Girls are taught from an early age that they can only feel good about themselves through the approval of everyone else, especially men, and should be willing to change or compromise at the drop of a hat in order to achieve acceptance.

To top it off, we romanticize self-loathing in women as an indicator of extreme virtue.

Remember that One Direction song “What Makes You Beautiful?” It basically encapsulates this mentality: Girls who have low self-esteem are allegedly desirable because they’re vulnerable (read: psychologically malleable and open to influence).There is nothing poetic about feeling uncomfortable in your own skin, and we need to stop encouraging girls to strive for that mentality.