I am reading the portfolios from my Psychology of Women class and I can't help it but think of how hard it is for women to accept their bodies and who they are......
Women are taught from a very early age that they have to look beautiful, young, sexy, but not too sexy, or you are just being a slut. Look around... don't take it from me. Look at the TV, look at the movies, look at the music.... look at the media! They are all beautiful, young, sexy and happy! They are all what we are trying to be. They are all what we want to be. However, the sad part is, this is not easy, and for some..... maybe impossible. And the worst part of it, is that we have made the association that what is beautiful is good, that beautiful people are happy and you can only be happy if you are beautiful.
How can we live in a world where we are constantly comparing ourselves to a standard that is unattainable in the "real world"? We have jobs, kids, and we get tired, and we have to cook, and we have to clean, and we have to go to school.....however..... we probably don't have a personal trainer, or a chef, or a 24/7 nanny, or........ the money to be able to have it all. So again, why do women have the need to compare themselves to others? The answer is too complex, which leads me to why I love to teach Psychology of Women.
In this class I try to teach my students self-respect and self-esteem. I try to teach that you should exercise to be healthy and not to be a size 0. I try to teach my students that they can be anyone THEY want to be, and that THEY can do anything THEY want. I also try to teach them that they should embrace who they are, who they are not and who they want to be. I try to teach them to stop comparing themselves to what the media wants them to be, and to just be who they are.
It is not always easy and I am not sure if they actually get the message, but if only 1 of them get it.... then it is worth it.
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