Imagine wearing a plaid skirt, a button-down top, with black knee-high socks every day through the entirety of your high school career. At my high school, uniforms were mandatory and I was always grateful for the ability to throw on the same thing every day, pack my lunch, and run out the door. The great thing about uniforms was that everyone wore the same clothes. There wasn’t a reason to judge how one girl looked in her skirt, shirt, or pants because we were all identical in that aspect.
Obviously, going to an all-girls school implies that there were not any boys except for a few faculty members. Other than that, my classmates and I were in a testosterone-free zone. At an all-girls school (or mine at least), dressing up consisted of wearing your hair down, wearing mascara, and wearing your button down instead of the navy polo shirt. However, after only two months into college, I’ve felt a greater pressure towards wearing make-up and wanting to look a certain way for the people around me to like me. Why is that?
Then it hit me. It was a mixture of going to school with boys and a lack of self-confidence. I currently live with a group of four amazing girls and we usually hang out with a group of eight guys. I’m extremely lucky that we hit the “guy-friends” jackpot since the boys next to us are wonderful and overall fun people. However, considering that these are adolescent boys, we often hear a lot of comments on girls’ bodies (both positive and negative). Their comments vary from wanting girls with voluptuous figures, to short girls, tall girls, girls with certain styles, and so on and so forth. Every time this topic is brought up, my roommates and I will often exchange a knowing look. Unfortunately, these comments DO affect us.
The expectations of what “pretty girls” look like is a barrier that needs to be broken in order for female college students and girls overall to feel good about their natural self to acknowledge that they ARE enough.
As young women, it is important to maintain positive body image throughout college. Your outward appearance and the amount of makeup you decide to apply should be defined by your own terms. How many of us can say that we are 100% happy with how we look? Not many. It’s critical to recognize the difference between doing something for others and doing something for ourselves. Of course it is understandable to see how wearing makeup and clothes that make us feel good does not always stem from an inner drive to impress the people around us but depending on dressing up to feel content can harm our self-confidence.
From the start, our mothers were right (kudos to you mom), beauty does start from the inside out. Do not focus on the measurements that define our body or where we fit in a society based on looks and materialism. Instead, try to see that being alive, having the ability to function as a human being, getting an education, and pursuing all the greater things in life are qualities that make you beautiful. Not pricey tubes of mascara and tight clothing.
To conclude, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes: “You’re a human being, you live once and life is wonderful, so eat that red velvet cupcake.” - Emma Stone.
