Clean Up Confidence
Mary R.

     Has anyone ever said to you, "you run like a girl" or "you throw like a girl?" Chances are, yes. Maybe people say these sorts of things without thinking about the word “confidence.” A new survey by Always® reveals, "89% of Young Females agree that words can be harmful especially to girls; first period and start of puberty marks lowest confidence moments for girls." As said on news.pg.com. But on the other hand, why does "like a girl" have to be an insult? I decided to do research on how a girl's confidence can make her think otherwise.
     Some people under-estimate their self-esteem. According to nytimes.com, in elementary school, 60% of girls said they were ‘happy the way I am’ however, the figures dropped from 60% to 29%, once girls reached high school. This just shows one reason why girls' confidence level drops. On the other hand, this is one reason why girls wear makeup. Now of course there are other things that go into wearing makeup like to impress guys or just to fit in. However, a new article on makeup from huffingtonpost.com states, "Before, it was popular for kids to be sporting the latest flavor of Lip Smacker, but today, I’m seeing a trend of girls who prefer to wear what I call ‘the mask,’ a layering of makeup (thin or thick) that, if removed, would reveal a different face underneath." Says Taylor Griffith, the author of the article.
     Everything relies on "trends" nowadays. This is one other thing that will completely make a girl’s confidence drop. Not only does she feel pressured to have the product that is "in," but if she doesn't have it, she doesn't feel like she fits in. From this little trend, this girl loses her confidence. Can you see how it's so easy to let this happen? Especially nowadays. Girls are growing up very fast. When I asked my mom, she said, "In middle school, I wore blush and the basic makeup, but other girls would go to the locker room and put on a whole face of makeup. Even then, there were still girls that felt pressured to wear makeup. And now, you see USA soccer players that have strong girls on their team, but then there's that one girl that puts on all that makeup even when she plays." That girl's name is Sydney Leroux, and she wears sweat proof makeup when she plays. Critics day that if she’s wearing that much makeup, she can’t possibly be focusing on soccer enough. But she still stands to prove everyone wrong.
      I think it's time we stop comparing ourselves to other people in magazines that have clearly been edited, or photoshopped. When you see one magazine with a model that’s not wearing any makeup, and you notice that how she looks is actually how she looks, let me know. I saw this video the other day of this woman that came into a room and they took a normal picture of her with no makeup. To me, she was beautiful just the way she was. But instead, they took the picture, and made her waist a little smaller, face a little skinnier, but digital makeup on her, and put her in a different outfit. They showed the improved picture to the lady and she was so overjoyed on how she looked. Of course, she looked like every other girl on a magazine, but at the time, she didn't think about that, she thought about how pretty she was. It was a big confidence boost. The director of the film never showed the lady her actual photo, and she never knew what she really looked like.

     So with that, I think it’s time we do something about this. When someone says "you run like a girl," say, "yes, I run like a girl, so try to keep up." There's no reason for you to lose confidence over that.

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