Ideally we aim to teach our children to be leaders, to be themselves and to embrace being different. Individuality is something that is so valuable, it is what makes us who we are. If, generally speaking, our intention as parents or elders of any relation is to teach our young loved ones to “be themselves” why can we not we follow our own advice? Adults are always preaching the importance of children to be themselves, yet most adults find themselves feeling the societal pressures to conform. As we grow we try to change ourselves to fit these cultural “norms” and in the process we start to lose our true selves. As women, society says we have a certain appearance to uphold. The way we dress, the way we style our hair, our shoes and even the…show more content… She talks about how she gets mistaken for a lesbian just because she has short hair and when she turned down a boy at summer camp, most likely to fuel his own ego, decided that she must not have wanted him because she is a “LEZ”, which she is not.(Shanker, Wendy) Weather she was a lesbian or not the fact that these are the conclusions society draws merely from our appearance or decisions as independent women is adds to the idea of why people conform to avoid feeling like an outsider or different. (Shanker, Wendy) Shanker goes on to say that Athletic women are criticized by society about their sexuality the same way fat women are and even the same way women with short hair are (Shanker, Wendy) When women are athletic and strong they appear to be less feminine according to societies standards. To directly quote Shanker, “We don’t owe anyone an explanation when it comes to the choices we make about our appearance.” She explains that we as women spend all this time trying to look like actors and models and assume that will solve all of our problems. (Shanker, Wendy) To directly quote Shanker, “Some men fear fat and women with pixie cuts but it has nothing to do with them, and maybe that’s the problem. (Shanker, Wendy) The most important thing to remember is that beauty is what you see, beauty is in the eye of the