It’s 8 AM and my alarm begins to ring. I snooze it a couple of times and finally get up around 8:20 AM. My alarm was set for me to wake up two hours before I have class, but why? Not because I want to get a huge breakfast in, but why? Because I need to get ready, put on some mascara, do my eyebrows, do my hair, and choose an outfit that suits me for my day, while thinking to myself “I just want to look good.” As I begin to brush my teeth, I think about all the stress I wake up with because of the fact that I need to do “x, y and z.” I continue to make to-do lists, and begin to overwhelm my mind with all of the unnecessary things I think about. I put pressure on myself because I have a picture in my mind of the woman that I want and need to be.
An hour and a half later, my roommates chuckle and ask me, “Who are you trying to impress? Why do you take forever in the morning to get ready” And I say, “I’m not looking good for anyone else, but myself.” This is true, I am not putting on makeup or taking extra time for anyone else. I just want to feel good and confident for myself. And this is why being a girl sucks.
In my Women Studies class, we did an exercise where every girl went around the room telling the rest of the class two physical appearances that they appreciated or liked about their body. We all had to name two things and explain why they liked that certain part in explicit detail. As each girl went to say something that they liked about their body, every single person froze because of the awkward feeling that they felt in their stomach. “It’s so weird saying what you like or love about yourself, or what you think looks good,” says Hannah Kirkpatrick, a classmate of mine. Women are so trained to always keep to themselves what they think looks good or great about them. My professor began to tell us how it’s shocking that in society, college women are always self conscious about complementing their own self. Women are constantly surrounded by magazine covers and movies with actresses who are a size 0 and drop dead gorgeous. The pressure of being perfect is a real thing and it’s a struggle especially if you’re trying to love yourself. And this all begins at a young age.
According to an article in Psychology Today, Paula Davis-Laack writes, “Social pressures abound for girls. They have to have the right friends and worry about having or not having a boyfriend. In addition, in the United States, the media is one of the most persuasive forces shaping cultural norms. The message being sent is that a girl’s value lies more in the way she looks rather than in her power to lead. Finally, girls are expected to look a certain way, and their appearance counts.”
From the time we are little girls, women are pressured into believing that we must be beautiful. We are pressured into thinking that we must be super thin, that we must have perfect hair and that we must look great. We see it on television, in the movies, in magazines, and in the actresses that we idolize. In fact a girl’s first real doll, that could be called our role model has the perfect figure, perfect, hair and long slim legs. She also never ages, and always looks great no matter what. This is not what it should be like.
Pitlane Magazine states, “We need to accept the fact that our bodies are a certain way. The more you do in your life that makes you happy, will make you feel better about who you are. Work at a career that you want to do. Start hobbies that make you happy. Society has created this image that women should look and act a certain way, and we don’t have to take it anymore.”
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