Quoting myself from the "Theme Month" thread in the Turf:
Quote: In case anyone hadn't noticed, our bodies are a big issues to most women. Those with big bodies feel fat, those with small frames feel thin and inadequate. There's no middle ground. And I know because I'm average - my clothes size always runs out first at the sales - and I still have days when I feel incredibly bloated and horrible, too disgusting too look at, or flabby, or unhealthily proportioned. If my weight is ok, then there's something else to fixate on: leg veins, stretch marks, acne scars. No matter how much men in your life tell you how beautiful you are; we are still conditioned (by whom/what? Our mothers? Society? Other women?) to think that we're not good enough.
Never good enough. That's one of the most toxic, but most prevalent, attitudes among women. And when guys complain about not knowing what to answer if we ask "does my bum look big in this?", I wish they could step in our shoes and spend a month feeling like a woman does, at her worst. Inadequate, ugly, or too sexual if she's curvy; hated by other women if she's well groomed, or despised as "unfeminine" by men if she doesn't make an effort.
Think of how easy it is to step over the thin line dividing "attractive" and "sluttish". A woman should be proud of her body and not hide it, yeah? Well, there will always be someone tut-tutting it, thinking that she's "asking for it". And what if someone chooses to be demure? She's probably frigid, or a lesbian, or both.
You should try wearing tights and high heels some time. They're uncomfortable as hell. Pretty to look at? Yeah. So are wonderbras, but the wires stick in your flesh.
The amount of perceptions and societal norms we have to conform to - we have to be "a lady at the table, a cook in the kitchen, and a whore in bed" (as a Spanish proverb has it). Plus we need to be great mums and good professionals to boot.
I love being a woman, but sometimes it sucks. Big time.