Though she's a pop icon now, Christina Aguilera hasn't always felt respected.

In 2003, Aguilera and Justin Timberlake embarked on the Justified & Stripped tour to mark the release of their albums, Aguilera's Stripped and Timberlake's Justified. Both artists performed routines that featured sexualized movements or clothing, but on a recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, Aguilera recalled receiving more criticism than her male co-headliner.

"There was a lot of double standards with it," she said. "[When] we did the Stripped & Justified tour there were things where I was just like, ‘Why is it okay for him and not okay for me?' It's just like I was constantly pushing back in my way. I mean, it was so inappropriate sometimes, the things that were asked about that era."

According to Aguilera, the music industry "was a different business" two decades ago, and that "there was a lot of female comparisons and double standards with women."

Aguilera has long been speculated to be involved in feuds with other celebrity women, such as Britney Spears and Pink, which the "Genie in a Bottle" singer continued to say "just felt like just punches in the face."

"It was hard to just constantly feel like you're making music and doing something you love and then someone spinning something so negative about it," Aguilera explained. "It was hard to just constantly feel like you're making music and doing something you love and then someone spinning something so negative about it."

She added: "It was really hard because sometimes who you were pitted against, you actually genuinely loved and respected."

While women still face uphill battles, Aguilera said that she believes the industry has made a positive shift, and that women especially have been standing together more often.

"I'm just so excited to see more women supporting women because now you're cutting through the middle man a lot more," she said. "Which is really, really nice."