There has been pressure on women to fit a certain mold that pleases society for a while, and it changes with time. There is always a desired body type that every girl longs to look like, and while it’s normal to aspire to look a specific way, it gets to the point where girls will obsessively crave it, and even go to extreme lengths to get it. So many different kinds of problems arise from the pressure to achieve the beauty standard, and it is a struggle that almost every girl goes through.

     Social media is one of the worst influences on young girls when it comes to body image. Almost all famous influencers have a “perfect” body, and there is little representation of a variety of body types. It has been normalized to only be self-confident if a person has the body type desired by the opposite sex, otherwise people will find humour in the way we differenitiate from each other. Photoshop is terrible for many reasons. It is sad that people feel the need to artificially alter their body to get more likes or popularity, when really people should be taught to love themselves for who they are and embrace it. 

    Mental health is heavily affected by the pressure to achieve the ideal body. Girls can start to feel down, be overly critical of themselves and others, and have a low self-worth if they feel they don’t look the way they’re supposed to. Everyone is built differently, and it’s not fair to anyone to consider themselves less than others just because they have different body types, one being more conventional. If every single person ate the same diet, we would still all look different because of genetics and lifestyle. Some girls don’t seem to understand this because no one has taught them how to accept themselves for who they are, instead of encouraging them to be someone else. Women of all ages, especially teens, will become obsessed with counting their calories, restricting their diet, having a strict workout routine, and under eating, all to live up to a standard they may never reach. While it is great to be healthy, it can easily be taken too far, and people tend to dismiss it, but there are so many things wrong with this cycle. 

     Society needs to work together to teach everyone to love and accept each other for how they are, including themselves. One person’s body is their business, and their business only, the famous rule still stands: if they can’t fix it in five minutes, don’t bring it up. Instead of hyping up one body type that all girls will long to have, prove that everyone is beautiful by encouraging people to lead a healthy, happy lifestyle, whatever that means to them.