Perpetuating Low Self Esteem in Our Children

Recently, Claudia Aderotimi traveled to the United States to undergo a buttock-enhancement procedure.  The procedure was carried out on Monday, February 7^th, and by Tuesday she was dead. This procedure is dangerous, as unapproved silicone is injected into the skin.  Why? We ask.  Why would a woman choose to have an illegal cosmetic procedure done to her body- and one that is frequently fatal?  The answer is to conform to an image.

Looking at what happened to Claudia we shake our heads in disbelief- that someone would her life to look a certain way.  It is very sad that society expects women to fit a particular image and subtly impresses upon them to be displeased with their bodies and go to extreme measures to fit that image. 

Don’t we want better for our girls, who will be tomorrow’s women?  Don’t we tell our daughters that they should love and respect their bodies and that anyone who can’t accept them for who they are isn’t worth a second consideration?  If this is what we believe, then how can we force our perfect newborn baby boys to undergo a dangerous cosmetic procedure in order to conform to an image?

Baby boys in the United States are circumcised every day so that they will look like their fathers, their brothers and their peers.  They’re circumcised out of fear of them looking different and because their parents and society thinks that they look dirty and odd with the foreskins they are born with. Hundreds of babies die from this procedure each year. At least Claudia was of consenting age and chose to have the enhancement done on her own body.

How hypocritical can one get?   How can we tell girls to be confident in their bodies and in the next breath call our boys ugly because of an organ they are born with? It really creates an undying circle of madness.  Men want women to conform to a specific physical image for their viewing pleasure; women don’t feel adequate until they look a particular way- so they get breast and buttock enhancements, they get tummy tucks and face lifts. Then when they go on to have children of their own they continue the cycle by projecting their own sexual preferences upon their newborn sons and cut off a part of their bodies so that they look ‘pretty.’  No wonder these boys grow up to be men who expect women to change their own bodies to be pleasing to them. 

So when is it going to end?  It is ridiculous to assume that we can instill sound values of self-confidence and worth if we’re going to teach our boys from birth that their bodies are ugly.  Our children are watching us and we’re perpetuating feelings of dissatisfaction and low self esteem for future generations.  Let’s take a step back and think about what we doing here- risking our son’s bodies and lives because we want them to look a certain way.