But, as it turns out, it wasn't.

I'm a Scorpio, so I should know zodiac-shaming. Throughout my life, I've met many people and several of them have taken a step back when I told them about my sign. Why you may ask?

Well, Scorpios are supposed to be these hyper-sexual, dark, secretive, possessive, obsessed creatures. And sure, some Scorpios may be like this. But not all of us are. If you know me, you know that this is true.

I have two friends that are Scorpios as well and they are nothing like this either. The three of us aren't even similar in any way.

Another example is my sister. She's a Gemini. If you know anything about astrology, you know just how much people dislike Geminis. Now, I don't know what it is exactly that people hate, but I know my sister went through a lot of abuse because of this.

Okay, I might be exaggerating when I say abuse. But, for instance, our aunt has stated that she dislikes my sister specifically because she's a Gemini and that Geminis are just awful humans.

As far as I know my sister, she's nice, kind, believes in people, and will always listen to you. She can be a bit gullible sometimes, but that's by far her most annoying trait. So, what's there to hate?

Here's another example: my daughter is a Virgo. I know, all the most judged signs. The moment people figured out what's her sign, they started telling me that she'll be annoyingly organized and whatever else people say about Virgos.

I stopped listening. I don't care what the stars have to say about my baby.

As a contrast, my husband is a Cancer, which is supposedly a good thing. And I did read what Cancers are supposed to be like. However, he's nothing like that. Neither is my mom, and she's a Cancer too.

People have it worse elsewhere, trust me.

For example, I read a story where a person went to a screening interview for an apartment and got refused because of their sign. It wasn't explicit but the interview was going well until the sign question.

That person had excellent financials and a proven track record of being a responsible tenant but their sign was Pisces. Apparently, that means that you are not responsible enough.

In fact, people across the world - especially China, for example - hire people according to their sign.

It sounds ridiculous, but it's real.

There's an area where astrology discrimination is even bigger - relationships. How many times have you heard that you wouldn't be a good match for someone because of your sign? Probably many.

People often date people based on their sign. There are dream matches, and then there are matches that should never be made.

Let me be honest - if you live by this, you'll miss entire groups of interesting people. Even worse, you might be wasting your time on the wrong people.

I do love astrology. It's fun. I love reading it with my friends, laughing at similarities and then laughing even harder at the differences. But that's as far as it goes.

For instance, if you have a crush on someone and you look up their sign just for fun, that's fine. If you dismiss an entire relationship based on this, that's awful.

Signs can sometimes match a person spot-on. But you'd be a fool to think that there's no more variety in this world than just those twelve signs. And don't even start telling me that there are ascendants and moons and whatever.

Astrology should be used for fun - the same way you would use an online personality quiz you take on a boring day at work. Not to bring even more discrimination to this world.