Why are women the targets of low self-esteem? Why do we have to worry about our looks more than men do? Why do we have to count calories to feel good about ourselves? Why do we constantly carry that guilty feeling? Why are women on all of the Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, Jenny Craig, and Weight Watchers commercials? IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!
My personal take on this issue is that over many generations, women have gradually become increasingly self-aware and this self-awareness has been skewed (in a negative direction) very heavily over time. As a nation, particularly the United States, where food is plentiful and most of the population is obese, the women of this country are still not comfortable with themselves. It doesn't matter if they're normal, underweight, or overweight. There is ALWAYS a flaw that we (women) will find within ourselves.
I guess my overall feeling about this issue is anger. It makes me angry that women have to look good all of the time just to feel complete. No one should have to constantly think about this - not even men! The mystery question is why do men have a generally higher self-esteem? Sometimes I think life would be easier if we were all men (of course, this would not be practical, but with advancements in technology today, it may be possible to one day have a world of men or at least sexless individuals). I know, or at least I've heard, that men deal with other issues, but come on! They aren't half as bad as ours.
The major problem with women's self-esteem issues is that these days, girls begin to develop much earlier (much of this is due to hormones in meat, particularly chicken) and the earlier they start to develop, the earlier they start to think about how their changing bodies are somehow "ugly." I think that if we emphasized self-esteem issues more heavily in classrooms and at home earlier (like at age 5 or 6), girls and women would slowly get rid of those "ugly" thoughts.
I think it's great that some women are confident enough to embrace their bodies even though the rest of the population doesn't think they're perfect. Confidence=Gold. The reason I believe this is good analogy or comparison is because these days gold is very expensive and very rare, and so is confidence! Even silver has gone up drastically in value. If we (women) could at least get at the "silver" level regarding our self-esteem, we would be much better off, at least mentally and emotionally.
The reason I am writing about self-esteem problems with women is because I have experienced the entire spectrum of confidence regarding myself. It would be nice if we could learn to compliment ourselves more and teach others to give more compliments (especially men!). I know that there have been after-school programs dedicated to girls' self-esteem issues, and I think that's great. The problem is, these programs aren't everywhere, and our self-esteem issues are present everywhere! Even with the implementation of these programs, I believe that women will still experience low self-esteem. We need to somehow learn to re-program ourselves into thinking that we really are o.k. the way we are!
