I came home for dinner one night to find the most adorable red-headed little girl sitting at the kitchen table. She was all alone, so I went to talk to her. I made a point to tell her how cute she was.
All girls should be told they are beautiful.
Her response took me aback.
“No, I’m not cute,” she said.
Her shirt said, “Dance” in bright pink, sparkly letters. I asked if she liked to dance.
“No,” the girl said. “I’m too big.”
It broke my heart to hear a little girl, not even 7-years-old yet, tell me that she thought she was “too big” and “not cute.”
Society has seriously altered the way women are viewed and has effected how we feel about our bodies. Whether we realize it or not, the media has a major impact on how we act, feel and define beauty.
How often do you see a magazine cover with a strong, hardworking woman living paycheck-to-paycheck trying to support her children? Not often.
Instead, we showcase women in minimal clothing that have been Photoshopped so much that the woman on the cover doesn’t even look like the woman in real life.
Cindy Crawford, one of the most famous models of our generation, had said upon seeing her own magazine cover, “I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford.”
The media has been telling women that to be beautiful, we need to have a thin waist, large chest and a flawless complexion.
Marilyn Monroe was one of the most famous women of her time, and she was a size 16. In the world we live in today, she would be considered overweight. It’s interesting to think that back then she was considered the sexiest woman alive. So where and why do girls think that being so thin is a necessity?
This recent phenomenon has led to the increase in eating disorders and body image issues in young girls. I discovered some shocking statistics from the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders:
1) 47% of girls in 5th-12th grade reported wanting to lose weight because of magazine pictures.
2) 95% of those who have eating disorders are between the ages of 12 and 25.8
3) 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat (Mellin et al., 1991).
4) Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness.
As women today, men view us as sex objects. No matter how much we fight for respect and power, we will always be competing against the opposite sex for respect.
Ladies, we have amazing traits that men don’t have. We could rule the world if we stood strong against the media’s portrayals of women and sexual discrimination, but instead, we let these stereotypes consume us.
When I read Cosmo, I can’t help but wish I looked like the women in the pictures. It is something we do subconsciously. We see skinny, scandalous women everywhere and it has been branded into our brains with a hot iron whether we realize it or not.
I went into the girl’s bathroom one day and covering the walls were quotes, notes and messages.
Before my eyes I saw messages from women who were crying for help, saying they hated themselves, were too fat, or wanted to die. These were the outcries of young, insecure women who had no one to turn to, other than a sharpie and the bathroom wall.
Each outcry for help had a note written below it. Women had commented on these tragic notes with inspiration and encouragement.
“You’re beautiful,” one note read, and another, “Keep your head up.”
It is amazing to see such support between women. These girls hadn’t even known who wrote these things, yet they still took the time to tell these women how important they were on the stall of a bathroom. The message within this is unexplainable.
Women are strong, independent and beautiful creatures. We can’t let media and men bring us down. We can do anything a man can do if we sent our minds to it. Take change and stand against the stereotypes. Beauty comes from within and we have to let that shine.
So, when you talk to any little girl like the one I met earlier, tell her she’s beautiful. Tell your friends you appreciate them. Remind your sisters, mothers and grandmothers you love them.
“Here is to STONG women.
May we know them,
May we be them,
May we raise them.”
-Unknown