Stop Constantly Calling Little Girls “Beautiful”

As soon as a baby girl is born, the doctors and nurses will tell the parents, “Wow! She’s beautiful”. A baby boy, on the other hand, will be immediately told that he is “strong”. This way of life, in which little girls, from birth, are told that they are “beautiful” will continue as long as she lives. While being called that isn’t the worst thing to hear in the world, it certainly can become detrimental later in life. A young girl, subconsciously, is taught that in order to be deemed worthy of a compliment, she has to reach a certain standard of beauty. Why is that? Why are we, as a society, teaching young girls that it is okay to be valued based upon our looks? I believe that calling girls “pretty”, or “beautiful” is a subconscious thing that we say sometimes to be nice. We are socially constructed to be that way. However, a girl is much more than just her looks. If you haven’t seen her in a while, why she may appear “beautiful” to you, ask her more. Like the hashtag that started during award season for actresses, ask her more. Ask her more about herself so she can tell you about her recent accomplishments that will produce different responses than just “you’re beautiful”.