Amanda Thlick

Professor Rodrick

English 115

October 19, 2017

The Female Identity

When you think of your average girl or woman, what are the first few things that come to

mind? Do you think of a mother? A sister? A wife? How about a CEO or a lawyer? Too often

are women objectified and pressured by society to conform. Women have to pretend to be this

picture perfect image that society builds up for them. This societal construct is biased and not a

real depiction of what a woman is or what she represents. Because of society women are led to

feeling insecure about themselves, they are forced to be more aware of their surroundings, and

they are talked down to and looked at as inferior.

A majority of the female population are highly insecure about who they are. When girls

are young and nave, they are conditioned to be a true girl. If you are a tomboy or dont mind

doing non-girly things, people think youre a lesbian. However, if you are too girly or really

sensitive you are annoying. There is no middle ground. In this reality, girls look at their famous

role models around them and aspire to be like them. It doesnt help when their role models are

shown in unrealistic ways. Society views girls as being beautiful and submissive. In the article in

People Magazine, by Jennifer Wulf, she explains how the medias portrayal of the female body
has absolute terrible effects on the body. Wulf worryingly states, Surrounded by images of

young celebrities who are painfully thinor very slender with improbably large breastsgirls

growing up today can feel immense pressure to meet the same standard. Trying hard to look like

their idols, some fall prey to eating disorders, and some abuse drugs to help them lose weight

(Wulf). It is such an unhealthy viewpoint for young girls to look at. The fact that society

approves of this kind of behavior makes this problem even worse. Moving on, society expects

girls to just have things all put together. Us girls shouldnt have problems in our lives, we should

be thriving because were beautiful and obedient, and nice. In the excerpt from the book "The

Triple Bind" by Stephen Hinshaw, he claims that teenage girls have too much to deal with in

their lives and are expected too much of the unrealistic aspects of life. Hinshaw alarmingly

states, And youre supposed to handle it beautifully. Be completely graceful, poised, have a

boyfriend youve been seeing for the past year, know everything, make sure nothings wrong,

talk to your teachers, be best friends with them, everything has to be perfect. Love your siblings,

love your parents, no fighting, and of course, you should be going out with your friends but

dont party, cause you dont want a bad rep. But you still want to have fun and be a kid and

you cant. Its so hard(Hinshaw). Girls have to put on an act like everything is perfect. They are

taught to be nice to everyone and to not complain. What kind of world is it that we live in where

young girls have to be insecure about who they are before even discovering their life yet?

On a more serious level, the fact that the world around us is so harsh, especially on

women, we are forced to be more aware of our surroundings. In the times that we live in women

feel more unsafe than ever. Every time a girl walks on the street, they have to be conscious of

who is walking behind them or who is secretly following them in a car. Not to make men the root

of all evil, but in most cases, women are sexually harassed or raped, causing them to feel less
safe in their own environment. In the spoken word poem Girl Code 101 by Blythe Baird, she

recites her opinions on how girls have it hard and how we are perceived by the world and most

of all the injustices of society on the shaping of women's lives. Baird passionately states, This

is not female privilege. This is survival of the prettiest. We are playing the first game we learned

how to. We are the asses smacked by boys who made welcome mats of our yoga pants. We are

easily startled. Who wouldnt be? (Baird). Because these kind of events take place, women feel

threatened by any other figure who are not other women. We are conditioned to believe that if

we go outside and see someone behind us, that they will pounce on us like a predator on its prey.

Even now some parts of society accept and allow this way of thinking. Some believe that women

should be treated like this and it is for that reason that women think the way they do In yet

another spoken word poem, Annabelle Fern explains how the mindset of predator versus prey is

instilled in young girls. She shares, It is not within our nature to submit ourselves as prey. No.

It is not within our nature at all. She was taught this. You mustn't blame her, it isnt her fault. She

was only trying to behave a certain way, like a woman (Fern). The teachings that behavior like

this is allowed is without a doubt unacceptable. Women should not have to feel like the peer

pressure based decisions are completely their faults. We can only control so much.

Last but not least, we have the final reason as to how society negatively affects the

female identity: inferiority. It is not a surprise that women are looked at as less of an equal to

men. In the majority of the world, there is so much sexism going around. Women are viewed as

not intelligent or not smart enough to have certain jobs or take on certain roles. In the article

Sexism in the Workplace is Worse Than You Thought by Nathan Bomey, he explains how

sexism in the workplace is growing and is not helping the female identity. Bomey states,

.they are more likely to be ignored at meetings, with 74% of men "able to participate
meaningfully" and 67% of women They are less likely to get challenging assignments. Some

68% of men have taken on the toughest tasks, compared to 62% for women (Bomey). Women

are seen as incapable of doing work that a man is assigned to. Although, sometimes this

encourages women to push harder for equality, for most women it makes them feel lesser.

Bomey also points out that inequality at home is contributing to the crisis of lower self-esteem in

female identity. He states, For women who share housework equally with a partner, 43% aspire

to become a senior executive at their job. But only 34% of women who do a majority of the

housework aspire to be a senior executive (Bomey). If more men and women acted as equals,

possibly the work environment for women will change. If the negative stigma of female

inferiority was lessened it could better the way space forms female identities. Perhaps all it takes

is one kind, yet powerful action.

Overall, society has negatively affected womens identities in various ways: workplace

behavior, self-esteem, and security. The goal is to lower the negative stigmas regarding the

female figure. If we achieve this goal, the female population could largely benefit from it. No

more stereotypes, no more demeaning comments, or sexist slurs, just equality, respect for one

another, and a chance at redeeming the full potential of the female identity.
 Works Cited

2009-02-10T15:37:35.000Z TODAY books. Under Pressure: Are Teen Girls Facing Too

Much? TODAY.com, TODAY Books, 10 Feb. 2009, www.today.com/health/under-

pressure-are-teen-girls-facing-too-much-2D80555548 Accessed 18 Oct. 2017

Baird, Blythe. Blythe Baird - Girl Code 101 . YouTube, YouTube, 28 Aug. 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v. Accessed 16 Oct. 2017

Bomey, Nathan. Sexism in the Workplace Is Worse than You Thought. USA Today, Gannett

Satellite Information Network, 27 Sept. 2016,

www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/09/27/lean-in-study-women-in-the-

workplace/91157026/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2017

Fern, Annabelle. Like a Woman - Spoken Word Poetry by Annabelle Fern. YouTube,

YouTube, 11 Apr. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz4shNTcltg Accessed 18 Oct.

2017

Wulff, Jennifer. Pressure to Be Perfect Vol. 62 No. 4. PEOPLE.com, Time Inc, 26 July

2004, people.com/archive/pressure-to-be-perfect-vol-62-no-4/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2017