Adversities girls go through

Growing up as a girl you are raised completely different than if you were a boy. Girls are taught to be what society considers the perfect girl. We are taught to look, dress and act a certain way to maintain the standards set upon us.

Whereas, if you are a guy you are allowed to do things that girls might be shamed for. Although girls have surpassed many stereotypes, there are several that are still relevant.

For example: makeup. Although it is our choice to wear it, people make it hard for others to choose on their own. In a world filled with materialistic items and fashion icons, it is almost impossible to refrain from doing so without feeling guilt.

“We are pushed into fitting a certain ‘girl figure’ that none of us are ever going to fit,” Coppell High School senior Marisa Mahalik said. “We have a standard we are put up to and guys don’t have that. They don’t have to look a certain way, dress a certain way and act a certain way but we do.”

According to the Heart of Leadership, 98 percent of girls feel there is an immense pressure to look a certain way, 92 percent of girls wish they could change something about themselves and one in four girls suffer from a clinical diagnosis.

Being a girl and going through the same troubles is hard, especially hearing it from others.

“We have to shave our legs, have perfect makeup, have no bags under our eyes and dress cute all because this standard,” Mahalik said.

The hardest part is finding a balance.

In an anonymous poll posted via Twitter about the various adversities that girls go through, one responder feels this as well.

“Having double standards such as makeup, not wearing it means you don’t try and wearing it means you’re insecure or something along those lines,” the anonymous responder said.

Many of these problems are associated with media. According to National Eating Disorder, numerous correlation and experimental studies have linked body dissatisfaction and disordered eating to the media.

Not only is it hard for self security reasons, but girls are also discredited if they appear differently. According to sociologists Jaclyn Wong and Andrew Penner, women who wear makeup to work make 20 percent more than women who do not.

Salaries depend on a numerous amount of things, but wearing makeup should not be one of them.

Furthermore, according to Huffington Post, one in three women have been victims of sexual harassment in the workplace.

CHS senior Michaela Shea believes the hardest part of being a girl is having to be on guard.

“Being aware of surroundings at all times,” Shea said. “You have to know what is going on at all times and be on guard a lot, it is difficult.”

People are not aware that this is the harsh reality of being a girl; everyday we have to deal with adversities- just because of our gender.

We need to stop concerning ourselves with what society believes is right, but instead, what we believe is right.

If people were to do so, then people would feel more comfortable being themselves.

Follow Riley @RileyShea16