Every summer, people are constantly telling each other and themselves that they should not wear certain things because it may make them look bad or make other people think certain things about them. This is not how people should feel and it seems to greatly affect a wide variety of individuals.

The media may portray that it only affects teenagers and young adults, but it seems to affect almost all age groups. With everyone having an online presence, these days it seems like everyone has a perfect body or life. In reality, a lot of what is in the media is not how they look or has been heavily edited in order to make them look a certain way. 

Celebrities constantly do this or end up getting lip fillers, Brazilian butt lifts or other things to augment their original self. This became a regular part of the media that most people almost do not even realize how often it happens or that it even happens in general. Of course there is the botched Brazilian butt lift or bad filler done every once in a while that makes people more aware of these things, but this does not happen enough for most people to realize how often people are changing their natural self. 

From a young age, most people are constantly worried about their body or what they are wearing. According to Body Image (2012) by Thomas F. Cash and Linda Smolak, by age six, girls are already expressing concerns about their own weight and what their peers will do or say to them about it and 40 to 60 percent of girls ages six to 12 are verbally expressing concerns about their weight or what they are wearing. These things do not inherently matter and should not be making people feel bad about themselves. Children as young as six should not feel the need to stay at home or skip school because they do not want to be seen as “fat” or “ugly.” 

LGBTQIA+ individuals are at a higher risk for feeling self-conscious about what they wear or what they look like. They are already constantly told that they need to dress a certain way or act a certain way and if they do not, they are not truly considered their sexuality or gender. Current teenagers and young adults are introduced to being queer at a younger age than ever and also tend to form their opinions at a young age. This means they are constantly questioning different things, whether that be their own sexuality or gender, or their opinion on the topic. This leads to more and more teenagers feeling self conscious about expressing themselves and their sexuality or true gender identity.

Although this topic seems to mainly affect women, men are actually affected by society on what to wear as much as women, if not more. According to Today.com, 111,958 heterosexual men admitted to being dissatisfied with their body and 103,376 women admitted to it. There is not much of a difference in the amount of heterosexual men and women who do not feel satisfied with their body. So, this is a big problem for everybody, not just women or men. 

It seems that overall, a lack of self confidence can be found in most people. Men or women, queer or not, young or old, they all seem to be dissatisfied with themselves one way or another. So, everyone should stop worrying about what they look like compared to others and wear what they want. It truly does not matter what anyone wears as long as they feel comfortable and confident enough to wear it. Everyone should work on caring a little less about what other people think and more about the real issues society is facing in the world today.