The other day I went shopping with my mom. I was only there to buy a couple pairs of sunglasses, but we always love to browse. My mom often gives me a hard time because I don't go shopping with her enough, and she doesn’t like buying clothes on her own. We look around for several minutes until she decides that there is nothing in this store that she wants, so I should pay for my sunglasses. While I’m in line, I see a display with an outfit that I think is cute. I wanted it. Let me paint you a picture of the outfit: loose stretchy pants and a non-fitted dark T-shirt. My mom makes a comment to me about how that outfit won’t look good on me, and that I shouldn’t buy it.

What she meant by it won’t look good on me, is that it was too tight and I am too chubby to be wearing something like that. I mean, she didn’t even see it on me. I often get told by her that I need to worry about how something looks on me, that things are too tight. This is pretty unfair because I don’t show much skin— I wear jeans that are not skin-tight and blouses that are loose with a tank top underneath.

Girls have so much pressure on them to look a certain way and to feel a certain way about how they look. I have never heard my mom tell my brother that something is too tight. Neither of us is in the best shape, but he can wear a shirt that is very clearly too small on him and no one bats an eye. To a family celebration, he even wore a shirt that showed the bottom of his stomach; again, no one said anything regarding his outfit. His pants are often too tight because he does not buy new clothes so they are at least one size too small. His butt crack sticks out because his pants are too small so they won’t stay up, and his shirts are too small so they do not even reach to his waist. Again, no one says anything to him. I don’t understand the double standard.

I wanted to buy a loose shirt and some stretchy pants and I get told I shouldn’t wear something so fitted. It really upsets me that women are not allowed to dress comfortable without criticism. Boys wear basketball shorts, holey shirts, stained jackets, and girls are constantly expected to look great. Well guess what, looking great is uncomfortable. There is a reason yoga pants are so popular! Women’s pants are way too tight. They are difficult to get on and off. Wiggling is often involved in fitting into women's pants. Bras suck. But nipples make people uncomfortable. And women’s shirts are often tight as well. I just want to buy an outfit without being told I need to worry about what someone else will think about my appearance!