Beware! If you believe that women and men are equal and you would like to ignore the fact that it might not be true, do not read! Go back to your ignorant life. People say, women have the same rights as men, they can vote, they can bring home their own paycheck, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that women are still not treated the same as men. Women’s bodies and choices are constantly in the spotlight. Everything girls do is stereotyped. Of course, men have stereotypes too, but it’s more common for women. I care about this topic because I see how it affects the daily lives of myself and the people around me. I have friends who have incredibly low self esteem because they feel they don’t fit the standards, even if they are amazingly beautiful. I hear girls say, “I’m so fat,” or “I need to lose weight” all too often, even if they are perfectly healthy. I know that a lot of girls are constantly seeking approval from boys and I don’t understand why they need it. Women are constantly pressured to look and act a certain way, be a certain size and like certain things. This stereotyping is not beneficial in any way, it is hurtful to self esteem, lowers confidence, and limits freedom of expression. Do you ever wonder why almost all advertisements look so similar?

Media highly influences how people see themselves and others. In the media women are highly sexualized. There are many advertisements everywhere from magazines to billboards of women that have very little clothing on. These women all have a few things in common. For the most part they are all thin, fairly tall, and have large breasts, This one body type, unattainable for some women, is the only thing being seen in the media, which is confusing and sends the message: if you don’t look like these people, you’re not good enough(Chiang, 9). Furthermore, the audience of these advertisements includes young girls, as young as 10 or 11. These messages are especially hurtful to them because this is what they grow up seeing. If they are not informed that this stereotype is not what all girls look like, the media can severely damage how these young girls see themselves. These self esteem issues can lead to depression, drug and alcohol use, cutting, and eating disorders (Timson,3). Being a young teen is already a rough and confusing time without having so many outside influences telling them how to look. Yes, there are models who do not meet the stereotypes, but their numbers are nowhere close to those of “regular” models and they do not get nearly as much publicity as they should. Consequently, media is one of the factors that cause women to make a different choice than they would otherwise.

Women have been given more and more choice as time has gone on. Or at least it seems like they have. We can choose whether we want to work and what profession we want, we can vote, and we are not completely controlled by men. There are catches though. No matter what choice we make, we are stereotyped. For example, if a woman is independent and driven she will most likely be stereotyped as overconfident and bossy(Timson, 3). Overall, girls today are pretty much guaranteed the choice to have a career. They don’t have to be a so called housewife if they don’t want to. However, men and women are still not as equal as they should be. Men who employ women can criticize them for how their body looks. In fact, I recently heard that an owner of a local restaurant -who is male- told one of his female workers that she needs to start wearing more makeup, tighter pants, and do her hair differently because she wasn’t looking as “attractive” as his other female employees. Teen girls choices are also affected by boys. For instance, at a high school, or even middle school dance, girls get upset because boys tell them they aren’t “pretty” enough the way they’re dressed or just in general. This judgement is incredibly stupid and should never happen. Women should not have to look to men for approval of the way they express themselves. Women’s choices are, in many instances, affected by men.

Women everywhere are judged daily because they do not fit the stereotypical standards. This judgment hurts not only adul’ts self esteem but young girls as well. So what can we do to help? Well, first of all, both women and men can stop using derogatory words  such as “ s***” “w****,” and “prude”. These words label women as more of an object to be judged than a person. Men can treat women as people rather than a sexual object, in the workplace as well as in daily life. Women can also contribute by not allowing themselves to be treated that way. Meanwhile, more education should be given to teens and even younger girls, most easily in a health class at school, teaching them that their bodies definitely do not need to look like the bodies of models. It should be known to them that as long as a person is healthy, their body is perfect just the way it is. Boys can also be taught that it is not okay to sexualize girls, and vice versa. We can all do something to help, even it’s just giving yourself or someone else a compliment.

Works Cited
Chiang, Li-Chuan. “Women’s Image.” Skipping Stones 16.1 (2004):9. Middle Search Plus. Web.              21 Oct. 2015.
Timson, Judith. “What’s A Girl To Do?” Madean’s 114.36 (2001) :44. MasterFILE Premier.   Web. 22 Oct. 2015.