"It's back to school time, and you know what that means: back to body shaming time. For all the insecure, body-conscious teenage girls out there, Seventeen magazine comes to the rescue by telling them what's truly important this school year: being 'pretty.'… [Seventeen's back-to-school issue features articles like] 'Shiny Hair, Perfect Skin by Your First Day of School' and 'Get Everything You Want This Year—Great Body, Tons of $$$, Amazing Clothes.' No wonder young women today have such body image issues. We (society) are telling them that that's what's most important! Instead of reading these headlines as the superficial messages that they are, girls are likely walking away with the notion that everything about them is wrong. Their hair is gross, their skin is a mess, their wardrobe is hideous and their body is too fat, too thin, too whatever. So they must fix all of that and buy this magazine which will surely make them perfect and pretty once they discover all 825 ways to do so. It's shameful, isn't it? … This crap is seriously messing with females today. Instead of feeling confident and secure, we are left questioning our looks and our bodies. It's offensive and damaging."
—blisstree.com contributor Deborah Dunham [blisstree.com, 8/22/12]
Insecurity: lack of confidence or assurance; self-doubt. That's the definition straight out of the dictionary.
I know I struggle with insecurity almost every day, to some degree, and I believe most other girls do too (to some degree). How could we not with all the beautiful and impossibly perfect women we see in advertisements, on movies and TV, and on the internet? We see perfect skin, teeth, hair, bodies, clothes...everything is perfect. How could we, just normal girls, ever measure up?
And there's the issue of comparing ourselves to other girls we see. We may be best friends or complete strangers, but girls do it all the time. I may see an attractive girl at the mall or something and think a thought like this: "Wow. Look at that girl. I love her outfit. She's so thin. I wish I looked that good in skinny jeans. How does she get her hair to look like that? I wonder how much those shoes cost. She even has a really handsome guy on her arm. Why can't I be like THAT girl?"
Gosh, this is a hard issue. You can't just say to a girl: "Be confident." and fix the problem. I believe that a girl has to stay close to the Lord, and realize how much more important developing her character is than looking pretty. By the way, what does the Bible have to say about this?
Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain: but a women that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. - Proverbs 31:30
Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. - 1 Peter 3:3-4
But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. -1 Samuel 16:7
Just let that soak in for a minute. "...for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward apperance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." That verse is so comforting to me.
I don't know if there is a way to completely erase insecurity, but I do know that God made me exactly how he wanted me to look like. He picked everything. My eye and hair color, the shape of my nose, my height, my eyebrows, everything. I think that's pretty awesome.
I hope this helps any girls or women who struggle with not feeling good enough. I'm not an expert, but I'm just sharing form my experience and what God has to say. Thank you for reading!
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