Names Can Hurt Girls Self-Esteem

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me”? In my opinion, names can hurt a girl’s self-esteem and hurt it for a long time. Many girls, tweens and teens are emotionally fragile and the negative words they hear concerning themselves can override the positive ones.

• An 11 year old girl once overheard her father tell her sister that she was going through “an ugly phase” but the only word that was remembered was “ugly” and that it came from her own father.  It remained with her over 30 years.

• A 12 year old girl who had very short hair and looked much younger than her peers was often called a boy by mistake by strangers. She questioned her femininity for a long time.

• A 13 year old girl who was very thin was teased by girls and boys alike. She was called “skinny”, “chicken legs” and other names spent years concerned about her looks, even when she gained weight.

• A 14 year old girl was teased by a group of girls her age about dressing weird. She continued to dress that way, but doubted her fashion sense even as an adult.

Each of those girls are me and I can remember these incidents vividly. I can remember having surgery and losing a lot of weight from my already thin body. When I returned to school, a so-called friend told me that I looked like I was malnourished. Hearing boys tell me that I was flat-chested when just coming to terms with my changing body was humiliating. Self-esteem was a topic that we didn’t talk about or learn about back then. I didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone how sad I felt and how badly I felt about myself then.

To this day I have issues with my self-esteem. I am working on them every day and making huge steps forward. I continue to promote self-esteem in my two daughters (one is 23 and one is 11). They are praised for their accomplishments, their compassion, their interests, their individuality and given the tools to love themselves for who they are.  I help to instill in them that they can pursue their dreams.

The Dove Movement For Self-Esteem is reaching out to women to help girls realize their worth and value. You can start out by answering the question, “What Do You Wish You’d Know At 13″? You can also follow the posts by the other Dove Movement Champions like me and commit to sharing the word by writing a post of your own about how words can hurt girls and their self-esteem.

Has anything happened to you when you where younger that still remains with you?

I’m proud to be chosen as a Champion of the Dove Movement for Self-Esteem. I received a gift for my participation. I believe strongly about self-esteem and girls though and am happy to share this information with my readers.