We’ve all at some point felt pressured by society, in how we look, how we dress, how we act and even the type of music we listen to. So, here are some things that annoy me about today’s society, and what you can do to not let it get to you.
First off is one of the biggest: how every single teenager is meant to have a ‘perfect’ image. This is especially for teenage girls, but boys can feel it as well. Growing up is hard enough, with school pressures and just the general stress of being a teenager. What doesn’t help is when you don’t feel good about yourself, but you are constantly surrounded by people who are ‘perfect’. Celebrity figures have the ability to make a lot of teenage girls feel awful about themselves, just because they aren’t a size zero (and know they will never be). The most important way to get around this is to make sure you feel comfortable in your own skin. Don’t get put off by others or celebrity figures who make you feel bad, if that’s the way you feel then you should completely stop following or contacting that person. As long as you feel good about yourself and are healthy, that should be all that matters.
Gender equality is a major one too. Even though it’s got a lot better, there are still situations where women especially are undermined by men. Compared to centuries ago, it’s hardly nothing any more but it still does exist and it’s important that we still pay attention to it. The way it is presented nowadays is subtle- for example a school in America banned girls from wearing short skirts and strappy tops because ‘it was distracting others from their education’. If it was distracting others so much, why are girls the ones who are being discriminated against from being banned to wear an item of clothing and why aren’t the ‘others’- boys being educated on why they should have more respect and discipline and learn to focus on their education? Feminism is the best way of dealing with problems like these. We are so lucky to live in a generation where we have figures like Emma Watson and Malala Yousafzai who are constantly fighting for total gender equality. Not forgetting that men can be feminists too, with important male figures like Harry Styles and Daniel Radcliffe who also do a wonderful job of showing their love for feminism.
A topic that really, really bugs me is negative stereotyping and prejudice that is always portrayed by elders. Sometimes it can be in a malicious way but most of the time they do it without even realising. The younger generation of today are constantly put down for e.g ‘always being on their phones’ or ‘always on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram etc’. Sometimes we are made out to be like some sort of generation who doesn’t know how to communicate because of ridiculous reasons like social media. Little do the older generations know, that we are capable of so much more than they think we are. Social media has helped thousands and thousands of people in so many different ways, and it has also educated so many young people. For example, taking the Paris attacks a couple of weeks back, the older generations were bombing each other, spreading hate and attacking each others’ religions whereas what were the younger generation doing? Spreading peace and love via social media, warning others, educating others and uniting together to fight against the troubles we were facing.
So, next time you witness a gender discriminating another or your self-esteem drops, just remember: we’re the ambassadors for this generation, and we’re the only ones who can make things like world peace actually happen and change these issues, so everyone can feel good about themselves and be whoever or whatever they want to be.
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