At this point, we've all seen Justin Bieber's bare ass, and whatever your viewpoints on Mr. Bieber and his backside, I think we can all agree that the only criticisms he's gotten are along the lines of the fact that they don't like his music or that they're upset because he didn't show a picture from the front. Not once have I heard someone say that his photo was "inappropriate," or that he should "cover up." I'm in no way saying that he should cover up, or that he shouldn't be proud of his body, but we as a society need to get rid of the double standards between the male and female body.
If men can post nude photos to Instagram, great, but I have a problem with the fact that women don't have the same luxury. Would I post a picture like he did? Never. Should other women have the option? Most definitely! The female body is always viewed as an item of sexuality, and it shouldn't be. We claim to be a society focused around equality and for many reasons that just isn't true.
Just like many others my age, I love hanging out with my friends, and the majority of parties happen at night. Because I don't have a car, if I have to get home, it will involve the subway. I understand that the reasoning behind many curfews is that parents don't want their kids out too late because they might have school or some other activity the next day. For the majority of females though, the reasoning behind our curfews is that it simply isn't safe for us to be out late at night. We could live in the safest neighborhood in the world and still have to worry about not making it home safely.
We are growing up in a time when we are shamed for everything we do. If we dress too provocatively we are told to cover up, and yet we still are assaulted when we do. Our society focuses so much on priding itself in men that it doesn't realize that by doing so, it's degrading our women. When I wake up in the morning and get dressed, my first thought shouldn't be hoping that I won't be catcalled because of my shorts. When I put on makeup, regardless of what you may think, I put it on for me. I'm not dressing up to please the strangers on the street, I'm dressing up to stare at my reflection in store widows and smile at how good I look! I'm putting on this lipstick to take good selfies, and I'm wearing this dress because it fits me well. We need to remove the perception that women are dressing up to please anyone but themselves.
When the female body is being portrayed, it is always selling something, whether that be lingerie, makeup, or being sexualized to sell food! I think the models and actresses do their job well, but young women today are taught to idolize them. We are told that those are the bodies we should have, that is what we should look like, and yet when we look like that or even when we don't, we are told to stop. Being a proud woman in today's society is somehow a bad thing, and that stigma needs to end, and it needs to end immediately.
Women today are encouraged to look a certain way, to act a certain way, to speak a certain way, and even worse, to think a certain way. The only reasoning behind all of this is because the people in power, usually men, are telling us we should, and that if we don't, we won't be desired. Here's the thing, if you want me to follow your rules, I don't want you to desire me, and I couldn't care less if you do! We as females aren't viewed as equals in this male-dominated world, and no matter what we do, we're told we're doing something wrong. If we're "too large," we're told to lose weight. If we lose weight, we're told we're "trying too hard to fit in." If we put on makeup, we're told that we "look better natural," but God forbid we go a day without eyeliner, and we're told we should "try harder."
No matter what we do, it will always be perceived as wrong by somebody, so I've started living under the notion that if someone isn't going to like me regardless, why should I not love myself? We as women need to stand together. We need to understand that we are facing the same struggles, because the second we stop isolating our trans women, our women of color, and our gender-neutral allies is the second we become powerful. As a feminist, I believe in equality. I do not believe in hating men, but I do believe in acknowledging the fact that we live in a male-dominated society. If we stop letting others control what we do with our bodies and how we feel about ourselves, we will start to love and value ourselves even more. We need to stand up and say that we're tired of what's being forced upon us, because only then can we truly be free from the notion that #GrowingUpAGirl is a bad thing.
