If you walk through the halls of Ludlow High School, you’ll see students with all different looks. There are some people that embrace their body, but there are others who struggle with their body type. A majority of these people are females, especially teenagers.

One of the biggest issues that impact how girls feel about their bodies is social media. Girls feel like they need to look like celebrities or models to fit the “perfect” body image. People like Kendall Jenner or Kim Kardashian post pictures in waist-trainers so they can achieve their “perfect” body. It makes girls feel like they have to look like that so they can “fit in” or “be popular.” The model industry makes such a big point on girls needing to have skinny bodies or curvy figures that girls put an absurd amount of pressure on themselves to fit that stereotype. According to Jezebel.com, only five percent of people have bodies like models.

All of the pressure girls feel can lead to very damaging actions, such as crazy dieting or even not eating at all. According to the Huffington Post, 91% of women are unhappy with their bodies and resort to dieting to achieve their ideal body. While eating healthier and exercising is a very important factor to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, pushing yourself and over dieting can cause many problems. Often times, young women feel like the only way to lose weight is to cut out everything they enjoy or even cutting out entire meals. These women also work out to people like Jillian Michaels or Shaun T who have vigorous workouts that need protein to stay healthy. This lifestyle can to stress or health problems such as eating disorders.

Teenagers feel a lot of pressure from one another to be a person they are not. More than 90% of girls want to change at least one part of their body, according to HeartofLeadership. This is a very big part on how girls look and act. It is difficult to be comfortable in your own body when other people are judging you based on how you look and how you dress. Peer pressure is one of the biggest problems that makes girls feel like they cannot be happy in their own bodies.

Women, or people in general, should be happy with their own body. Women who feel pressured into having a great body should ignore what other people think and love themselves.

Recently, things seem to be looking a bit brighter and people are beginning to see that there’s no  such thing as a “perfect body”. The world has become better in a way of this issue. You now see the model industry have more “plus size” models walk their events. Barbie Dolls have dolls who are bigger than the original. Even Sports Illustrated has a plus sized swimsuit edition. Girls should just be confident in their own body and rock whatever they have. It might be hard to overcome the insecurities, but if everyone stops the insults and makes each other feel good, it would make the world a better place.

Insecurities are a common thing for women to feel and these feelings have been around forever. There is really no way to overcome these feelings because there are so many factors that lead to feel this way. However if girls stop trying to be “perfect” and start trying to be themselves, we might begin to make a difference with how they feel. Next time your friend is feeling insecure about themselves, give them a compliment to make them feel good. Helping a friend out can make a big difference in their day. The only way to overcome the insecurities is to love your body. Instead of teaching girls to look like models, older girls should teach them to love themselves because they have probably been in a similar position. Everyone is perfect the way they are no matter what.