Sexual Health
+1 y

Why are teens so insecure about their bodies?

Accept the fact that you're not kids anymore and you are gonna grow into an adult. It's part of life.
Girls: Don't spend hours in the bathroom just to do your dumb looking make up. You don't have to look in every mirror you walk by. Don't over exaggerate every little thing in life
I still don't understand why y'all complain about acne and fat and body hair and stuff like that.
Boys: Don't get all wishy washy when your voice cracks. It happens.
Girls: Don't sit and cry bc Jimmy doesn't like you. He's not the only guy in the world. GET OVER IT! You'll find someone else. Y'all don't have to get upset about every little thing.
I'm just curious about why teens act the way that they do






Updates:
+1 y
Everyone blames society, peers, the media, etc. Just ignore all of that. Don't try to fit in or anything like that. Its dumb and a waste of time
1 5

Most Helpful Guys

  • I was and still am but it got less like 80 percent.
    I saw many guys being tall and i was like 5'5" when i was 15. I saw guys of my age then becoming 6'2" or at least 5'9" or 5'10". Even my parents were teasing me about it and everybody around was also. I was thin or slim so i can't become fat. Still now i can't become fat but my height-insecurity is now still working because now my little brother is "that guy who is almost 15 and 5'10 and 1/2inch now" while i am 5'9" and my parents were both 5'6".

    I don't care if someone is teasing me now but i now easily get affraid if someone is taller than me and teasing or bullying me or give more respect. It's not always but sometimes it comes up. The heaviest problem is when i fit clothes. Sometimes i see some sweaters or trousers or something which i think it only fits tall people.
    Even now i think that my optimal bodytype is being ripped when i am 5'11" or taller otherwise i look like a-muscled-block-who-got-bullied-over-his-height-and-beats-that-by-becoming-widt.

    Insecurities come from everywhere. When you're a teenager you're very easily influencable and the media is doing things, parents, people are doing things also which makes you feel like you don't have the perfect body.

    For guys you only see memes like "When you 5'11 i consider you as friend" or "no ripped body is no girlfriend" or something. Why you see most guys in their 20s being ripped and muscled and when they're 30 fat comes in? It's because they don't care no more. Nobody sells shirts when people wants jackets. The guys just do this for girls and some want to look good to be happy.

    For girls you can not say that you haven't seen it. Everybody has to be thin with ass and boobs and especially ass. All those female artists now are just sex-icons who became mainstream. Ass is for sex and they use it for life. Now some girls use ass as an weapon or a prize like; Eventhough i have no ass i'm still more beuatiful than those bitches.

    Other examples; you can't become a model for the catwalk when you don't starve out yourself to 50kg and be 5'11 tall. That's what they want to be beauty because then no women can reach it except that 5 percent. Media says it, everyone does it. Now like 25% of women be 5'11 tall and slender/thin you must have ass and squat all day.

    So this insecurities are for everyone. It's the media.

    • Why does everyone blame the media?

    • Because i see this to damn much in media and i see that people want to become like the people in the media. The classic one: Girls now try die hard to have ass because the stars now have ass which goes to far sometimes.

  • I've found it really doesn't matter who you're , you could be the world's most beautiful person but you'll still be iffy about how your nose is 0.001% out of alignment.

    It's just a human condition I suppose.
    Girls worry their boobs.
    Guys worry about their dicks.
    Girls worry about being fat.
    Guys worry about not being SWOLE.
    Girls worry about being too tall.
    Guys worry about being too short.

    So on so worth. Rinse and repeat , up and down , around and around for millions of years.
    So as long as the human race exists as we know it , people are going to be insecure about their bodies.

    A sad fact of the human existence.

    Hell , I reckon even narcissists who post selfies on social media on the daily are probably even more insecure , the need for the world to know about them , to feel significant.

    Insecurity manifest in some funny ways.

    • I dont care what i look like. Neither should anyone else

    • @NatashaBeauty Wait til you're an adult, you'll realise you need to care what you look like. The image you project is the second most important thing in the working/social world.

    • @Cosytoasty I am an adult and I dont have to worry about anything

    • Show All

Most Helpful Girls

  • To get scientific here. It's because the prefrontal cortex develops during puberty. It sort of 'cleans' this part of the brain. So old small connections are being reconnected to big connections. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for planning actions, regulating emotions and making emotional or social decisions and complex cognitive functions, like differentiating among conflicting thoughts, determine good and bad, future consequences of current activities, working toward a defined goal, prediction of outcomes, expectation based on actions. Also, physical changes have a impact on the person's self-esteem.
    So why are they so insecure? It probably has something to do with a mix between regulating emotions (for example regulating fear emotions) and their whole social system being developed. Friends are very important to them and they do irrelevant things out of fear to not be accepted by people. They can't really help it.
    Since puberty goes on till around age 23 by most people. Your brains are probably not completely developed either so you shouldn't act all tough.

