Opinion Column inspired by 13 Reasons Why

I will never be good enough for anyone. I will either be too skinny or too fat. I will either be too short or too tall. I will never be pretty enough. No one can love someone who doesn’t love herself. Every girl tells herself this and pretends she doesn’t. We all walk past someone and wish we had something they had, whether it be an item or a feature. This is because society has set this image that we have to be bigger, better, and more perfect then we already are. Society has set impossible expectations for everyone especially high school girls. This is the trouble in America, and people say they are making a difference and fighting for a change but what is anyone really doing. There are still super skinny models on magazines making every girl over 110 pounds feel fat. There are still makeup commercials making girls feel ugly like they need to wear makeup to be pretty. There are still malls and stores that only carry smaller sizes making girls all over the world feel more self conscience about their weight.

Schools across the globe see this epidemic, but don’t quite understand the severity of the situation. With the pressure to be perfect, girls grow up with this expectation that they can’t meet which lowers their self esteem. Walking around the halls of high school feeling insecure and seeing a girl who is exactly what you want to be can be even more devastating to your ego. This is a cause of bullying in girls. Having such a low self esteem combined with other personal issues can cause someone to be hateful towards another girl. The bullying can range from calling people names and spreading rumors to putting on social media hateful and harsh comments about others. Other types of bullying that people may not consider would be telling someone that they can’t be friends with someone or making them choose and then judging them for their decision if they don’t choose them.

Social media is a key outlet for cyber bullying. On social media now it is so easy for someone to make a fake account and bash people. For example, Twitter is a popular social media network that many high schoolers use. It is easy to post a tweet about someone and not tag them. Using that as an excuse to say whatever you want about someone is not okay. Just because you don’t write their name on it doesn’t make it any better. Putting that harsh and negativity out there will only hurt someone and it will never help anyone.

There are simple ways to help stop these incidents. Start reporting these incidents, stepping in and standing up for that person getting bullied. Be a friend to that person. Don’t just be a bystander, stand up and do something about it. Be a good person because no one wants to feel so bad about themselves that they dread going to school or leaving the house. Be careful what you say because you never know who’s listening or how they will take it.