Young girls today seem to suffer from extreme self-esteem issues for various reasons. One reason seems to be the way they see themselves through the eyes of the boys they date. Teenage girls are sensitive creatures and girls dating boys who attack their self-image usually find themselves feeling less significant in all aspects of their life. A young high school girl, in this very situation with her boyfriend, found a way to turn the tables on him and make herself feel better all at the same time.
Brittney Lynn Shane, a pretty high school girl, found herself in a relationship with a boy who felt the need to point out, what he considered, her every flaw. He picked on her hair color, the length of her hair, makeup choices, and weight. She allowed him to make all the decisions on her appearance and began to live in the weakness of his unhealthy name calling using words like “ugly” and “tacky” in her direction.
Brittney was stripped of her confidence and ability to love herself. Her boyfriend eventually left her for what she considered a “prettier” girl. She was crushed. Her self-esteem and self-confidence were damaged and she blamed herself for the breakup and his choice to choose a prettier girl than she felt she was. Rather than retreat into herself as most girls her age would do in this situation, she took to the Internet and wrote a message to her former boyfriend that not only empowered her but every girl who has lived through the same experience and needed a little self-esteem boost.
Brittney’s public letter to her ex-boyfriend lays out all the sad and disrespectful things he said to her to strip her of her self-confidence and self-esteem. You spoke about how she immediately changed everything he complained about and teased her about in an effort to make him happy. She reflects on how weak she was and how much she allowed him to have control over her and how she viewed herself. She proclaimed her shame for allowing it all to happen. She removed piercing and covered her tattoos, kept her hair short and dyed it blonde a week after she dyed it red.
As Brittney goes through reliving what this boy put her through, she reveals how she felt when he left her for a prettier girl. She expresses how she felt it was her fault and remembers how he blamed her also. Through her reflection, she realizes that the problem was not her but him. She has an epiphany that every young girl would be blessed to have but does not always experience. She understood that she was not wrong for him. He, in fact, was wrong for her. He was not good enough for her and he was not the boy for her. He needed a girl he could mold and shape into what he wanted and she was a much stronger girl than that.
It is so hard for young girls to see past the moment to understand their value and how amazing and important they are. They have a hard time seeing that they deserve and should demand more out of the boys they date. They give the boys more value than they have in themselves. This letter from Brittney is a great example of how bad a boy can make a girl feel and how important it is to take responsibility for yourself and your choices in dating to gain your power back. Hopefully, this letter will show other girls how valuable they are and how much it is not worth it to change yourself just to please a boy. You should only date someone who values you and is willing to take you for the fabulous person you are.