    • I am tough. I am not insecure and fix my make up every 3 seconds (i dont wear make up. i dont even wear clothes) I have never cared about how i look. my body is perfect and i think everyone else should think the same

    • You don't wear clothing? Well narcissism is also a thing. Just because you think like that, doesn't mean everyone should. A lot of people whish they were more secure, but simply aren't. It's not that easy. It's like telling a person with depression to just be happy.

  • we are an emotional and hormonal mess and for those of us with mental health issues (like myself) it's even worse. we don't know what we are doing and we are scared so we take our emotions out in the only ways we know how the ways we learned as kids. we need help to understand the world but unlike previous generations we are babies until we are *excuse the language* thrown out on our asses into the fucked up reality of life where we have to struggle to get through even the simplest of tasks because we have no clue what we are doing. instead of learning shit like Pythagorean theorem we should learn how to do our taxes and balance a checkbook and budget our money. I only know some of these things cause my dad taught me them but others will not be taught and I will have to rely on others to help me

  • Because it's pretty tough being a teen these days. You grow up a lot quicker, and because your body matures your hormones are expected to but it doesn't work like that. Social media puts huge pressure on both genders to look a certain way and there is much more bullying in and out of schools.
    It's all well and good to say those things when you are passed it or didn't experience it but it doesn't mean it isn't genuine for those who are struggling.

    It's great that you have a high self esteem but not everyone does, and some compassion and understanding will go a long way.

    • That's what everyone says. its always the medias fault. EVERY TIME

    • Because it is a problem that affects people. Obviously not you, narcissism would be a better fit there. Again, just because YOU aren't affected doesn't mean others can't be.

  • I'm so glad I'm out of that stage of life! I remember having to go to my friend's house 2 hours before we would go anywhere so she could get ready. YES, so SHE could get ready! UGH! I would have to sit and wait for her to get dressed, she would change in and out of like 10 different outfits and obsess over her makeup.

    I have no issues with people wanting to look nice. But why did I have to be there? I had things I could have been doing at that time.

    Plus I actually suffered from pretty bad acne, I got sick of people complaining over one pimple!

    • I kinda wish I had acne

    • Why do you wish you had acne?

    • My brother always said I look like a baby w/o it. lol

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What Girls & Guys Said

40 43

  • Teens should not be stressing over body image. Naturally as you get older your body will change. Its nothing to worry about. It really bothers me seeing teens so focused on their body image. They should be having fun and enjoying life. Not stressing.

  • They have no idea how beautiful and lucky they are. Not a freaking clue. And they think there invincible and will never die.

    • OMG. "there" -> they're

    • Exactly! :)

  • Because teens rely much more on their amygdala than frontal lobe. Meaning they are significantly more emotional and impulsive than adults.

  • They have been taught by the media that everyone should look a certain way, and their peers identify with these media images. People who don't try to look 'that way' are ridiculed by their peers, and most teens can't handle that sort of pressure.

    Mostly we are talking about girls here... There isn't the same pressure on boys in their teens, although there are some boys as affected by fashion and the media as girls.

    • I have never understood why they try to fit in so much. It's so dumb. majority of those people they're trying to impress won't even see them again after high school

    • Yes, but high school is the only world most of them know...

  • Because teens are in the age of wanting to be accepted and be independent. For they look at media images of what supposed to be beautiful and want to be that, and get discourage if they are not skinny enough, or strong enough. Yet they are other part of them that rebels to that idea and tells them "I can be who I am and I'm beautiful this way" yet their whole world (middle/high school) push them more to be like the rest, like what magazines and TV idols are.

    • Teens need to be strong minded and realize that how they look now isn't gonna matter in 10 years. in fact, theyd probably forget all that. they need to focus on school not whether jimmy likes them or not

    • Yea but one can't help that way of thinking. Is normal at that stage to fit in. HS is their world, they think that their problems are huge. And they don't really think of the bigger picture. Is good that they can be strong minded but at the same time is a developing brain. And those things are normal, we all go through it.

  • "Its dumb and a waste of time"
    Except that studies have actually proven that universally attractive people who DO fit the conventional beauty ideals enjoy benefits, not only by being treated friendlier on a day to day basis but they are even more likely to get hired.

    • No wonder I can get hired anywhere. LOL. And EVERYONE'S nice to me. :)

    • Then you're most likely not ugly. But you're also still seen as a child by the majority of people and people are typically nicer to children so that clearly also plays into it.

  • It's because we want other people to like us. Like it or not, people are shallow and it matters how we present ourselves. Acne and body hair might signify bad hygiene, though not always, and being overweight just shows carelessness. It's important to take care of our appearance, it matters how the world sees us.

