Why are so many girls/women insecure about their bodies?

Question

I don't think I've met a female age 9-90 that's completely secure about her appearance. Why are we so hard on ourselves? Why are we so hard on each other?

Answer 1

'Goodbye to Girlhood'

As Pop Culture Targets Ever Younger Girls, Psychologists Worry About a Premature Focus on s*x and Appearance

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Answer 2

We all want to look like the girl in the advertisement, the model with the perfect hair, teeth, figure and purse, with a smile and a s**y Italian guy standing next to her. We want to look like her because advertisers want our money, and the best way to get us to spend (and keep spending) is to convince us that we are not good enough. The ad sends the clear message that this model, though unreal, is somehow better, more successful than we, the readers. She is happy, she is calm, she is completely hairless and wrinkle-free, she has no cellulite, she is skinny and beautiful and wealthy and has endless male attention. She has the things we may lack or had not, previous to the ad, thought were important. We are not beautiful enough, not rich enough, not slender enough, not tan enough, not busty enough to Have It All.

Keeping women insecure makes them buy more clothing, cute underwear, purses, make up, hair dye, shampoo, jewelry, shoes, magazine subscriptions, gym memberships, manicures, pedicures, Botox, self-tanner, teeth-whitener, diet pills, and elective plastic surgery. And they will buy these things not just once, but for all of their lives. Female insecurity puts a lot of money in the pockets of some old white guys.

Answer 3

Because the media/society wants us to. A lot of it is money making from peoples insecurities. In the news, peopel are critised for being too fat, then the nezt week they are ciritised for being too skinny.

Answer 4

i dunno, but i hate it.

it's everything!

society, other women, men, so many pressures and standards coming from all directions.

and you either play the game or you're shunned and don't "got it"

Answer 5

There is a huge industry out there making damned sure women feel insecure about their bodies so that the women will feel compelled to spend huge amounts of money "improving" themselves.  Unfortunately someone has discovered that men are also susceptible to the constant barrage of feel-bad messages and are being sucked into to spending fortunes on hair transplants, cosmetic surgery etc.  Anybody have any idea how big in $$ the weight loss industry is?

Answer 6

I hang out with some women who are into bodybuilding. They seem very secure about their bodies.

Answer 7

there are some women out there who are secure but the majority are not because of how perfect society seems to want to be.

Answer 8

We are so hard on ourselves because we are treated like objects or a product that has to be sold if it doesn't look good enough then why would any one buy it? Us women feel we have to be in perfect conditon for someone to value us, though untrue, it's our mentality!

Answer 9

Please, like women are any better. Angelina Jolie was voted the #1 women lesbians wanted to get with. Not exactly what you'd call "a real woman".

Answer 10

I think women are insecure about their appearance because they are led to believe that they need to look a particular way in order to be accepted in society. If women were only concerned about how they appeared to men, then this would eliminate about half of their insecurity. Unfortunately, many women try to look good for other women which is a lot more difficult than looking good for just men.  To a straight man, with healthy testosterone levels, your b***s always look bigger and your butt always looks smaller.

Answer 11

man want slim s**y woman. No fat ones

Answer 12

i'm secure :-)

edit

secure - 'feeling free from fear or anxiety'

yes, in this sense i am 100% secure. i am not anxious about my body or appearance.

in an ideal world, are there some things i would change? sure > i would be taller and stronger for a start. but i don't worry about this > what is the point? everyone has things they would change about their bodies, men and women.

Answer 13

That's a good question. The most annoying thing is when perfectly skinny and pretty girls go around complaining about how fat and ugly they are. I think girls who do that are sad, sad souls who need constant reassurance about how attractive they really are. I mean what's the first thing you say to someone who's stick thin who thinks they're fat? "No! No you're so skinny! You're not fat!!"

We need to get over ourselves. Keeping yourself in shape and looking nice is one thing. Obsessing over it and creating false insecurities is annoying.

Answer 14

cuz of the women portrayed in the media that men drool on

Answer 15

I think it is because from the time we are very young we are taught social standards of what is supposed "good" about women's bodies from males and females. None of us fit into all of the categories which makes us seem less than the ultimate, but we are taught to try and try to become what society has shown s to be acceptable. Some diet all of the time and some get surgery and plastic surgery to fit the impossible mold of the perfect woman.  There is no such thing of course and we should all stop trying to please the imagination of ourselves and others. I think it can be quite unhealthy both physically and mentally.

It is a social disease that attacks individuals.

Answer 16

Just like men with loosing their hair, or "male enhancement", society dictates that women be skinny, with large b*****s, and men have hair without erectile dysfunction.  

Show me one women's magazine that does not mention some sort of new-fangled miricle diet on the front cover.  Or a men's magazine that doesn't mention penile enlargement.  It's sad, but true.

Answer 17

I know it's so crazy.. I work with the elderly and i have heard like 80 year olds complain about their weight.. it's so sad.. but i'm like that too sometimes... Today us females feel like their is a lot of pressure and i think a lot of it stems from the media.. models, magazines and celebrities. All of those people have personal trainers and don't live normal and everyday lives but we still compare ourselves to them. We then feel that we should look like them when it is not even feasible to do so. I think a lot of the pressure comes from the media and i think it really effects the younger girls.. I am 25 and realize that this is not the norm but a lot of younger girls are not mature enough to look at it that way. It's too bad

Answer 18

Generally i don't think women are as hard on themselves as they appear. Pointing out faults about themselves leaves the door open for someone to tell them otherwise, everyone wants to hear positive things. Unfortunately we look to men for this. I think we are so hard on each other to make ourselves look better, I don't agree with it but it seems that way