[Week 137] The thing I like the least about being a woman: Beauty standards.

Thanks to @galenkp for these amazing weekend challenges, giving us the opportunity to express how we feel.

What is your least favourite thing (what you don't like) about being a woman.

I have always felt that one of the things I like least about being a woman, is that we have a very strong social pressure to live up to the standards of beauty that society has set, it seems that we women have to have the ideal body and strive to be perfect is something that we have somehow instilled in us since childhood. When I was little, I saw how my sister was bullied at school, they made fun of her weight and it was something that made us feel very bad, both her and me this generated so much discomfort that we began to make excuses for not attending school, fortunately the teasing stopped when my mom talked to the Director and they took action on the matter.

Then my sister and I felt relieved, believe me, being teased for your weight is something that becomes a torment. That is why I have always felt that society is very harsh, with the standard of beauty that they have imposed as acceptable, they make us feel that it is our obligation to take care of ourselves in excess and if you are a woman with a few extra pounds, you are labeled as lazy, lazy and careless.

Free use photo taken from pexels. Photographer MART PRODUCTION.

When I was in college I had a great friend who had a thick build and I witnessed how she became anorexic because of the continuous comments made by our classmates about her weight.

This situation made me detest even more this demand of society, because I could see how a beautiful woman, young and in excellent health, became obsessed with changing her body image and came to weigh about 41 kilos, I'm not saying it was someone else's fault that she took that position to stop eating to reach this unhealthy weight, but what it did assert, is that society since we are small we are sold the Barbie model of beauty as the ideal and perfect woman.

That is where we begin to suffer this kind of dissatisfaction with our body, we forget about self-love and cultivating our essence. Fortunately, my friend managed to overcome anorexia but I won't lie to you, she still worries about her weight, I think it's something she will always struggle with.

Free use photo taken from pexels. Photographer Polina Tankilevitc.

So I wondered who has invented this absurd and almost unrealistic beauty canon? Why do they make us women feel that we must be super thin to be beautiful? Maybe it is thanks to a massive consumer industry such as the fashion industry, who want to continue selling millions, at the expense of the health of hundreds of women who suffer from eating problems because of these absurd and harmful beauty canons.

As a woman I feel that we should all raise awareness and see that these demands for perfect bodies are nothing more than a joke. Our true beauty lies in our essence, in who we are.

Free use photo taken from pexels. Photographer Olia danilevich

Thank you for reading and appreciating my writing