Good topic. I have my rounds with feeling bad about myself, SOMETIMES. I have days where I feel fat, ugly, not so together, etc. However I realize that I am special to God and that if anyone is goiing to think I'm attractive, caring, smart, on point or whatever - It has to be me first. So, I focus on my more positive attributes and things that make me happy.

What causes low self-esteem? Internally speaking:

• Comparing yourself to other people - in person and in magazines.
• Not believing in yourself or conquering some of your fears and weaknesses

What we can do for each other is focus on our positive characteristics and find strength in knowing that we all are succeptible, but we don't have to be consumed.


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Sweet Deliverance's PHI-losophy:
"What you do or do not do today determines what you can or cannot do tomorrow."

[This message has been edited by Sweet Deliverance (edited October 02, 2000).]

I forgot to mention that we had our opening ceremony for both our Girls and Women's Rites of Passage programs a few weeks back...oh wow, it was so deep!!! We had women from 15 to 73 years old, and it was an amazing experience.

By the way, our girls are using Iyala VZ's book..."Don't Just Give it Away", as their roadmap for the program. They also have Saturday workshops on everything from personal apperance to how to pray, to education. It's really an impressive program.

You want to talk about self-esteem? This is a great program that shows our young women that it's ok to be a lady. (Finer Womanhood renaissance, Sorors http://www.greekchat.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif)

-shela

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Finer Womanhood: the "Cat's Meow" Since 1920

This is a good topic....I myself fell victim to low self esteem during my 13-16 yrs. I was a serious tomboy and as a result, when I tried to fit in (and maybe that was the problem) with the girls it did not work out cause all they saw me as was a threat to them b/c all the boys were giving me attention cause I was so good at sports. I still to this day do not have a close girlfriend whom I can truly call a friend.

Soooo, guess what I did, yep, I went to were I was accepted (or so I thought) to the boys, and that opened up a whole new can of worms while my esteem went down and down and down. Its better now b/c I went away to school and did alot of growing and along with that grew my esteem bit by bit...

But Iyanla is absolutely correct.. "Don't Just Give It Away...." That goes for anything in life.

This is such a good topic. It's ironic because I am starting a Self Esteem program for young, minority women (high school students) this summer because I noticed this problem too soror! I need all the assistance I can get! *Smile*

Anyway, I think we can attribute this epidemic to the media. It's too involved to really break it down here but really...It stems from the media's weak and biased portrayal and/or non-portrayal of Black women.

For example, think about how many Teen Magazines there are for Black Teen girls. Can you name 3? Think about sitcoms/melodramas about black teenagers and their relationships. Can you name 3? Now, think about the Black teen girl on a popular sitcom...What words do you use to describe her? I doubt highly it is flattering. The list goes on and on.

The teen years are when young women need the most encouragement and the most powerful medium is absent from their corner. What is that telling them?

Basically, the answer is to MENTOR MENTOR MENTOR! Get to these young women BEFORE the Media does!

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Sweeter than sugar and as good to you as milk
DEM ZETAS are Finer Women and they smooth as silk.