    • It doesn't matter how the world sees you. It matters how you see you

    • It does if you want to have friends and a decent job.

    • I have to disagree. From my experience, real friends likes you no matter how do you looks like. Job should be about your skills and knowledge.

    • Show All

  • One can only hope that a sense of security comes with maturity.

  • It's just part of growing up and figuring who you are and dealing with your thoughts and feelings. It's about figuring out who others are and how you like it or not. Let live and learn, and usually people grow from it all.

  • Well for staters i KNOw even you went throught this so dont act like we're aliens. Then, I geuss we do it for validation, Like you said we're changing, turning into someone our eyes nor body doesn't recognize yet other eyes do/are watching. So its kinda watching the process, making sure your end product is gonna be enough for the world to accept

    • I have never been through this. If I did I wouldn't be asking this question bc I'd already know why. But I don't. My body has always been perfect. And it always will be. My waist is slim My butt/boobs are thick my arms are slender. I don't have acne and my face is nice. So no, I don't know what it feels like.

    • Well then good for you! Not everyone is as lucky so dont act like the world is full of teenage, insecure mirror-bond brats.

    • Chill out lady. I just asked a question. I never said the world was full of teenage mirror bond brats. Not once. I did say that most teens are insecure and spend a lot of time in the mirror

  • i think it's easy to say get over ti. but the simple fact is teenage life is a period unequaled development at a period when they are actual conscious of the changes. for about 12 years everyone they knew was essentially the same. suddenly there are breasts, curves, facial, changing voices and thats only the outward changes. there are of course tons of emotional and mental changes occurring. throw the developing bodies in with the sudden realization that others are attractive for reasons that are all together new and it is a recipe of issues.

    so yes we should encourage kids not to dwell on things beyond their control but the simple fact is that for 1000s of years this has gone on. we can only try to challenge our biology and nature but we are also in many ways slaves to it

  • Nobody tells them what's truly important and all the things they keep hearing are the things that aren't important.

    Most people stop caring about that type of thing between 40's-50's.

    • I have never cared

  • Because of bullying. No one has a problem with who they are until someone tries to make it a problem.

  • You're a teen. Doesn't that help you understand.

    • Im not sitting in a mirror 24/7. i dont wear make up and i never have. hell, i dont even wear clothes. i KNOW i am perfect. so yeah

    • no clothes eh, alrighty then. Your parents must love that.

    • Yeah no one even noticed

  • I stopped caring about how I look, too. Unfortunately, hormones in tandem with media bombarding us about what we SHOULD look like influences a lot. Peers can be judgmental af and impressions are important.
    That being said, I appreciate the message you're trying to get across (especially relationships like... chill out, everyone) although I also understand that it's waaaay more easier said than done.

    • This has been updated so I'll update this. You do understand that peers and being social is 95% of life. You can't ignore reality. Teens especially. That's a time where they're still developing. Step back and view it from a teen's standpoint. You were one not too long ago yourself.

  • People are blaming the media because it IS the media.
    Think about it. The ideal standas of beautychange every decade. I see your comment replies. You describe yourself as having a tiny waist and big boobs/butt. In the 80s, you wouldn't have been ideal. A big butt was a bad thing.
    That's not to put you down. I think all body shapes can be ideal depending on how they dress. And your body shape is definitely in right now. But if teens weren't so influenced bybthe media, these standards wouldn't be prevalent.
    Take that gimmicky fitness fad the 'thigh master' for example. It was a successfully marketed product because women wanted skinny thighs. These days, hardly anybody wants skinny thighs. Thick is in. This coming from a girl, me, who is 20 and still gets mistaken for a 15 year old because I'm so skinny. I literally look like a little boy.
    So yeah, I blame the media.

    • I don't care what the media has to say about my body. I am happy w/ myself and I always will be

  • Scientifically because they aren't just going through a physical change but a hormonal change causing them to feel things they haven't felt before which means they dony know how to cope with it.

  • Wow, you're so above the rest of us, teach us your wise ways

  • Because looks are arguably the most important thing in life from societies point of view.

  • Why can't kids just be kids? Why do we have to bash kids for doing normal stuff that we all did at their age? Teens are fucking horrible but they go through some horrible stuff. My teenage years were the worst of my life and I went through them being untreated for a mental illness. Just let kids be kids, let them have their bad makeup days and let them have their crushes. Who are they hurting?

    • what horrible stuff do they go through?

    • Bullying. School. Peer pressure. Trying to have your life figured out before you're even 16. Some people deal with mental illnesses and physical and sexual abuse at home. Why do you hate teens so much?

    • On top of that you only get to be a kid once. So everyone should live like you and not experience things? You sound very immature and bitter for your age. You've not offered a solution to this other than 'do as I say'.

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