Social media has the tools to educate millions of people in ways not found in a classroom. Older generations may see it as a “waste of time,” but many millennials head straight to Twitter, as it gives anyone the opportunity to spread a message to an infinite audience. With the invention of the hashtag, the audience may get even bigger. And sometimes, a certain hashtag can teach everyone a lesson.
Recently, the trend #GrowingUpAGirl sent out a message to the world: females face sexism at very young ages. Double standards are real, and it’s about time we take them down.
Television, radio, music, the Internet, and other forms of media actively participate in the double standards facing women, especially young girls. According to the American Psychological Association, 85 percent of advertisements targeted at children sexualized girls rather than boys. At the same time, 99 percent of women surveyed by anti-harassment organization, Stop the Harassment, admitted to experiencing some form of cat-calling in their lifetime. Our society has taught girls they're only allowed to be sexual if they're the subject of male affection; but when girls sexualize themselves, they're shamed for it.
This extends into beauty standards as well. CNN recently reported that out of a pool of kids and teenagers surveyed by Common Sense Media, one-half of the girls asked between ages six and eight believe their ideal weight is thinner than their current weight. Let me repeat that so you know you read it correctly: ages six to eight. In that same study, one in four kids admitted to starting some sort of diet by age seven. Seven. According to The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), 47 percent of young women from 5th to 12th grade admitted that magazine pictures influenced them to lose weight (Levine, 1998). ANAD also found that 69 percent of girls of the same age range consider magazine sizes to be the ideal body shape. Our society has crafted the “ideal” image with media, even when 66 percent of the United States is overweight. A brand director at the cosmetics company, Neutrogena, said three out of four girls between 14 and 17 are buying some sort of foundation product.
Why is this important, though? The standards placed on women at very young ages play into the unnecessary gender roles our society uses to marginalize men and women.
Here are 10 examples of how #GrowingUpAGirl got a little too real about the struggles young girls are facing because of their gender.
1. This Unfortunate Reality...
2. You Mean the Bra Everyone Already Assumed I was Wearing?
3. Girls aren't Human...They Don't Grow...Obviously...
4. Y'know, "Boys will be Boys" When they have Hormonal Issues...
5. It's those Distracting Shoulders!
6. What, You can't Take a Compliment?
7. Take that, Male Gaze.
8. "Natural...like Kim Kardashian..."
9. Have your Sexist Cake, and Eat it, too.
10. Wait, Women don't Solely Exist to Please Men? What is this New Wave, Feminazism? #meninist
