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The Meaning of Being a Girl

How Society Sees It vs How It Should Be

By Aaliyah SharverPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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Being a girl can mean many things to different people. What I am writing about is how I feel about the way society sees us, and how they should really see us. Some people may not agree with me, but that's okay. As you read this I hope it opens your eyes to how things are going in our world today.

How Society Sees It

If you thought I was going to be sugarcoating everything, you are dead wrong. I am hoping my bluntness will help open the eyes of some people who deny some of the thing I will be talking about.

Sex

For some people it's an easy thing to talk about, and for others not so much. Sex is a touchy subject for girls. For girls, if you've had sex even once you're considered a "slut/whore/hoe", and everything in between. If you haven't had sex, then you are "innocent/have no life/not liked." Not one of those things is something girls would like to be called.

Rape

Another very very touchy subject. A girl does not dress with plans to be raped. A girl does not act a certain way with plans to be raped. No girl "asked for it" by the way she talked, dressed, or acted. Yet so many people have used "she asked for it" as an excuse to ignore the real issue. Are we supposed to dress a certain way, talk a certain way, and act a certain way just so we can be safe walking down the street?

Submission

Society, to this day, still jokes about how women "belong" in the kitchen, and that we should be a thin line away from being slaves to our husbands. Society still believes that our significant other should be male, older than us, taller than us, and should be the one working.

The other day I was in a local Walmart, and I heard two little girls talking. They seemed to be around the age of 8 or 9, and they were not sisters but best friends. The subject of their conversation was the classic "what do you want to be when you grow up?" One of the girls talked about becoming a veterinarian. The other one said, and I am quoting this word by word, "I wanna be a housewife because that's what my mommy said girls should do."

Now do not get me wrong there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong with being a housewife, but hearing that little girl say that made me feel pretty sick inside. Knowing that her mother is forcing that idea inside of her makes my blood boil.

How It Should Be

Sex

I believe a girl should be able to have sex as many times as she wants without being judged so hard it makes her hate herself. I also believe that if a girl wants to keep her innocence, she shouldn't be judged and ridiculed for it.

Rape

This very touchy subject always makes me sick when I hear that it has happened again, and what I am about to say is definitely what is on everyone else's mind. I believe that girls should not have to make changes just so some little boy doesn't get excited and can't keep his hands to himself. I also believe that a girl shouldn't have to do cartwheels just to get people to believe her story.

Submission

I believe that women should respect their significant other, but not to the point of them almost becoming a slave. I also believe society should get it out of their mind that women HAVE to be with men. I see more women than men being ridiculed for being homosexual, and that gets under my skin.

In our society, being a girl isn't all good, but it also isn't all bad. Our society has a long way to go, but changes are being made and our future couldn't be more bright.

gender roles
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