The Unrealistic Expectations of Being a Woman

Despite it being 2024, women are still being held to unrealistic standards. How can we be expected to be this “perfect” or “untouchable” woman when in reality, not all women are going to follow or act a certain way according to societal norms. Many of these standards have been influenced through toxic social media usage and unrealistic romance movies that showcase women acting certain ways or unrealistic character traits meant to appease the male gaze.

Many people, especially men have felt the need to tell women what to wear and how to act to be more attractive to the male gaze but certainly not all women are going to act this way. Every woman has their unique character traits, physical features and personalities. With this diversity of women, we still live in a society where no one is satisfied no matter how you look or act. Men are very quick to judge what a woman is wearing and label it as “promiscuous” when in reality it's just a normal outfit showing little to minimal skin. Men are also  very quick to judge women in relationships labeling us as “overdramatic” and “overly sensitive.” As women, we always want to hear and understand within our relationships and not feel like we are overreacting but in the eyes of a male, it's just being oversensitive. On the topic of relationships, there has been a big discourse going around social media these days as “ a 50/50 relationship” and along with this social media idea that only a man can pay and women cant. This idea also goes along with the freedom of having career jobs within a relationship. It’s a beautiful thing for a woman to have her independent career job that she aspires to do, but due to that it shouldn’t make a man feel less than or insecure. Within a relationship both men and women should be content with both being able to enjoy their career job without feeling insecure. With that being said, I believe that society, including men and women, should try to be more considerate and educate on what it means to be a woman.