Summer is meant to be a time when we can let loose and have fun, but instead, it's become a time that many dread. The reason stems from the body image issues that so many girls face. Although we seem to be living during a time where all body types are celebrated, and women like Ashley Graham and Gigi Hadid are changing the norm among models, self-confidence is still as big an issue as ever. The Dove Global Beauty and Confidence Report revealed that many women still feel uncomfortable in their own skin. Featuring 10,500 women and girls across 13 countries, the survey found overwhelming unhappiness and lacking self confidence.
In fact, 85% of women and 79% of girls say that they will skip out on everyday activities because of their low self-esteem. More alarmingly, the report also found that 9 out of 10 women stop themselves from eating because they feel uncomfortable with the way they look. The most interesting part though? No matter where they were from, body image was always a main concern.
Dr. Nancy Etcoff, Assistant Clinical Professor Harvard Medical School, Director of Program in Aesthetics and Wellbeing, MGH Department of Psychiatry told Dove, "This latest research shows that low body confidence is a global issue… Though troubling, these results are also unsurprising, given the increasing pressures women and girls face today. We need to help empower women and girls in many ways, including increasing body-confidence education, driving meaningful conversations around the pressures women and girls face, and advocating for change in how females and their appearance are talked about and portrayed in the media."
Media seems to be a large concern for women and girls as well, with 71% of women and 67% of girls telling Dove that they want the media to portray a more realistic body image. With the prevalence of social media and the constant pressure to look, feel and live up to unrealistic expectations, it's hard to find confidence, but with so many women and girls pushing for change, hopefully we can learn to truly love ourselves.