Women have low self esteem because most humans still have low self esteem. Women with low self esteem are beat up by societal norms, but we also beat up ourselves. Men with low self esteem, which is to be expected in any tumultuous time, also have low self esteem, but they are more comfortable projecting it onto females.
Sigmund Freud came up with t he idea of “penis envy.” Strangely, the old truism, “As long as I have one of these (a uterus), I can have as many of those ( a penis) as I want!” had not been revealed to the sex obsessed doctor. Since then, some professors came up with the counter idea of “womb envy.” the vessel of creation, and as the embodiment of our mother earth, women are under assault. Some truth is here, but not all.
Some don’t buy either of these two theories. Psychologists are only now beginning to look outside the mind, and discover that we all are born into, and are in part members of, an environment that is muddled with hierarchy and domination. Seeing some others as superior is always the reason why we wallow in self loathing.
This is not new. Every movement that has made a revolutionary beneficial and lasting change in the world has a backlash. Those threatened by new fangled ideas of equality will gladly kill and die to preserve what they have convinced themselves is “natural.”Presently, we are experiencing a backlash against Muslims, and immigrants with darker skin. There is also a backlash against women and women’s rights, as during every difficult period of uncertainty, fear mongers will trot out the “trouble-makers.”
Nice girls are described as those who do as they are told, liberated women are berated as activist femi-nazis. Why does this happen?
We are still told we are unworthy. We tell it to ourselves. Advertising and constant inadequacy is what drives markets. What would you buy to be a better person? But what if you were already enough just as you are? This idea is terrifying to marketers and to some cultures. So women are susceptible to starvation diets, fashion police, constant “bitch” patrols for women in politics that men just don’t have to worry about in the public sector. It doesn’t matter if you are black or white, rich or poor, left or right, cool or boor.
You are scrutinized very closely if you are a woman.
This happens as an inevitable need for scapegoats, and blame arises in challenging economic times, and when people see bad news everywhere. We are a species that wishes for there is be a binary system. There is good, there is evil. There is black and there is white. We don’t want the truth, it’s too complex. We could never have wars or pollution if we had the truth, because someone couldn’t handle the idea of lost profits.
It’s always far more profitable to find someone to blame, and gain political ground from the fallout. In past times women were burned because they were old, or cantankerous, or uppity, or someone just wanted their land or possessions. Of course, these women were called “witches.” Their evil deeds were a result of their weakness for lust and for Satan. Never mind, that these days some women get their own television shows for being “bad girls.” Keep looking for which of these “bad girls or Kardashians, are regular looking, down to earth women who raise their kids, do their jobs (still for less pay than male counterparts) keep their homes, and still hold up half the sky.
Women are still judged, even in the 21st century, by their looks, but that is not all. Be on the lookout for all the ways you can count that tell you if you are a woman, that you can do better, be better, act better, look better, ad nauseum, and see if it doesn’t wear you out.
How to truly be better means that we return to our source. Life is complex network of cooperative living organisms. Those systems based on domination and power always fall in upon themselves. Even the greatest empire on earth will fall in upon itself if it doesn’t support the very vital things that sustain it.
It’s hard work, much too hard to be the best on earth. It is stressful, and only when we realize we are the best because the “WE” encompasses all living beings and systems which support us, will we see the BEST of living change in global self esteem for all mankind, uuuhh ah, hmm, HUMANkind, one species among many, we need to respect on a fragile world.
